Dean Koontz kept me totally absorbed in his new Jane Hawk thriller. Jane seemed to be a minor character in this book, with the focus more on the bad guys, known as the Techno-Arcadians. I learned a lot more about how their authority structure worked and how they were disciplined. Many of the scenes in which the Arcadians encountered and fought against regular civilians were absolutely horrifying. Without giving anything away, the title itself turns out to be an extremely violent and horrifying spectacle that left me gasping for breath and hurrying to read to the end of that scene. In this book, Travis is in danger and Jane has to risk everything to get to him to save him. The love of a mother for her child knows no bounds, as shown in this book that continues the saga of Jane versus the bad guys. My favorite character was Cornell, a giant man with a big heart and a lot of psychological problems. But his way of approaching problems was nothing less than heroic and I loved his gentleness, kindness and acceptance of what was happening. This book is a must read if you are a fan of the Jane Hawk series as I am, but I have to say that the violence is increased in this book and graphically described, so it is not for the faint of heart.

This is the fourth book in the exciting and suspenseful Jane Hawk series. Previously in the series, former FBI top agent Jane Hawk's husband, Nick, was believed to have committed suicide. Jane did not believe the official FBI story and investigated on her own. Now considered a wanted and rogue agent, she has discovered American citizens are being injected with nano-technology enabling the helpless victims to be downloaded with commands.

To protect Travis, her small five year old from danger, Jane has secreted him with friends at an undisclosed location. He has called to let her know his guardians have not returned from a small town shopping trip. Jane needs to rescue him before he is taken hostage.

To complicate matters further, the mind controlled victims are beginning to go violently insane and the insanity is spreading like a virus. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, "The Night Window".

I highly recommend this Dean Koontz thriller to all lovers of mystery and horror. Enjoy!

First of all, I love this author and his writings. This book, as all his other books, did not disappoint. It is the fourth book in the Jane Hawk series and I think one of the best. Jane Hawk is a super FBI agent that is bent on ridding the country of the evil force using technology to control people. She, along with people she has befriended along the way, must find a way to keep her son, Travis safe. The book revisited old friends and introduces new characters that will aid Jane in her adventures to save the world as we know it. I would recommend you read these books in order, as this will give the reader a full explanation of actions and events referenced in the book. I cannot wait to read about Jane’s next adventure.

I am giving this one 3.5 out of 5 stars. I am enjoying the series as a whole but there were some parts of the book that were a little long and and not as intense. This book starts off where The Crooked Staircase left off. There is a lot going on in this book and jumping back and forth between different characters and places. I don’t think we get to see as much of Jane Hawk in this book as the others. The parts with the evil Arcadians seem to take up a lot of the book and sometimes it was more of a slog to read so that is why I took off half a star for this installment. We get to see Luther come back in this book, but I wish we got to see more of him. The beginning and the last quarter of the book when Jane confronts the Arcadians was intense and more like the other books. I am curious how this will end and look forward to the next book in the series.

This was another fantastic book in the Jane Hawk series. I absolutely will be reading the next book so I can see what happens. I had the pleasure and honor of receiving an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of this book at all though.

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing/Ballentine for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I could not wait to get my hands on Dean Koontz’s next book in the Jane Hawk series. I was so excited that The Forbidden Door jumped straight to the top of my ever-growing TBR list. For the sake of brevity, I am not going to recap the storyline from the first three books. Other reviewers have done an admirable job of that.
At the bottom of The Crooked Staircase Koontz left us with Jane Hawk ready to confront Anabel Hendrickson, one of the original investors in the Techno Arcadians: “Anabel in distant La Jolla was a threat for another day.” To my great disappointment, Anabel is still a threat for another day—she is not even mentioned in this latest book. Instead Jane is fighting to save her son Travis from the Arcadians who want to use him to get to her.
Jane left Travis with trusted friends who have taken him to a secluded area for his safety, but the Arcadians quickly uncover where he is and kill his protectors. Travis is then left with Cornell, a high IQ recluse with Asperger’s and other autism disorders. Cornell has constructed a huge library in a hidden bunker where he plans to escape when civilization collapses. Cornell, a gentle giant, thrives in his secluded environment but has difficulties functioning in society. (I can just see John Malkovich in this role) Cornell won my heart, as well as Travis’s.
Koontz is a master at converting atmosphere and climate into characters—in this book it is mayhem that becomes a major part of the story. The events throughout this thriller are as loud and action-packed as any Hollywood offering. And we have the first signs that the Techno-Arcadians may not win this battle. I’ll say no more: you will have to read the book to find out why.
I was enthralled by a walk-on character who comes in just as mayhem has really gone amok. She’s a 90-year old woman, dessert hardened, who had been dissed on the highway by two of the Arcadians. She is carrying a purse with a small Pomeranian peeking out. She walks on, kills those two Arcadians, then she exits, stage right—never to be heard from again. What a strange and unexpected character, and what an interesting time to introduce her into the fray.
Koontz has another Arcadian weave a phantasmagorical connection between a large group of people who supposedly aided in the escape of Jane’s in-laws. I found this completely unrealistic, yet as the story progresses they were found in exactly the place where he had imagined them. It took a stretch of the imagination to conceive of this!
From these few vignettes, you can see that Dean Koontz has again delivered a stunning novel. I admire his imagination, his use of imagery to embellish his stories and his humor. He injects real personality into his characters: you either love them or you despise them, but your feelings are deep on both ends of the spectrum. I read an interview where Koontz said that Jane Hawk had really gotten his attention, and how much he loved this character. He has announced that the next book will be Jane’s last, which is a good thing. Jane has had a great run, has entertained many readers and has really given us an insight to what technology could hold for the future. That said, as Kenny Rogers so aptly sang,
“You’ve got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em “.
In the meantime, I still can’t wait to see how Jane confronts Anabel!

The Forbidden Door is part of the Jane Hawk series. I would recommend to start with reading the first book in the series to fully understand storyline this is my first book to read by Dean Koontz and will definitely be reading more of this series.

The Jane Hawk series finally hits its stride with its fourth entry, The Forbidden Room.

The Techno Arcadians are upping their game by accusing Jane on a 60 Minutes-style show of murdering her beloved husband Matt and faking his suicide. The Arcadians set in motion a plan to kidnap or kill everyone dear to Jane. Ancel and Clare Hawk, Jane’s in-laws, must flee their farm. Jane and Matt’s five-year-old son, Travis, must flee across the desert. Even Jane is tracked by one of the Techno Arcadians as the net around Jane and all her loved ones is slowly tightened.

The villain this time is Egon Gottfrey. Egon believes in radical philosophical nihilism. Nothing is real. Only his mind exists guided by an Unknown Playwright. Why is he scarier than most villains? Because he has no fear of death. “Gottfrey has no objection to a shootout. His physical existence is an illusion; he can’t be killed.” Egon is also a vicious killer, who kills total strangers for fun. All without a nanobot implant. He is a world-class antagonist and the perfect foil to Jane’s over-the-top bada$$ery.

It is hard not to see the extremes of good and evil plus Jane’s incredible skills as a superhero tale. Finally, a Joker has been set against Jane’s Batman. This entry in the series is definitely the best so far. I would even recommend just reading this one rather than beginning with the first in the series. It is perfect for thriller fans. However, it would also work for superhero comic fans too. The Forbidden Room would make a great movie. Hopefully, it has already been optioned by someone. 5 stars!

Thanks to Bantam Books and NetGalley for an advance copy.

The Forbidden Door is the fourth book in the Jane Hawk series. It is the journey Jane takes to get to her son who may be in trouble. Over all the book was good it just took time to get into it. It also kind of dragged on in the end. Dean Koontz is an amazing writer . This just wasn’t one of my favorites.
I received an ARC of The Forbidden Door from Netgalley for my honest opinion .

I do not usually read this type of book; to my complete surprise, I enjoyed it very much. I am impressed with the high quality of literary prose used to write this George Orwell type of book. Jane, the heroine, an FBI agent, has learned within the Agency are rogue agents, implanting drugs into the top percentile of humans brains! When these people become a problem, they control them into committing suicide. Jane determined to save her little boy, has armed herself, her in-laws, in order to fight back. As I have said, very unusual read for me, it is exceptionally well written.
I highly recommend! Thank you, Netgalley.
Carolintallahassee

I'm not usually a fan of sci-fi type books but I'm absolutely addicted to Dean Koontz's Jane Hawk books. Koontz writes with such meticulous detail that he makes the unthinkable and totally outrageous seem plausible. My only slight irritation with this book was the multitude of characters and time spent on them. I was always anxious to move on from them and back to Jane.

This book, like the three others preceding it, ended with a promise of yet another installment in the Jane Hawk saga. I can't wait!

This is the 4th book in the Jane Hawke series. I have read them all and enjoyed them. This one started off a little slow. I felt that too much time was spent with 3 of the bad guys and frankly, those parts irritated me. I know that they were necessary to provide backstory, motive, etc...but I found myself getting bored with those parts. The one guy kept blathering on about the Unknown Playwright and how nothing was actually real or true. That all was a bit weird to me. However, once the book picked up and focused on Jane's adventure to reunite with her son (whom all the baddies were searching for); it felt much more in rhythm for me.. What I enjoy most is Jane getting to work with characters from prior books. To see the relationships she has formed with them during a fast and stressful time period. I hold my breath for every story hoping that those we have come to know stay safe and survive. This is not always the case. I also enjoyed her little boy's interactions with his "new" caretaker, the gentle giant in this book. It was very sweet and some of my favorite parts to read. All in all, another great addition to this series. Thank you to Net Galley for access to this book!

Jane has already lost her husband but now she’s trying to discover why him and so many others had to die. There are forces that others don’t know about that are trying to change things. Jane is dealing with other issues while her country decides she’s a trader, will she be able to clear name? Will she expose the events that led to her losing her husband and so many others?

Dean Koontz is a master at keeping his audience riveted! Jane’s saga continues in mind blowing detail. His skill in keeping all the different scenes in the story flowing seamlessly is mesmerizing. I totally lose myself when I am reading because you cannot help but get drawn into this mystical world that he has created seemingly just for your reading pleasure. The attention to detail, use of repetitive words and sayings, that drive home that sub human existence just gives you a little shiver of fear and excitement. It is a totally awesome book!

If Koontz existed in a previous life, he must have been a watch maker, for that is the meticulous care and painstaking precision with which his current work is crafted. Due to his mastery of the written word, rather than dispel a reader’s interest, as may be the case in the hands of any other writer, these details infuse the reader with vivid imagery that brings the story alive. One of his trademarks is crafting several storylines simultaneously that seamlessly coalesce in a dramatic conclusion. This continues to astound, always amazes, and never disappoints the reader.

In this fourth book about rogue FBI agent, Jane Hawk, Jane is avoiding and escaping the foot soldiers of the Arcadian group responsible for Jane's husband's death and collecting evidence to expose their plan for world domination. Shortly into the story, Jane's son, Travis, calls Jane's burner phone telling her the guardians who have been sheltering him left to get groceries and never returned. With Travis now in the care of a gentle autistic savant named Cornell, Jane rushes to intercept her son before the Arcadian agents can find him. With danger at every turn and a little help from friends collected along the way, brilliance, cleverness and a lot of luck aid her along her journey.

If your familiar with Koontz, you’ll be happy to know that all of his trademark components are alive and well in this book – search for meaning, good versus evil, community/family, higher power, and always the perfectly placed humor. And one thing is certain – he gives a bang for the buck with one of his books equaling four or more books of many other authors. I always know I’m guaranteed hours, even days of delicious escape when I read a Koontz work. This story is everything I’ve come to expect from this author – intense, insightful, poetic and adrenaline fueled – and I can’t wait to read the next installment of this amazing heroines adventures!

*I reviewed this book freely and voluntarily, having made no commitment to provide a review and receiving no compensation of any kind from any source for this review.

I have stuck with this series and I’m glad I did. The previous book was a little slower and the story didn’t move along as quickly but I enjoyed this installment much more. Definitely looking forward to the next one,

Jane Hawk is one of my favorite Dean Koontz characters and I love this series. Jane was one of the FBI’s top agents, but after her husband, mysteriously commits suicide, goes on the search for the truth behind his death and the death of many others in the same way. What Jane discovers is a terrifying mind-control technology owned by a very powerful secret society and she is determined to bring it down. As Jane continues to strike at this powerful group, she looses friends and those for whom she cares. Her enemies want to use her five-year-old son as bait, but they have to find him first. As Jane races to find her son, a new threat has emerged. There is a a increased number of brain-altered victims driven violently insane and the number is growing every minute. The Forbidden Door keeps you on the edge of your seat and of course keeps you wanting more. It is a great read and another triumph for Dean Koontz.

In an effort to avoid spoilers for this and the previous three installments in the series, this review is going to be short and sweet.

This latest installment in the Jane Hawk series picks up where the previous book The Crooked Staircase left off. Jane is, once again, under a time crunch to get somewhere fast. Some old favorites show up and others become favorites. Koontz knows how to write compelling characters and they shine in this series.

A majority of this novel is told from the perspective of the bad guys, giving us insight into their mental state and the lengths they are willing to go to bring Jane down. At first this seemed odd and could be off putting to some readers, but it worked and was needed for this portion of the story.

This series can be frightening because it often seems like it could be real. And while there are many many good people in the world, there are also many horrible people. It's not too far fetched to believe that something like this could happen.

If you haven't started this series and are at all inclined to do so, I highly recommend it.

“The Forbidden Door” by Dean Koontz is part of the continuing Jane Hawk series. Every few pages, as part of the continuing storyline, paragraphs give new readers clues about the trauma that had befallen Jane and the entire Hawk family in the preceding months of chaos. Koontz opens in Texas, home of Ancel and Clare Hawk, and establishes an intense sense of place and atmosphere starting with the opening line.

“At first, the breeze was no more than a long sigh, breathing through the Texas high country as though expressing some sadness attendant to Nature herself.”

Reality sinks in for Ancel and Clare Hawk. Only a few months had passed since their son had died, and in that short time, their world has turned upside down. Their daughter-in-law Jane Hawk is in trouble. She had recently been indicted for crimes that she did not commit, and their grandson Travis, in danger as well, is in a place where he is not likely to be found. Ancel and Clare have something important to discuss, so they retreat to the redwood lawn chairs under the massive oak tree in the backyard.

Jane Hawk and her family have become embroiled in a complex, intricate, life threatening game. News reports are filled with lies about Jane, fake news at its most treacherous level. Jane is desperately trying to balance her life and her situation, “Maybe I’ve always belonged on the dark side of the law.”

Jane answers her disposable phone when it rings; it is Travis. “Mommy? Uncle Gavin and Aunt Jessie went for groceries, and they never came back.” Travis is alone, five years old and alone.

The plot continues with simultaneous events, described from alternating points of view to give readers insights into the events, conspiracy, determination, and evil of the various players. The complex scenarios are expertly intertwined, and the action happens almost simultaneously. The pace is nonstop, and proceeds at a dizzying, mind-numbing pace.

A surprising mutual friendship develops between Cornell Jasperson, and Travis Hawk. In addition, there is a new hero on the block, Laurie Longrin, a girl of about twelve. She knows good does not always triumph, not at first anyway. Bad people are clever because they spend their entire rotten lives scheming and conniving. She is not going to let “them” win.

Descriptions are colorful, and precise, a tribute to Koontz’s skill as a writer and storyteller. Every word filled with tension, promise, duplicity, and hope. There is not a wasted word, not an ambiguous sentence.

“The room is in darkness but for the drapery-filtered light from the window opposite the foot of the bed, a soft and spectral glow ribbed with thin shadows marking the folds of fabric, like an X-ray of some alien species with strange bone structure.”

I received a copy of “The Forbidden Door” from Dean Koontz, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley. Well-researched details make the story compelling: guns, geography, GPS tracking, Google Earth maps, cell phone monitoring, supercharged cars; every detail is authentic. Koontz is a writer with few equals, and this whole series is one of his best. I give it my highest recommendation.

What a real page-turner! I read it in two days and couldn’t stop, stayed up till 3 to finish it. There were twists upon twists upon twists. Really sensational - also original and heartfelt. Just sensational - don't miss it, 5 stars!!