Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Whispering Room
    The Whispering Room
    The Whispering Room
    Audiobook16 hours

    The Whispering Room

    Written by Dean Koontz

    Narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Jane Hawk-fiction's most relentless, resourceful, stunning new heroine-continues her battle against a murderous conspiracy in the riveting sequel to The Silent Corner. "No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this." These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun-just before she takes her own life, and many others', in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better. In the wake of her husband's inexplicable suicide-and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals-Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But the ruthless people bent on hijacking America's future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue-and become the nation's most wanted fugitive-in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough. Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 21, 2017
    ISBN9781490657868
    The Whispering Room
    Author

    Dean Koontz

    Dean Koontz is the author of more than a dozen New York Times No. 1 bestsellers. His books have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, and his work is published in 38 languages. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lives with his wife Gerda and their dog Anna in southern California.

    More audiobooks from Dean Koontz

    Related to The Whispering Room

    Titles in the series (2)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Horror Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Witch Finders

      Jul 16, 2020

      Beth pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was the very last day of October and the air was damp and chill. Dead autumn leaves lay in deep piles in the woods and smoke curled into the night air from her cottage. Not far to go now. She bent her head

      4 min read

    • Article

      Horror Begins At Home: The Haunting New Chapter In Domestic Noir

      Oct 29, 2022

      When Dee walks through the front door in Catriona Ward’s recent thriller The Last House on Needless Street, readers of gothic fiction find themselves in a familiar place. The house is “an underworld; a deep cave where lonely shafts of light fall on s

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Peeper’s Routine

      Jul 23, 2019

      The Peeper’s Routine
      7 min read

    • Article

      ‘The End of the Day’: Featured Fiction from Bill Clegg

      Sep 30, 2020

      An excerpt from a novel Kirkus called "A moody, atmospheric domestic drama with a mystery novel somewhere in its family tree." The post ‘The End of the Day’: Featured Fiction from Bill Clegg appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Keys and TREES

      Mar 31, 2021

      Keys and TREES
      3 min read

    • Article

      One Look Back

      Jun 1, 2023

      One Look Back
      20 min read

    • Article

      Suspicious Circumstances

      Aug 10, 2022

      Suspicious Circumstances
      7 min read

    • Article

      Suspicious Circumstances

      Aug 10, 2022

      Suspicious Circumstances
      7 min read

    • Article

      Discarded Wraith Of Apartheid

      Apr 13, 2024

      It’s been years since I read a book that strained the Likability Principle as viscerally as Karen Jennings’ new book, Crooked Seeds. Her previous novel, An Island, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, but I fear the more I tell you about Crooked Seed

      2 min read

    • Article

      Shelter

      May 28, 2022

      Shelter
      4 min read

    • Article

      The holiday HOME

      Jul 7, 2022

      The holiday HOME
      4 min read

    • Article

      A WINTER weekend

      Jan 2, 2020

      A WINTER weekend
      6 min read

    • Article

      Practicing

      Mar 15, 2018

      This would have been her favorite season in the Allegheny woods. The shadows of the trees were rickety, and the wind had sap in its scent. But last week, Ty had left; now one day decayed into the next. Their house was abandoned. Only their father, si

      18 min read

    • Article

      A winter WEEKEND

      Dec 22, 2020

      A winter WEEKEND
      6 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      May 24, 2022

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Nov 9, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      Intarsia

      Feb 6, 2020

      Intarsia
      6 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      Jun 3, 2021

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      The distinctive depth of characterisation shines in this tightly knitted story of therapist Nick and retired solicitor wife Zoe, as they decide to view a deconsecrated Victorian church which is for sale. It’s “even more picturesque than it looked onl

      11 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      Summer Reading Special
      11 min read

    • Article

      Out Of This WORLD

      Apr 20, 2021

      Out Of This WORLD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Euthanasia

      Aug 10, 2023

      On a frigid December morning, Hank Sanders stomped the caked mud off his worn boots and entered Discount Hardware. He couldn’t shake his cousin’s remarks. Put her down, he’d said. The words had rolled so effortlessly off his lips, as if her life mean

      11 min read

    • Article

      Not-so-deserted Island

      Mar 30, 2023

      Not-so-deserted Island
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cuckoo In The Nest

      Sep 5, 2021

      Cuckoo In The Nest
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Whispering Room

    4.5/5

    282 ratings23 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Really enjoying the series and storyline. Intense, interesting and scary to think about. The narrator is brilliant too.
    • 5/5
      Oh boy this story has grown on me. Great character development and a really good pace to the story. I'm starting the next book in the series right now.
    • 5/5
      It grabs you and pulls you in from start to finish. I couldn’t stop listening. Jane Hawk is brave and fearless.
    • 5/5
      Just love this new character. I wonder how far he will take her and if we will see some of the supporting characters come back around.
    • 5/5
      Terrifying when you consider what is happening in 2022. He uses even the same phrases the news and governments give us to placate a people into accepting total global leadership in the one-world government. I have to ask Dean Koontz if he had inside information when he wrote this series.
    • 3/5
      It was hard to get into. A couple parts kept me coming back for more, but not enough of them.
    • 5/5
      As always, action packed. Filled with twists and turns most unexpected.
    • 5/5
      Very good,although it leaves you in suspension wanting to know answers
    • 5/5
      This high octane sequel to The Silent Corner is just as compelling, suspenseful, and unputdownable! Jane Hawk is a complex, fierce, intelligent, & athletic woman, mother, & widow. I wish for the next two in the series to be published speedily!

      Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC.
    • 5/5
      Book 2 in the Jane Hawk series , as in the first book the story flows quickly and easy to read getting to know more about main characters and get introduced to new ones. if you didn't know there were 3 more books in the series you would have taught the story was coming to a logical end but then another twist is thrown in. Looking forward to book 3.
    • 5/5
      This second book in the Jane Hawk series is even better than the first book! I had been wondering how Dean Koontz was going to make this into a series without leaving the reader frustrated from lack of resolution. Well, he succeeds. "The Whispering Room" is riveting, with plenty of tension, action, and twists and turns. Heroine Jane Hawk is badass and vulnerable at the same time. I really like her; she's human. Koontz adds new characters in this book who fall right in with Jane's on-the-run lifestyle. In her one-person war against a giant evil, Jane finds a few allies along the way, and these characters keep the story moving right along. And even though things are not resolved at the end of this book (I mean, it's a series, right?), I did not feel dissatisfied -- just antsy with anticipation for book #3.Koontz, who has always been one of my favorite authors (despite some missteps along the way with a few books), is in fine form with his luminous writing style and carefully chosen vocabulary that evokes specific emotions from the reader, taking us along on a thrilling ride. Onward to book #3 "The Crooked Staircase"!
    • 2/5
      This was a good book with THE most unsatisfying ending ever. I understand that this is part of a series but, REALLY, WTH?????? I'm really not sure if I will even continue with the series.

      Many thanks to Netgalley and Bantam for this advanced readers copy.
    • 3/5
      So, as mentioned in the previous post, I got my hands on this lovely book then realized it was a sequel. Oops!

      I was intrigued as to where this one was going to go and I'm always curious about some sequels. Sometimes, a sequel assumes you read the previous one(s) in the series and tells you absolutely nothing about any of the characters or their back story. That wasn't the case with The Whispering Room and even though I had read The Silent Corner right before, it was nice to get those little refresher bits.

      Honestly, I think this one could almost be read alone, but there would be some confusing elements that would leave a reader asking a lot of questions.

      Now, to the nitty-gritty.

      I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I had really high expectations going into it because I really enjoyed The Silent Corner. It was quick and exciting and while at times a little unbelievable, entertaining nonetheless.

      Unfortunately, the first in the series was better than this one and I am reluctant to read any further Jane Hawk books, at least for a while.

      I did appreciate that the story picked up where the prequel left off. There wasn't a dozen chapters reminding readers who Jane was or what her mission was, it jumped right into the action. The glimpses into Jane's past were brief but informative and for someone who just recently read the first in the series, it wasn't boring to read those tidbits. If it had been months (or years) between readings, the bits and pieces would have been just enough to spark a memory.

      It was slower compared to The Silent Corner and I think that's where it lost me. I was ready to dig in and read, but the suspense was built differently.

      I also found this one to be a little less believable than the previous one. The level of the mind-control went to an extreme and without giving away a very crucial detail to the story, it didn't feel right. It felt forced and just like when you watch a sci-fi show that starts throwing in random monsters and cures to incurable diseases, it didn't seem to fit the bill.

      Am I glad I read it?

      Eh... yes and no. There was some closure for Jane, which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. Koontz does an amazing job and providing just enough detail to paint and image while leaving enough to my imagination. He is well-researched in weapons and tactics that FBI/police would actually employ and I appreciate that. None of those aspects felt fake, forced, or unbelievable. I think it flopped a bit for me though.

      Jane didn't feel as badass in this one as she did in the first one. She felt more like the cop-gone-renegade and at times, I didn't really like her. In the first novel, I was rooting for Jane, "Go kick some ass!" This one, I was shaking my head a couple of times, "No. Come on. Just don't, ugh."

      The first was definitely better (as unfortunately the case for many series) but it wasn't horrible. I still enjoyed Koontz work and his well-written characters, I was just left wanting a little more out of it.

       
    • 5/5
      Awesome continuation of the saga of Jane Hawk! I love the intrigue and action, strong women characters and character development of this series!
    • 5/5
      Jane Hawk is one major bad a$$ woman! We need more women like her in the books we read. Not only is she super smart and an expert at so many things, she is like an UFC cage fighter. I definitely would not want to be caught in a dark alley with her.On the run, with her picture in every post office in America, Jane is trying to get to the bottom of her husband's death. The charge she is running from.What Jane uncovers is crazy out there, but made believable. I fell for it, hard. Full of action, plot twists you will NEVER see coming and an ape sh$t crazy way to take over the world through control.A read that I thoroughly enjoyed, sped right through and could not put down. I am definitely loving this new series by the author.Thanks to Random House Ballantine and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
    • 3/5
      Well written , intense at times
    • 5/5
      Jane Hawk continues her fight against the powerful people who believe themselves above the law and who are conspiring to remake America’s future in the image they have chosen for its people. Beloved school teacher Cora Gunderson has trouble understanding what is happening to her until the day she drives her Ford Expedition into a newly-remodeled and re-opened hotel restaurant, claiming the life of the governor and a district congressman.What drove Cora Gunderson to this unspeakable act? Why did she write in her journal that spiders were crawling around in her brain, laying their eggs there?Jane Hawk knows. Cora, like Jane’s husband, Nick, and so many others, became the victim of the evil machinations of a group led by the founder of Far Horizons. What this covert group doesn’t know is the extent to which their foe Jane Hawk has become unstoppable in her hunt for the answers.What the now-rogue FBI agent doesn’t know is what Iron Furnace has to do with the conspiracy. Jane discovers the answer is one that leaves eight children in peril. But is her own peril tied to the horror of the whispering room?Continuing the story begun in “The Silent Corner,” this near-future techno thriller has a twisting plot replete with surprises and unexpected reveals. There is just about enough recap of the first book for those who come to this one without the benefit of having read the beginning of Jane’s saga although they will have missed the wonderful nuances of the first narrative. The characters are well-drawn and believable, especially the children of Iron Furnace. Readers will be hard-pressed to set this one aside before turning the final page.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this." These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun--just before she takes her own life, and many others', in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better. In the wake of her husband's inexplicable suicide--and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals--Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But these ruthless people bent on hijacking America's future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue--and become the nation's most wanted fugitive--in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.I was a die hard Dean Koontz fan for years. I loved his spooky, otherworldly novels...then along came the "Odd Thomas" series. it was a bit different but still retained the qualities that I read Koontz novels for. Now we have the "Jane Hawke" series. It would probably be a great series...by any other author. It's not badly written...it's not an unbelievable storyline...the characters are not unlikable...it just isn't the Dean Koontz that I had grown to love that penned novels like "The Servants of Twilight"..."Lightening"... "Watchers"...and so very many, many more.
    • 5/5
      “You’re dead already…. They’ll all know about you in the whispering room.”Jane Hawk is a rogue agent fighting for her and her son’s life and avenging her late husband’s murder. Silicon Valley billionaire David James Michael and owner of the biotech company, Far Horizons, is her target. His company is making nanomachines injected into the bloodstream to be used as a control mechanism “eliminating people who will push civilization in the wrong direction”. Her husband was a product of the experiment and as she delves deeper into the peculiar town of Iron Furnace, Kentucky, she finds a “menace of place as felt in Dachau or Auschwitz, or in the Soviet gulags”.See my complete review at The Eclectic Review
    • 5/5
      The Whispering Room picks up where The Silent Corner left off with American’s Most Wanted ex-FBI agent Jane Hawk still in hiding, trying to keep herself alive, her son hidden and to find the truth as to why her husband committed suicide. Just when she thinks she has answers, it gets more difficult to track who is behind it all. While following a lead, she finds an ally in Sheriff Luther Tillman from Minnesota. They work together but yet although some questions are answered, there are still much more unanswered. Koontz has created such a complex story with vibrant characters that I can’t wait to read the third installment!
    • 2/5
      "It feels like a spider crawling around in my skull"The Whispering Room is book #2 in the Jane Hawk series. The story follows on from #1 The Silent Corner, but it is not necessary to have read book #1.Jane Hawk's husband kills himself and she is being hunted for things she may/may not know about it.After spinster, Cora Gunderson's suicide mission, Sheriff Luther Tillman cannot believe the person he has known forever is capable of such an atrocity, after finding Cora's journals he begins to realise that somehow people are being controlled. Tillman and Hawk paths cross in Iron Furnace and they team up to rescue the children from the 'school', in this eerie town where the folks all have the same mannerisms and all the dogs have been killed off. They transport the children to safety, then go their separate ways. Tillman tries to get his family to safety, but that doesn't go quite as he planned. Hawk continues in her bid to find out how to get to D.J. Michael in the Far Horizons building.Many thanks to Netgalley for the advanced proof digital copy
    • 5/5
      Koontz has provided us with a razor-sharp thriller involving a rogue FBI agent on the run, mind-control, twisted conspiracies, bizarre suicides, hi-tech surveillance, hidden pockets of survivors, distrust, paranoia, gun battles, and all kinds of continual non-stop action. He effectively combines elements of crime thrillers and science fiction elements and provides one helluva rocking story.

      Thanks to Random House -Ballantine for providing an advance readers copy of this book. Normally I avoid popular airport newsstand authors, but I am glad to have finally discovered Koontz. This is actually book two in the series, but I found that, while reading "The Silent Corner" would have been helpful, it was not a prerequisite. What was at stake - freedom, individuality, personhood - was made quite clear.

      Jane Hawk is a bold new heroine in a strange new world where no one can ever be fully trusted again. Do you want to play Manchurian?
    • 5/5
      The Whispering RoomBy: Dean R. KoontzI received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.Simply a master storyteller performing at the peak of his art. I've been a fan of Mr. Koontz for over 25 years and have watched him mature as a writer. This book is everything you love about a Koontz book and more - needle sharp plot lines, well-drawn and engaging characters, and heavenly dialogue. If an event occurs or someone talks in a Koontz book, it has an importance to the plot. I never skim when I read Koontz but rather I enjoy each bite.Plot and Characters:This is book #2 in the Jane Hawk series. You can read this one alone but for maximum enjoyment start with #1 (The Silent Corner). In this outing, Jane Hawk digs deeper into the mystery she started to unravel in the first book. In the first book, Jane's world fell apart. She was happily married with a well-loved child and held a fulfilling job with the FBI. All of this was ripped away from her as she uncovered a spectacular conspiracy. In book 2, Jane is very isolated. She must rely solely on her own wits. As the book progresses, the tension increases as the stakes are raised but our heroine slowly begins to gather a team of trustworthy allies.One of my favorite things about a Koontz book is the way he treats his characters. They each have a backstory and motivation for their actions. He never just throws in random or convenient characters. While Mr. Koontz keeps the pace of his plots brisk, he is leisurely in his character development. I am especially enjoying Jane Hawk. She is the pinnacle of a Koontz female character. The author always treats women well in his books. They are funny, engaging, and women of substance. Jane, however, is a step up.If I had one teeny, tiny complaint, it would perhaps be his treatment of children. They are always so good. For instance, two little girls are described as, "a lively but well-behaved pair". All good kids and dogs are almost angel-like. Perhaps Mr. Koontz is just the sort of person who really likes kids and just honestly doesn't see orneriness.Overall:I highly recommend this book and cannot wait for the next in this series.