Reviews for The Crooked Staircase

by Dean Koontz

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Yes, Jane Hawk is back. In this, her third outing-following The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room-the 27-year-old rogue agent who is on the run from her former employers, the FBI, remains intensely determined to expose and destroy the Techno Arcadians, a powerful underground group responsible for the death of Jane's husband. Like its predecessors, this volume boasts an unrelenting plot that continues to reveal new information about these sinister players who have compiled a "Hamlet" list that targets individuals they feel are prime candidates for "adjustment" through nanotechnology engineered to alter the victims' thought processes. We witness the capture of Tanuja and Sanjay Shukla by the Arcadians, then follow them through the adjustment process and on to the deadly goal for which they are programmed. But it is still Jane who rivets readers' attention with her struggle for retribution and redemption using a personal arsenal of nearly superhuman skills and abilities. Verdict Michael Crichton fans and thriller aficionados who appreciate a fierce female protagonist and have not yet done so should be urged to meet Jane Hawk. [See Prepub Alert, 12/4/17.]-Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Former FBI agent Jane Hawk continues her no-holds-barred campaign against the mind-control conspiracy that caused the suicide of her decorated Marine husband.In past adventures (The Whispering Room, 2017, etc.), Hawk dispatched some of the baddies responsible for creating and injecting brainwashing nanotech implantsand dramatically raising the national suicide rate. With the cabal entrenched in government agencies and private industry, she got indicted for espionage, treason, and murder and is now the most wanted person in America. Continuing her mission to restore her husband's good name and nail Booth Hendrickson, the corrupt Department of Justice figure behind the conspiracy, she must evade all manner of sophisticated surveillance technology. Her path to Hendrickson is through his half brother, Simon, a mother-obsessed sociopath who tortures and psychologically breaks women. To get to Simon, Hawk must tame his nave spitfire girlfriend, the memorably named Petra Quist. For Hawk, who is as fearless as she is beautiful, no obstacle is too great, especially with the well-being of her hidden-away 5-year-old son on her mind. There is seemingly nothing she doesn't know, from intricate details about alarm systems to the functions of the three pairs of saliva glands. She's also a skilled pianist. With many pages devoted to a less compelling parallel mind-scrubbing story about brilliant young fraternal twins, the book sometimes bogs down in the padding. But writing his unusual heroine, Koontz keeps the pages alive with attitude as well as action.The third book in Koontz's lively series tends to rehash scenes from the first two, but it's still an absorbing thriller full of fresh touches. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* In the third Jane Hawk novel, the renegade FBI agent continues her relentless pursuit of the people behind the conspiracy that cost her husband his life. Someone has been turning ordinary men and women into puppets (à la The Manchurian Candidate), forcing them to commit murder and, then, to commit suicide. Driven by rage and an unquenchable thirst for answers, Jane risks her own life to exact revenge on the people who took her husband from her. Beautifully plotted and written with notable care and flare, the novel is a spellbinding follow-up to The Whispering Room and The Silent Corner, both published in 2017. It works just fine as a stand-alone, too, as Koontz allows Jane to bring the reader up to speed in a way that doesn't feel shoehorned into the story. Koontz has had a long and consistently best-selling career, encompassing horror, science fiction, fantasy, and straight-up thrillers, and he's rarely stumbled. The Hawk series there's a fourth one scheduled to be published in October 2018 is among his best work. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Expect all the promotional bells and whistles to be clanging and wailing at full volume as Koontz once again climbs the best-seller lists.--Pitt, David Copyright 2018 Booklist