It’s all been building to this. Those who’ve followed Koontz’s series from the beginning (The Silent Corner in 2017) knew it was coming, and now, after four previous books, Jane Hawke is finally ready to finish what she started.
Ever since they messed with the wrong guy, her husband, Jane Hawke has had her sights set on the ruthless cabal known as the Techno Arcadians. Years back, The Arcadians, a powerful group of people hellbent on using manipulation and persuasion to gain power, used nanoparticles—injected into their victims—to brainwash Jane’s husband, who eventually went so mad that he took his own life. Since then, Jane has worked tirelessly to complete two objectives: protect her son, Travis, and expose the Arcadians before burning them to the ground.
Here, following the events of The Forbidden Door (2018), Jane has stashed Travis with friends out west and teamed up with former FBI agent turned hacker extraordinaire Vikram Rangnekar, who managed to obtain valuable intelligence about the Arcadians. Jane believes the group is funded by billionaire Warwick Hollister, a certified psychopath who proves his evilness by hunting helpless individuals for sport at his Colorado compound, and wants to go after him. However, news that someone has identified Travis changes everything, leaving Jane in an impossible situation that, if she’s not careful, could lead to her failing both of her objectives . . . and everything she’s worked so hard for.
Over the last few years, Dean Koonz has quickly established Jane Hawke as one of the best female protagonists in the genre. And fans have rooted for her since book one, no matter how high the odds were stacked against her. Whether it was feeling for her loses or cheering her on as she figured out ways to dodge facial recognition software at every turn in order to evade Arcadian forces, readers have longed to see her expose the conspiracy that’s claimed countless lives. Now, the story’s come full circle, and while it’s unclear whether or not Koontz intends this to be the final book in the series or just the final book under this story arc, Hawke fans will no doubt appreciate the thrilling yet satisfying ending.
That said, the structure in this one’s a bit choppy, and Koontz may have tried to fit one too many storylines into the fold, taking away from Jane’s screentime—which is really too bad, because her pages are excellent. Still, many questions are finally answered, and Vikram Rangnekar (who crushed on hard on Hawke) proves to be a fun addition to the cast. Previously, Jane has never known who she could really trust, so seeing her finally have a companion with a common goal is a welcomed contrast to the earlier books.
Dean Koontz’s The Night Window is a fast-paced thriller that finally ties up a number of loose ends and provides closure to the series’ long-running storyline. Readers will hope this isn’t the end of Jane Hawke, but even if it is, at least she goes out with a bang.
Book Details
Author: Dean Koontz
Series: Jane Hawke #5
Pages: 496 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0525484701
Publisher: Bantam
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Book Spy Rating: 7.5/10
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.
[…] The Night Window About Author Dean […]
As catchy as this book is, it doesn’t have any logic whatsoever.
Why did Jane and Vikram need to run, and hide, and put themselves at such huge risks, while finding out all those details about the arkadians and their plans, when they could do at the beginning what they did at the end? If Vikram injected himself and became an adjusted man right away, he would have found out everything they needed to know without all that fuss?
Any plans to beat a conspiracy must have two components: first is gathering enough compromising data, and second is the best way to expose it all.
But why bother using the long way of collecting information when there wasn’t any other way to make it public except sacrificing themselves? So, that injection that Vikram administered himself at the end, would have accomplished both steps at once: he would have found out everything they needed and make it public, exactly the way they did it in the end.
Not to mention that the part about Tom, the Hollywood guy, has no influence at all upon the storyline, except to add quite a few more pages to the book.
But it would have been nice to be given closure regarding the fate of Charles, the psychopath who killed so many people a long the way, for no other reason but his own sadistic pleasure.
In conclusion, I don’t think I’m going to read another book by Dean Koontz.