The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz ~ a Review

by MK French

Jane Hawk is a fugitive former FBI agent and fighting to bring to light the truth regarding the Techno Arcadians, a group of people organized into cells that will take out any opposition, any who are likely to be an opposing force, and subdue the will of the people with a mesh of nanobots that assemble inside the brain. One team is trying to track her whereabouts directly, sure she will try to go to her son now that his guardians are dead. Another team is tracking her in-laws in the hopes that they know where their only grandchild is hidden. There are rare side effects of the nanobots, including sudden and total psychological collapse, and it seems to be infectious.
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September 2018; Bantam; 978-0525483700
audio, ebook, print (480 pages); thriller 

This is the fourth book in the Jane Hawk series, and I hadn't read the prior ones. Even so, it was easy enough to figure out the background and hit the ground running. Dean Koontz had written about shadowy organizations before, and the use of technology to change humans and to subjugate the will of those that would oppose them. As in previous novels he'd written, this backfires and goes haywire in a hideously spectacular bloodbath. Until that happens, we're in for a thriller as Jane races against the clock to gather up supplies and allies to retrieve her son while not getting caught. She's clever and resourceful, and there are plenty of action sequences as she works to achieve her aim. Her pursuers, both teams of them, are full of characters that range from the benign and dull paper pushing evil to the radical nihilist that believes nothing is real but his own mind.

There are a lot of very resourceful characters in the book, and they're fun to read about. It almost seems like there's too much happening in the novel at times, and that's partly because of the different plot threads that are happening simultaneously. It's easy enough to follow, and the separate sections of the book clearly indicate when in the story it's taking place. Jane's story isn't at an end when we reach the conclusion of the novel, because the Techno Arcadians are still out there, and she hasn't found a way to go public with her proof. I'm sure the next novel in this series will be just as full of adrenaline and suspense as this one.

Buy The Forbidden Door at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and golden retriever.

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