„The sound of echoes“ from Eric Bernt is the second installment of the „Speed of Sound“-dilogy. The story of the autistic Eddie Parks and his Echo-Box is continued. Thomas &Mercer released this book in June 2019.

Please note that you have to read the first book of this series.

Eddie Parks, Skylar Drummond and Butler McHenry only get a short break. The American Heritage Foundation still wants the echo-box and is willing to do everything to get it. Even innocent persons are not safe and so the foundation kidnaps Skylar Drummond to force Eddie into cooperation. A new chase begins, but this time they get help from an unexpected side.

This time it was easier for me to dive directly into the story. The story begins where the last book ends and so we don’t need much explanations. We can concentrate fully on the thrilling story. You can even find a little love-story which was very heartwarming but didn’t take to much room for itself.
The connection to Eddie, Skylar and Butler is intensified due to the new chase. I didn‘t want that anything happens to the three of them. There are several difficult situations they have to cope with and Eddie is rising above his limitations. Especially the relationship between Skylar and Eddie I liked very much.
It’s a pity that the science around the echo-box isn’t explained more. I would have liked to know more about the acoustic archaelogy or sound waves in general. Also in thrillers I like to learn something and it’s not just the entertainment I’m searching for.
The ingredients for this second book are action and suspense. There are only short breaks. You could make a good movie with car races, explosions, shootings and kidnapping. Moral is a topic in this book but it doesn’t get to much depths and attention. There are also some cliches in this book but this time I didn’t pay too much attention to it so I could enjoy the story more.
Highly recommended if you like thrillers with much action and suspense.

This is the second book in the Speed of Sound thriller series by Eric Bernt. I read the first book in this series, and was looking forward to the next adventure with Eddie and his "echo box". Since this book picks up where the first book ended, it is best to read The Speed of Sound before reading The Sound of Echoes.

Eddie is a high-functioning autistic savant. He lives in a place called Harmony House, a think tank for autistic savants. In The Speed of Sound, Eddie was working on an "echo box". He had dreams of using the box to hear his deceased mother sing. Of course, there were others wanting to use the box for more nefarious plans.

Eddie doesn't trust many people, or anyone really, but he has formed a trusting relationship with Dr. Skylar Drummond. This book opens with Eddie back at Harmony House and Skylar in danger. The people interested in the echo box decide to go after the one person Eddie cares about. Eddie and Skylar are thrown again into a fast and thrilling mystery.

An exciting and action-packed technothriller. Not exactly realistic, but a fun and fast-paced read. Enjoyable characters, a bit of humor, and plenty of action.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Sound of Echoes is the second thriller in the Speed of Sound series featuring one of the most incredible protagonists in the genre, high-functioning 28-year-old autist Eddie Parks, whose genius has led him to create what is affectionately referred to as "an echo box" — a one-of-a-kind device that can recreate never-recorded sounds. However, once a cornucopia of people know of its existence they vow to do whatever is required to get their hands on what they see as an integral piece to wrestle control of the future. Even if that means putting more than one life in danger.

What this book lacks in believability and probability it makes up for in action, palpable tension and characterisation. I would recommend reading the first book, The Speed of Sound, before this one as nothing will make sense otherwise and we jump right back into the melee with no time for a recap. Eddie is one of my favourite characters ever and his struggles with his condition are both humbling and inspiring and Autism is treated with great sensitivity and compassion by the author.

It's a complex, multilayered tale and moves at a real gallop. It's also packed with a cast of mainly unscrupulous, unrelenting and brutal criminals who come up against the FBI, private security firms and government officials in a race against time to stop the precious machine falling into the wrong hands. Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer for an ARC.

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘if these walls could talk’ when referring to a room that resulted in something that may have been historically momentous or possibly scandalous. Well Eric Bernt takes this phrase on a whole new level with his Speed of Sound series by making the walls actually talk. The series begins with a young autistic man that goes by the name Eddie Parks, who is also a savant, creating a device known as the ‘echo box’. The echo box has the capability of picking up physical signals from the surrounding environment and somehow converting them back to sound waves that are remnants of conversations that had occurred in the past. Eddie’s mother died while giving birth to him and Eddie had been told that she was a beautiful singer. So Eddie’s purpose in life is to hear his mother sing, which gives him the idea of creating the echo box.

What Eddie doesn’t know is that there are others that would like to get their hands on the echo box, and they would be willing do anything to get it, including murder. Two forces are at work in acquiring the echo box, one is Dr. Marcus Fenton, the head of a government-run facility that cares for Eddie. Fenton knows that the echo box would be highly desirable to any government and they would be happy to pay a hefty price to get it. The other entity that is interested in the echo box is the American Heritage Foundation. The AHF was created in the early 1970s by a group of intelligence officers that felt that the American government was becoming unstable and a covert operation that is independent of the government would be necessary to keep it under control. Thus the American Heritage Foundation was born, and they see Eddie’s echo box as a piece of technology that they must have in order to fulfill their mission. Luckily for Eddie, he has a savior by the name of Dr. Skylar Drummond, who is a psychiatrist that specializes in autism.

Drummond is hired to help bring Eddie out of a slump that is preventing him from executing the final phase in the echo box’s creation. Drummond unfortunately finds that the recent death of her boyfriend was actually a murder and is related to Eddie’s echo box. Drummond realizes that Eddie’s life is at stake and knows that she has no choice but to take Eddie and make a run for it and with every agency with an acronym chasing them, it won’t be easy. Fortunately for them, they find a little help along the way.

This is a fun action packed series with some delightful characters. Unless you expect the ‘techno’ in technothriller to be somewhat realistic, the echo box makes for an interesting plot device. When Eric Bernt is not writing novels, he is busy at work as a Hollywood screenwriter and it is not surprising that the Speed of Sound series has that movie-like feel to it. The second book in the series, The Sound of Echoes, comes out in June of 2019 and is a continuation of The Speed of Sound novel, so it would be best if The Speed of Sound is read before The Sound of Echoes. If you have read and enjoyed The Speed of Sound, then you will most likely enjoy The Sound of Echoes.

I was very excited to be approved to read this book - I read the first and loved it. This book did not disappoint - lots of action, fast paced, quick read. The characters are unique - one of the main characters has Asperger disease. I truly enjoyed reading his adventure, the subtle text emphasizing the way his brain works.
Highly recommend.

The story is about autistic Eddie Parks on the run for what he knows and has created. In his sanctuary of 16 years - Harmony House. His invention the echo box is dangerous to others as it has the ability to bring about the sounds from the past. The leader of the American Heritage Foundation wants the box for himself, so the struggle begins.

This is the second book in the Speed of Sound Thrillers series. I enjoyed reading this book it had intrigue and suspense. I Recommend this book.

This is an intriguing book, with a main character that’s quite different than most.
The plot is well throughout out, with some twists and turns where you expect them, but still quite enjoyable.
It does remind me a bit of one of Kevin Tumlinson’s Dan Koter books, but that didn’t make it any less interesting.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

Man, you should've stopped at one. The rush, the thrill, the wonder? It's just not there.

Don't get me wrong: I was squeeing with the adorableness of Eddie getting a girlfriend. But when Caitlin struck out on her own, I knew from moment one that she was going to be the ultimate victor. Hell, even her family being threatened wasn't scary, because I had no doubt that Hogan had something or someone ready to help them.

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A few nitpicks. (I wish these would be addressed before publication, but they probably won't be.)

1. You know that cutting off Skyler's ears won't make her deaf, right? It will produce a lot of blood and scare the hell out of Eddie, but it will simply decrease her ability to hear, not eliminate it. (I remembered a miniseries from when I was younger that featured an earless Native American. It was creepy as hell, but he could hear just fine. I double-checked with Google just to make sure.)

2. I checked Amazon to see what the Alcatel A206 would look like and you're wrong: it does have a camera. Also, basic phones haven't lacked internet access since the early 2000s. Saying the phone looked like it was from 2003 doesn't mean it was from 2003, so whoever thought it was a great phone (I didn't write down which character) was wrong.

3. I know you probably thought it was cool to call the car the bounty hunters had a Hellcat, but please remember that only car geeks (and me, apparently) would know it's actually a Challenger. (It's about like calling my mother's car a Platinum--it sounds fancy, but only people who have them or who love Fords would know that she drives a Fusion Platinum.) Unless you want people constantly navigating away from your book and checking google to answer their questions, I suggest you keep it simple.

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Would I read the books again? No, once was quite enough; especially with the disappointment this turned out to be. But they were a nice few days' distraction.