Koontz Launches New Criminal Suspense Series: Jane Hawk Uncovers Criminal Nanotech Research Conspiracy -- Review of Koontz's "The Silent Corner"

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS

Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

July 14, 2017

Koontz Launches New Criminal Suspense Series:

Jane Hawk Uncovers Criminal Nanotech Research Conspiracy

A Review of

Dean Koontz The Silent Corner (Bantam Books, 2017) 

                       434pp    $16.75   ISBN:  9780345545592

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     With this book Dean Koontz has indeed launched a new criminal suspense series starring a new character (Jane Hawk), but there is nothing new about tough female heroes, and there is nothing new about secret criminal conspiracies run by super-wealthy super-wicked men inventing secret super-dangerous weapons.  There also is nothing new about this story’s beginning with a reporting of many suicides.  What IS new about this story is the WEIRD statements left by the people who have committed these suicides, and the WEIRD super-advanced nanotechnology employed by these weapons.  This sophisticated nanotech procedure is very interesting (and stands in sharp contrast to the crude portrayal of nanotech found in the book Koontz wrote many moons ago (By The Light Of The Moon).  I am hoping that in the future books in this series that Koontz will provide more details about this new nanotech process.  If so, this story will be able to rank as hard science fiction.  I am disappointed with how little Koontz says about it in this book, and the disproportionate amount of the story devoted to Hawk’s forays against the bad guys.  Koontz says on his website www.DeanKoontz.com that “it has what I’d call a scientific premise in the Michael Crichton tradition, something that is not futuristic but here now in an early form with a terrible potential.”

     Another fascinating element in the story, which also needs much more elaboration is the psychological effect which the nanotech procedure has upon the human brain, especially as this pertains to the question of carefully distinguishing between artificial intelligence and man.

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     What is really strange about Koontz’s story is that its similarity between AI and the human brain is NOT produced by raising the level of AI to the level of the human brain, but is produced by the LOWERING of the intelligence of the human brain produced by the effects of the weird nanotech procedure upon it.  You really need to read the story to see how eerie this is!  Humans are seen acting almost like robots as the result!

     As a science fiction fan I wish Koontz would devote most of the story to the nanotechnology and only a relatively small amount to the apprehension of the criminals.  Well, we shall see whether or not he does this in the episodes to come.  The second book in the series, The Whispering Room (which some people are referring to as “Jane Hawk #2) is scheduled for  publication in January 2018.

     I like the character Jane Hawk – a very admirable person.  But, to be honest, I prefer Koontz’s special characters such as Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn.  They are special creations by Koontz himself.  There have been many characters in modern literature like Jane Hawk, but none like Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn!!  I also would like to see the character Edie Fischer again too, and Alfred Hitchcock again coming down from Heaven!

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