Review by 2shay..........

Holy Cow! This is the best book of a great series. I’ve been a Dean Koontz fan for a long time, and I am convinced that Jane Hawk is his best character so far. Okay, I know that arguments could be made, but that’s my opinion at the moment.

I have fallen helplessly in love with these characters. Luther, the former sheriff and one of Jane’s most trusted allies, is back. Once again, he is ready to help her any way he can. Eighty-one-year-old Bernie Riggowitz is back as well, the same Bernie that Jane carjacked in a previous book, then bonded with. These men believe Jane. More importantly, they believe in her and her mission.

Travis, Jane’s son, is safely ensconced with Cornell Jasperson for the moment with the two German Shepards that had belonged to Jane’s friends. Cornell is someone very special, a brilliant man with serious social anxiety and a mild case of autism, he feels safest alone and doesn’t like being touched. His connection with Travis and the dogs grows as the story progresses, a story in a story that is worth reading by itself.

I can’t fail to mention that, in this book, Mr Koontz takes us deeper into the strange minds of the Techno Arcadians, those followers and believers who carry out the orders of their cell leaders. Two of those men, Carter Jergen and Radley Dubose, are smart, well-educated and stone cold killers. They’ve been after Jane through a couple of books now. Egon Gottfrey is another. He’s new in this book and he may be the strangest of the Arcadian killers. In fact, he’s plain nuts, but interesting to read.

I have just a couple of more points to make. First, Jane is amassing a following that she knows little about. More and more people are beginning to doubt the news broadcasts. I think she may eventually find that she has more allies than she knows. Among those is the Longrin family who are attacked and held hostage by a whole cadre of Arcadians.

This is, in my opinion, this author’s best work. It’s intense. It’s scary. It’s just barely the other side of possible. This book is not a standalone. This is a series, and every book leads seamlessly into the next. The reading order is listed in the blurb. If you are a fan of beautifully crafted, non-stop action with characters you can believe in, you should start this series and...

Enjoy! Arc graciously provided by Random House and NetGalley for an honest and voluntary review.

I feel like Dean Koontz is one of the most reliable authors I know. He consistently writes quality novels and I go in knowing I'm going to enjoy the story! To be honest, I hadn't realized this was part of a series but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and want to read the rest of the series now. Koontz knows exactly how to write interesting and real characters and keep the plot driven forward each page. Definitely recommend this one and anything else by him!

Another great installment in the Jane Hawk series by Dean Koontz. I am thoroughly enjoying this series—it is fast-paced and engaging—once you start, you won't want to put the book down. You find yourself caught up in the story to the point of feeling anxious about how Jane and others will survive the latest crisis they must face—and in my opinion that is a good book! This story of Jane trying to get to her son, was well written, and suspenseful. Dean Koontz has a wonderful style of writing that holds your attention from the first page to the last. I was given a copy of this book for my honest review; however, I would have gladly paid to read this book...it is outstanding, as our the others in this series.

This is my first book by this author. I really liked most of the characters and it was easy to dislike a lot of the others. I want to know more about Jane Hawk and so I will have to go back and read the previous books in this series. Jane needs to save her son. She has to get to him before the Arcadians get to him. Her in laws are also in jeopardy. They have no problem with using anyone else to further their agenda so they put a family in Texas and a whole town in California in jeopardy to get to Jane. Jane really doesn't like what she has to do, but to save her child, she would do anything. Along the way, she has made some good friends who are willing to help her even if it could cost them their lives.

Love Jane Hawk!!!!!!! This is a woman who will do ANYTHING to protect her own and is badass at it!!!!! This third installment in the Jane Hawk series might just be the best one yet!!!!! Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for my oppurtunity to read this amazing novel.

This is a Jane Hawk book. In this book of the series Jane is trying to get to her son. Just like in the other books there is lots twists and turns. The bad guys from the other books are still trying to find Jane, her son or her in-laws.
I found this book extremely good.

Having read the first 3 books in the Jane Hawk series, I discerned a very troubling, seemingly hopeless viewpoint from the narrator, one that I have not read in other Dean Koontz novels. Evil was having its day and then some, and there seemed to be no hope, no justice for the heroine and her compatriots. She kept striving to save her son and avenge her husband’s death, while the carnage piled higher and higher with each chapter, with the cruelest group of criminals ever assembled responsible, the Arcadians, having their demented fantasies fulfilled at an enormous expense of (relatively) innocent people. It was rather desolate, and as I have said in previous reviews/analyses, I think that was the intention in its anagogical meaning--the dark night of the soul many go through who profess a belief in Christ. Anagogically, Travis is Christ, and therefore, our only hope.

I saw several glimmers of light in THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, that settled some of the unresolved story-lines from the first 3 books. The pace was thrilling and hopeful as questions I had were answered. One particular conclusion caused me to jump for joy through the house. With much anticipation, there is one more book to go, THE NIGHT WINDOW, to see how the Arcadian arc resolves completely. Once again, there were some allusions to Chris Snow--will they meet up in RIDE THE STORM? I can hope!

(I received this book through the generosity of Mr. Koontz via Random House/Bantam.)

Book 4 of The Jane Hawk series absolutely cements you into Hawk's boots. They are kick-ass boots worn by a quick-witted, intelligent ex-FBI agent gone rogue. She's also tough, intuitive, and on an urgent mission when book 3 ended with a call from her 5-year old son, Travis, that his guardians are missing. The architects of the nano-technology conspiracy permeate society. They turned Jane Hawk into America's most wanted, recognizable fugitive, a canker on the back end of society, and a deadly renegade to be hunted down and eliminated.

Prominent prose paired with poetic prophecy can get damned scary in a Koontz thriller suspense. No, you don't really have to read books 1-3 to enjoy book 4. Most reprised characters are given sufficient backstory that this could function as a standalone book. But why would you want to do that? You'd miss those pseudo-academicians (**drum roll**) from Princeton and Harvard, who never lack in one-upmanship. The characters are well developed and beyond conscionable engagement, the good guys being very, very good and the bad guys horrible; the historic tug of good vs evil.

While Jane makes the trip to Borrego Springs to rescue her child, we sink deeper into the support characters that round out this narrative with such power. I love that Koontz winning formulaic...his prose, the bits of information he drops as an aside, revelations about all manner of men and materiel and his $300 words, including his brand of Koontz philosophy.

THE FORBIDDEN DOOR has become a crusade to save her son from the techno-Arcadians against whom she launched a campaign to combat the heinous conspiracy to "adjust" the entire population of the world. Of Homeland Security, the FBI, or law enforcement, "They possess no warrants, but a lie is not a lie when there's no such thing as truth."

I was given this uncorrected proof download by Bantam Books-Random House LLC and NetGalley (thank you!). I greatly appreciate the opportunity to read and review and heartily recommend it to Koontz fans, those who don’t know they are Koontz fans (you will be), and anyone who enjoys a serious thriller, suspense, mystery, sci-fi-horror.

Jane Hawk battles the Arcadians to rescue her son after his caretakers are murdered. The excitement remains at fever pitch, and this book features some of the weirdest and most interesting characters to date. The menagerie includes individuals on both side of the fight, but the Arcadians definitely have the edge. The characters are explored in enough depth to keep the book very entertaining as the story plays out. After each book in this series I wonder how the story could get better. It definitely does in this book.

“””it’s an historic moment”””
“””a shitstorm isn’t my idea of an historic moment”””

The forth Jane Hawk novel, bad ass widowed FBI agent turned America’s most wanted on the run and out to save her five year old son. Along the way, her enemies are using nanotechnology to inject their victims with a brain implant, turning them into marionette puppets. Far fetched, but as always an “holy crap” “what if” kind of read. Fast paced read, kept me turning the pages to see “what next”.
***somewhat a spoiler - I especially fell in love with Cornell, a high functioning mildly autistic man and his relationship with Jane’s son.

Third in the Jane Hawk series, this book doesn't disappoint. Jane needs to rescue her son and nothing will stop her.
Some of the challenges that she needs to overcome are a bit heavy on the detail, but maybe that's just me. I like to get to the main story. We learn what motivates the people that chase her, both individually and as a group. More than I needed to know, too. Again, that's my preference.
The book is well written and stays with the main storyline. It doesn't drag. I'm looking forward to reading the fourth book in this series.

This amazing series just keeps improving, Jane has gathered an extraordinary family of supporting characters. Every chapter brings action and suspense. The brain altered population is increasing and the corrupt power mad organization hunting Jane will stop at nothing to capture her. Attempting to kidnap her son to lure her in for capture, inspires Jane and her allies to adopt extreme measures to insure his safety. Every step is fraught with fear and the possibility of capture is not an option.

When I was growing up, a dear aunt of mine had a room in her home with wall-to-wall mahogany bookshelves—a dream—and I distinctly remember multiple shelves being dedicated to Dean Koontz. If I close my eyes, I can still see the rows and rows of bold, colorful spines, as if shouting, “DEAN KOONTZ.” I wish I would’ve listened sooner!

The Forbidden Door is The 4th book in the Jane Hawk series and my very first Dean Koontz. I was originally unsure what to make of “Techno Arcadians” and “nanotechnology”, but it didn’t take long to figure out this was a book involving conspiracy: Crooked government and mind control.

Jane Hawk is a hunted, rogue FBI agent on a mission to rescue her kid. I was sold by description alone. The bonus was that I didn’t need to read the other books in the series to get completely sucked in and catch up to what was happening. The Forbidden Door is a crime thriller that reads like an action movie: Unrelenting and heart stopping. It took some unexpected turns and is loaded with detail, so while it is fast-paced, it’s also one you need to be on alert for. I’m ready for the next, but I think I’ll start from the beginning. | 4.5/5

The Forbidden Door is an awesome suspense-filled thriller. The main character, Jane is an ex-FBI agent on a mission to destroy the men who are installing mind-control technology in people in order to gain dominion over all of society. She is also on the run trying to not get herself caught and killed. She avoids all kinds of tight situations. She is being chased by the best of the best bad guys. They are right behind her each step of the way. She is a marvelous character. She's surrounded by a team of equally great characters. Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. This novel ranks among his best in my opinion.
I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Non stop action and scenes that had me closing my eyes as the vivid images brought to mind were just too macabre. The pacing is intense. Jane and Travis are still heart warming characters. Also loved, loved, loved Cornell and his quirky behaviors. I am predicting he will allow touching in the next book. The nanotechnology and the Arcadians just seem so far fetched to me...thank goodness! Four stars for the pacing, but 3 stars for the gruesome visions...3.5 stars. Thanks to Dean Koontz, Bantam, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this soon to be published book.

A must read series and book! The latest installation in the gripping Jane Hawk series about Jane, a former FBI star against a vicious and dangerous cabal of heavy handed people in all walks of government and the higher echelon of society trying to get away with mass mind control using nanotechnology mind control. As the former books, this too is a fast paced thriller where you never know what is going to happen or who is going to die. While Koontz [or anyone else for that matter] is as heavy handed in snuffing yor favorite characters as George RR Martin, you never know in the surprising twists who will end up where. Highly recommend this series and want to add, the most terrifying part of it is how easily something like this could happen. People of this country and world have already proven how susceptible they are to being led and level of accepted propaganda though ludicrous, as well as going full bandwagon being herd creatures in groups, spouting their rhetoric regardless of how ridiculous.. The US, Israel, Russia, UK have always had shadow groups experimenting on people and the attempt of mind control of the masses. Nano tech is such that this wouldn't be that far fetched but think the sound experiments have probably been pretty scary too.

Knuckle whitening thriller. Jane Hawke is on the run-from the government,- FBI, NSA you name the homeland security agency and they want Jane. And want her now.! This book is great fun if you can dispel your disbelief. of the deep state' government inside government bad guys Jane is up against.

Picking up where “The Crooked Staircase” left off, the Techno Arcadians have killed Jessie and Gavin, the couple watching Jane Hawk’s son, Travis. Fearing for her child’s safety, Jane is putting a plan in motion to get to the boy before her enemies find his hiding place. The Arcadians, knowing that Jane will come for her son, have hatched their own plan to locate Travis before she arrives and so capture both the mother and the young son.

The fourth in the Jane Hawk series, this installment introduces several of the Techno Arcadians, providing readers with intriguing insights into their thoughts and ideas. The action centers on the efforts of the Techno Arcadians to further vilify Jane, to capture her, and to put an end to her interference in their malevolent plans. Plans and schemes, carried out in hopes of success, build the suspense; palpable tension keeps the pages turning at a brisk pace as a shocking catastrophe affects both Jane and the Techno Arcadians.

“The Forbidden Door” offers sufficient backstory for readers new to the series; a strong sense of place anchors the intriguing tale. Well-developed characters, a twisting plot, and several unexpected reveals increase the tension and keep the suspense building. Readers are certain to find much to appreciate in this unputdownable narrative.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this Advance Reader’s eBook from Random House/Bantam Books and NetGalley
#TheForbiddenDoor #NetGalley

Jane Hawk! If you have not read this series, you can start here but you will have missed all the good stuff that went before. Told from multiple points of view and with lots of action, it's a tale of a mother's determination and equally- of good versus evil. Don't get too attached to anyone (except Jane and her son). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a fast entertaining read for those who like action oriented fiction with an awesome heroine.

Fourth in the Jane Hawk thriller series and revolving around a rogue FBI agent who intends to take down a cabal that is re-programming people and forcing the best to commit suicide.

This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Bantam for an honest review.

My Take
Whew…the tension. Oh, ya gotta know Jane'll win, but at what cost. The bad guys have been successfully killing people for some time, and now they are after her in-laws AND her five-year-old son.

Too typical. The news media [in real life, too] slants the news to suit their viewpoint (I remember having it pounded into me in my journalism classes, to always be neutral, to present both sides. I guess I missed the class that said…except when…] Even worse, this media is controlled by the bad guys.

I do wonder how often government agencies do take people down for their own ends…?

Koontz has put a twist on Gottfrey's character that is oddly enjoyable. Well, for a writer, anyway. Gottfrey believes the world is merely a play that the Unknown Playwright is writing as he goes, and it gives Gottfrey a unique perspective, believing as he does that he's merely a marionette. Oh, yeah, Koontz is using third person global subjective point-of-view, which allows us access to any of the characters' thoughts, emotions, actions, and encounters. Just so's ya know.
"…it is far better to be one through whom the Unknown Playwright wields power rather than to be one on whom that power is brought to bear."
It is interesting that so many of the Techno-Arcadian rank-and-file are in it for the power.

You do want to read this, if only for the sea change that occurs within Cornell. It is SO sweet. Ferrante, now this boy is disturbing in a totally unusual way. Ramsey. Well, Ramsey is a whole 'nother story. And not one that the Arcadians want to read. As for Carter...he's done a turnaround and is suddenly so lacking in his self-esteem. It may well be that he's gotten introspective…but why anyone would want to emulate Dubose??
"I don't want to live half dead anymore, please and thank you. All alive or all dead — either way is better."
Don't get me wrong about granny. I love her attitude and her actions, but who is she and why??

Koontz is consistent in his using present tense at the start of chapters and in describing character thoughts. And I do not like it. It's weird to jump from present to past tense. It almost reads like an info dump or descriptions for a screenplay.

It's about love and free will with the series arc the heroine battling the bad guys, slowly acquiring her "army" with good versus bad. Each story has increased the pressure on Jane as well as increasing the horror we experience as we read of the Techno-Arcadians in action. It's not a world I'd want to inhabit.

It's terrifying, on the edge of your seat action that never stops with the scenes switching between three areas: Jane's travels (and encounters), Gottfrey and his team as they hunt their prey, and the Borrega Valley, which switches between Travis and Cornell and the Arcadians. Anything is possible.

It's also a world that too closely surrounds us. One group, intent on power, believing theirs is the only way, one with the perverse idea that controlling [and forcing to suicide] good, decent people who would work to make our world a better place for everyone and keep their free will intact. There is nothing about the Techno-Arcadians that's decent, caring, or protective other than of themselves. They have no concern for any one but themselves.

The Story
Jane Hawk is proving too elusive for the Arcadians, and they have their own plans to break this elite agent who is all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society’s terrifying mind-control technology.

Take her son. Inject her in-laws. And she'll lose her mind. Her focus.

It's a manhunt that grows more vicious, more dangerous with every day, every hour, that passes. It's a hunt that reveals much of the people involved, for good or evil.

A hunt that reveals new threats and new hopes.

The Characters
Jane Hawk was a top FBI agent, until she discovered the Techno-Arcadian plot. Now she's the #1 most-wanted fugitive. Aliases include Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, Alice Liddell, and Leslie Anderson. Her five-year-old son, Travis, is in hiding, although his foster parents, Uncle Gavin and Aunt Jessie Washington, were gunned down in The Crooked Staircase , 3, and he's alone except for Cornell Jasperson, a brilliant eccentric who suffers from Asperger's and has been a hermit for years. Hannah is the pony Gavin got for Travis. Nick had been her beloved husband, until he committed suicide the previous November. Her father, Martin Duroc, is a famous pianist. And a murderer.

Luther Tillman, a.k.a., Wilson Ellington, had been a sheriff in Minnesota ( The Whispering Room , 2). He and his remaining daughter, Jolie, fled after after he lost his wife, Rebecca, and older daughter, Twyla. Cora Gunderson had been a much-beloved and influential schoolteacher and friend of Tillman's ( The Whispering Room ). Leland and Nadine Sacket are friends of Jane's who operate the Sacket Home and School for orphaned children.

Bernie Riggowitz, a.k.a., Albert Rudolph Neary whose wife, "Penny", died four years ago, is an eighty-one-year-old widower who loves to travel ( The Whispering Room ). Miriam had been his beloved wife. Nasia and Segev are Bernie's daughter and son-in-law who live in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Worstead, Texas, is…
…where Ancel and Clare Hawk are ranchers, as well as Jane's in-laws. The ranch manager, Juan Saba, and his wife, Marie, live on the ranch. Chase and Alexis Longrin run a stable; Chase had been best friends with Nick. Their children include Daphne, Artemis, and the cheeky, quick-thinking Laurie. Bodie Houston is the ranch manager. Ethan Stackpool is one of Laurie's classmates…and her inspiration. Rolly Capshaw is their ancient lawyer.

Linwood Haney is the chief of the volunteer fire department; his wife, Corrine, is one of the volunteers. Bonnie Jean, a.k.a., Beejay, is Laurie's age and a friend; Beejay wants to be a Marine sniper when she grows up.

Along the way, we meet Jim Lee Cassidy, a real estate agent in Killeen who is shocked, I tell you. Shocked. Sue Ann née Luckman McMaster works for the bus line. Dennis van Horn is the manager of the bus station. Lonnie John Bricker is the bus driver from Killeen. Mr Titus is head of security at the Houston bus terminal. Louis Calloway is the head of vehicle maintenance. Tucker Treadmont drives for Uber. Mary Lou Spencer is the station manager in Beaumont, Texas. Posey and Johnny Don Ackerman have a house in Conroe and in Florida. David, their son, is a doctor and was a friend of Nick's; Kay and Lucy are David's sisters. Ben is one of a group of six in Conroe.

Borrego Springs in Borrego Valley, California, is…
…where Cornell is secluded and intends to ride out the end of our known world. Shamira had been his drug-addled mother. Duke and Queenie had been Gavin and Jessie's German shepherds.

Deputies Utley and Parkwood are not Arcadians. Yet.

The Arcadian team here is disguised as the Desert Flora Study Group, and includes Ahmed al-Adel, Malcolm Kingman, Zita Hernandez, Damon Ainsley, Harry Oliver, Taratucci, Solomon, Kirk Granger, and Walter Hackett.

They'll "adjust" 50 people in the valley, including Robert (a history teacher) and Minette (an English teacher) Butterworth and Minette's paraplegic sister, Glynis Gallworth, who works in the State Department in D.C. (Mace Mackey fancied himself as bad to the bone and had been Minette's irresponsible boyfriend); Rooney Corrigan's family, including his son Ramsey; Henry Lorimar and his partner, Nelson Luft; Buckley Tolbert who used to be a generous and amusing man; and, Arlen Hosteen owns Valleywid Waste Management with access to some really big trucks.

Louise Atlee reports a burglary. Her husband is Walter, and Colter is their son. Bipin Gaitonde is married to Zoya and runs a convenience store. The Hammersmith Family RV Park is quite nice, and Holden Hammersmith is too big for anyone to seriously want to fight with him. His sixteen-year-old son, Sammy, is a chip off the old block. Larry is a Pomeranian that belongs to the granny with the broke-down truck.

Nogales, Arizona, is home base for Enrique "Ricky" de Soto of the "special" vehicles. Bullet Head and Skinny Mick have a lot to learn; too bad they won't have time. Danny and Tio (Ricky's old girlfriend, Maya, is his now) work for Ricky. Ferrante Escobar is Ricky's nephew with a legit business in Indio, California, customizing vehicles with armor, etc. He also deals in illegal arms. Josefina is Ferrante's mother and Ricky's sister.

Judy White, a.k.a., Lois Jones, claims to be a Syrian refugee; her husband, Pete, a.k.a., John White, does a booming trade in forged IDs.

The Techno-Arcadians are…
…"visionaries" who intend to re-make the world to suit their wants. Dr. Bertold Shenneck invented the nanotech. His wife was Inga Shenneck. They've infiltrated the government and law enforcement at every level. They will "adjust" anyone, but especially those on the Hamlet List — people who excel and may become influential leaders. Egon Gottfrey is the leader of the team that will take down Ancel and Clare.

The rest of his team includes Paloma Sutherland, Sally Jones, the Hush Puppies-and-corduroy-suit-wearing Rupert Baldwin, the not-too-bright Vince Penn, Christopher Roberts (who doesn't like to be sad), the psychotic Janis Dern (Francine is Janis' older sister who influences her every thought), and Pedro and Alejandro Lobo who are twins. Ivan "Big Guy" Petro, a hit team all by himself, is based in Sacramento within the state government.

The Unknown Playwright is writing the settings and moves that Gottfrey makes. And why Gottfrey's employers continue to use him, I do not know. Lord knows, his judgement is so impaired.

Sheila Draper-Cruxton is a court of appeals judge and the leader of Gottfrey's cell. Special Agent Leon Fettwiler is not an Arcadian but is in the Houston area.

The Harvard-educated Bostonian Carter Jergen and his partner, the "pride of Crap County, West Virginia", and a Princeton graduate, Radley Dubose, have been killing and "adjusting" people since The Silent Corner , 1. Aunt Dierdre is the person who issued Jergen his invitation.

Aspasia is the name for the brothels the Arcadians run. Really high-end with "adjusted", compliant girls with empty minds and no sense of self. Gregory is a very successful entrepreneur who took Janis there one night. Rayshaws, named for Raymond Shaw from The Manchurian Candidate, are a male version with no thought but to do exactly as they're told.

J.J. Crutchfield was a serial killer. Nathan Silverman had been Jane's boss at the FBI ( The Silent Corner , 1). The whispering room is like an internal Twitter account, a hive mind, that allows the adjusted to hear and "speak" to every other mind that's been adjusted as well.

The Cover and Title
The cover has a black and orange color scheme with white text. It's Jane looking back over her shoulder at us, her below-shoulder-length wavy hair swirling with the movement. There's a more subtle movement in the closely spaced sound waves swooping across the entire graphic. At the top is an info blurb followed by the author's name, the series information below and left, and the title is centered at the bottom.

The title is what happens when one of the "adjusted" goes through The Forbidden Door.