Hair-raising, page turning thriller! The Techno Arcadians extend their hawkish reach, sending more psychotic workers to further their cause. Jane continues to fight as her army decreases. Hate to see these heros fall. Exciting read. 3 1/2 stars.
Voluntarily read ARC, through Netgalley and publisher, for honest review.

This is the third book in the Jane Hawk thriller series. I have really enjoyed this series, it is fast paced and written well. The suspense often keeps me up at night wondering what will happen next. The characters are well developed and the storyline is wonderful, if not a bit scary. As this is the third in the series, I think you need to read it in order to totally understand what is going on in the plot.

Dark revelations with Jane Hawk fighting a continual battle with forces so dark I had to put it down and step back. It scared me and left me chilled. The struggle is real and up close. Dean Koontz has opened a door to a visual landscape that you better be on the lookout for because it is already here. He is a master of suspense and this was a sharp turn from his usual light at the end of the tunnel scenario. I cannot wait for the next and final book; please hurry this roller coaster is scary and I can’t see the bottom. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to be terrified.

Cabals be caballing. In The Crooked Staircase, Jane Hawk is hunting more of the cabal that used brain nanobots to force her husband to kill himself.

In this series entry, Simon Yegg is the so-mean-it-is-unbelievable type of villain. He tortures his ex-wives up to, and including, gang rape to get them to give him more than 50% of their money during the divorce. Simon is independently wealthy so it appears he tortures just for fun. Jane is coming for him as she works up the org structure of the cabal. In an alternate story arc, two twins are being chased through Northern Orange County California by the brain-controlled police and a NSA agent. The twins are young authors who have an unbelievable ability to drive and hide in plain sight almost as well as Jane.

This, the third book in the series, is beginning to wear me out. I don’t see a light at the end of Jane’s tunnel. How can one woman take on an entire cabal of rich men and their brain-controlled subordinates? The Crooked Staircase reads like a movie thriller. It is easy to picture the scenes up on a darkened movie screen. However, the characters’ motivations are increasingly murky. I still sympathize with Jane but at some point before this book’s end, I would have just taken my son and run away to Uruguay or someplace. Move on, Jane!

The second in the Jane Hawk series was recommended with 4 stars. [link] However, this one left me cold. 3 stars! Mr. Koontz, I know this is a bestselling series. I can see by the teaser at the end that there will be a fourth Jane Hawk book. But please write some more of those excellent horror/paranormal novels like Watchers and the Odd Thomas series.

Thanks to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Wow! Another great story from Dean Koontz. This is the third of his books with character Jane Hawk and it does not disappoint. It is full of action and suspense. He writes a compelling story with vivid characters that will take your breath away.

"Jane stood in the dark, and the dark stood in her, the latter being the darkness of both her past actions and lethal potential."

OK, be honest, did Dean Koontz have a clandestine meeting with George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) before he wrote The Crooked Staircase? Because he definitely broke readers' hearts and left a bitter taste in my mouth with this book.

In this 3rd book in the Jane Hawk series, former FBI agent Jane is bent on climbing the Who's Who ladder within the Arcadian Society to exact some revenge for the death of husband and the ruination of her career and peace. With her son safe in hiding, Jane makes major moves to settle some scores and get closer to cutting off the proverbial head of the beast.

In this series, Koontz capitalizes on our fear of losing control of our true identities and succumbing to another's whims and agendas. He is a master storyteller, and he conveys as much of the story by what he leaves out as he does by what he includes. And although this installment is action-packed, fairly little ground was gained.

The bad guys are truly brutal. The protagonist is still amazingly resourceful, but she seems to be stretched a little thin. Plus, readers may start to cringe now every time she asks any of her friends for help of any kind. The body count rises in heartbreaking ways right along with the intensity. Lovers of fast-paced action will especially appreciate the final two sections of this novel.

I'm a Koontz fan, but I had to take off a few stars because of my extreme distaste for the brutal violence (triggers include rape, torture, and child abuse) and for the all-too-convenient way the bad guys were able to track down every single one of their targets regardless of the paltry clues they had to go on. Even in today's high-tech society, I found that incredibly inconceivable. And finally for the abrupt ending that felt less like a cliffhanger and instead like the book was just unfinished.

Fans of this series will rush on to read Book 4, The Forbidden Door, and hopefully, they will be rewarded with an ending (if it ends) that is completely satisfying.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Bantam Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am a BIG fan of Koontz and have loved the first two Jane Hawk books. In this third of the series, Koontz writes a devastating sub plot that was great, but there was little connection to Jane, leaving this reader a bit unsatisfied and feeling that it should really have been left out as it didn’t add to the rest of the story. Since there is more to come in the series, perhaps it will eventually tie in. The rest was fast paced, dark and full of heart stopping moments. Once again, Koontz has us devouring the pages and leaves us completely stranded at the end! Can’t wait for the next one!!

After reading the other 2 books in the Jane Hawk series(The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room) I was skeptical where exactly these books were headed. The Crooked Staircase changed all of that for me and now i'm fully engrossed and completely on board for what comes next.

While I did enjoy the previous 2 installments a decent amount, I felt there was too much going on with very little information on the characters themselves. The Crooked Staircase changes all of that! While there is still plenty of action and thrills throughout, this slows the pace down (albeit just a tiny bit) and lets the story breathe a little bit. We finally get some character motivation and backstory behind who and what is hot on Jane's trail.

For me, I hope The Crooked Staircase is an indication of what's to come, as opposed to an outlier, in the grand scheme of the entire Jane Hawk saga. Even if this installment was a fluke on what's to come, I've already buckled my seat belt and strapped in for the wild ride that is Jane Hawk's adventure to avenge her husband's death and taken down the people responsible.

Full Disclosure: I received an ARC Kindle copy of The Crooked Staircase through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first three installments in the Jane Hawk series take place in 3 months. That was a bit startling to realize. Unlike the first two books, I felt like this one didn't progress the story much. Maybe it was a really really long set up for the next 2 planned books in the series? It did end with a cliff hanger, but before then I felt there was a lot of repetition and wasted writing. This isn't the Dean Koontz story telling I remember. Are these events going to fit in and make sense at another point in time? Maybe, but it left me feeling unsettled and unsatisfied.

I've long been a fan of Dean Koontz and most of his books. This series has held my interest from the first book and I can't wait for book 4 to be released! Be warned: "This is not a cozy novel" however it's not incredibly violent either. If you've shied away from Koontz because of the supernatural monsters, you will like that all the monsters in this series are of the human kind. In contrast to the bad guys there are some really good guys.

The Crooked Staircase, the third book in the Jane Hawk series is a powerful read.
Jane continues her fight against the Techno-Arcadians; the cabal mostly consisting of politicians, agents of secret/ law enforcement agencies, rich business people and techno inventors. They are evidently the worst word in the English language: elitists. Although Koontz is careful to point out that not every Ivy Leaguer, government employee, politician, wealthy business person, innovator, or member of the mainstream press are malevolent elitists, his message is easy to read and seems to cater to the current political climate.
However, this particular group of evil elitists, the Techno-Arcadians, is looking to take over the world and form some sort of utopia; a really nasty type of utopia that seems to only benefit them. One way they are doing this is by destroying people with nanotechnology. These are people picked by a computer algorithm as possible future opponents; basically defined as people who can think and reason for themselves. Read the previous books; you owe it to yourself.
These villains are among the worst I’ve come across in many years of reading; and this from an author who excels in presenting some pretty scary villains. The two Techno-Arcadian hunters on the ground to find Jane or her little boy, Travis, are especially depraved.
Jane is still the loner on the run. A few months ago she was a loving wife, a mother and a respected FBI agent. The murder of her husband Nick by the Techno-Arcadians enraged Jane and put her into beserker mode. Her son Travis is in hiding and she has a star role on the list of Most Wanted for crimes running from murder to treason. However she has plans for some powerful payback. Man plans, God laughs, something Jane has forgotten. Something the villains may have forgotten too.
The story is written in alternating, short chapters with differing POVs. Not fun, but effective to read the mindset of the severely deranged.
It aggravates me that I enjoy Koontz’s books so much. His writing as usual is lyrical, and can be pure bone chilling. His descriptions can give James Lee Burke a run for his money; whether it is an area of Orange County or an escape across California wildernesses. My aggravation comes from his definition of elitists.
Fair warning, this book is dark, unrelentingly dark. Jane is forced to confront how far she will go to protect her son and in her quest to bring down the Techno -Arcadians. She will kill in self-defense, but will she cross other lines that seem worse? Koontz has come up with outcomes that actually are worse than death.
The Crooked Staricase crosses genres, easily jumping from thriller to science fiction to techno thriller. I wanted to sit there with pen and paper taking notes on all the information given on the ways I can be tracked, hacked, or eavesdropped on, making The Crooked Staircase chilling in ways other than just as a distopic story.
As to the title, I’ll let y’all discover that one on your own. I do advise constructing a couch pillow fort.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Dean Koontz is the master of building the intensity of suspense in his thrillers! There were times in this third edition of the Jane Hawk series that I had to close the cover of my Kindle to get a break from it all!

A group of wealthy and powerful people, who call themselves the Techno Arcadians, are trying to reshape society with implanted nanotechnology that allows them to control the minds of ‘adjusted’ people.

“The ones who turn society in the wrong direction, we hate them and believe they deserve to die. Some of those we enslave are just for our pleasure. Others will run the world at our direction while we remain concealed behind them, and they are all ignorant fools who deserve to be enslaved.”

Jane became aware of this when she started investigating a rise in unlikely suicides after her own husband's death—which triggered horrifying threats directed at both her son and herself. Jane hid her boy away with trustworthy friends and went on the offensive to get her revenge and save the world.

I was a little disappointed in the way this third book ended—not in a cliffhanger, but just at the end of a chapter, giving the feeling That’s IT??? But thankfully the first seven chapters of the next Jane Hawk book, The Forbidden Door, are included so give the reader a taste of what’s to come.

Note: I enjoyed listening to the classical music which calmed Jane's nerves as well as mine as she drove on to confront the mysteries of the crooked staircase.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Dean Koontz for allowing me access to an arc of this terrific thriller. Can't wait to read more!

I have friends who absolutely loves this book and also recommended it to me but I couldn't really get into it for some reason not saying that everyone won't definitely pick it up and give it a try just for me personally I couldn't get into it thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review on it but like I said I could not get into

Thanks Netgalley for a copy to read and review while giving my honest opinion. The cover and blurb caught my eye but this is the third in the series and you should read the others first for full details of characters.

Jane Hawk is a bad ass.... no joke. This is a conspiracy book unlike any other that I have read before. It's also chilling and disturbing. Imagine the government having a weapon to make you into a mindless suicide initiator. Jane has stumbled across a conspiracy that has left many dead and very little left for her to lose.

I didn't read the first two in this series and made it through the book fine. I didn't know what I was up against but I find the idea a little chilling. I gave the book five stars for entertainment though, amazing work since I hadn't picked up a book of his since Ashley Bell. Definitely a better series like Odd Thomas books. Those are still my favorites but Jane Hawk is a close second. Thanks Netgalley for a great book!

I am usually pretty luke-warm or right out hate book series. But this is my first experience with Dean Koontz book and have absolutely enjoyed my time so far. I've purchased the first two books so that I could successfully & enjoy the third book.



This series consumes you and you definitely lapse into the reading a movie within your head. The way it is written it feels literally like it is going on as you're reading.





Recommend? Yes, this is a good introduction to this author. At least for me it feels that way. I literally have no other experience with this author so.. but yes, definitely recommend. But start with The Silent Corner as this is the third book.

I received a free Kindle copy of The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz courtesy of Net Galley  and Random House, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as have read the first two books (The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room) in the Jane Hawk series and found both of those interesting and engaging.

This book continues the saga of Jane Hawk and her pursuit of the truth in proving that her husband's suicide was murder and protecting her young son from those who are trying to cover it up. There is an element of science fiction in this series that I will not reveal as to spoil for those who have not read the books.

There is enough revealed so this book could be a stand alone, but I strongly recommend that you read the other two books in the series first before reading this one. The backstory in the other two books helps with the understanding of the circumstances in this one.

Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the chance to review this in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit to myself I started reading Dean Knootz because of his Odd Thomas series but he’s continued to impress me with his series following Jane Hawk. However, I have to give this a lower score than the previous ones because it was just too much for me and a little too dark with the rape aspects. Also the timelines were a tad hard to follow this time. While a worthy entry I just didn’t enjoy this one as much as the others in the series.

Jane Hawk is on a mission to save the freedom of thousands of minds from a group of elitists who want to create a utopia for "special" people. Her husband was killed by the group, and she has hidden her young son so they cannot get to him. She is causing those in charge of the elitist group some frustration because she is getting close.
This is the third book in a series. Reading the first two books will clear up some details, but this book will stand alone. On the other hand, be prepared for spoilers if you plan to read the other books afterward.

The third installment of the Jane Hawk series finds Jane even deeper into the web of deceit that surrounds her husband's death. This action-packed novel builds toward an intense ending with the enemy closing in, setting us up for the fourth novel. The Crooked Staircase was almost unputdownable for me. If I could have read this one straight through, I would have, but unfortunately I had to sleep. And feed my family. Koontz is still my King of Creepy!

Expect the unexpected in this tale of nanoweb enslavement, which reminded me of Michael Crichton’s cutting edge themes. Because of the purple prose, it wasn’t until Chapter 34 of Part 1 that I was hooked and kept thinking throughout that I would really enjoy reading a condensed version of this series. This superfluous writing would be more fitting for a novella and not a full length novel, much less a series.