Book Review: The Whispering Chamber

Reviewed by Joelene Pynnonen

A near-future sci-fi adventure that pits AI and technological warfare against humanity

Harrison Randolph, former founder of the world’s largest AI development firm who is now an advocate for personal privacy laws, is attacked by the Vice-President of the United States at a Senate committee hearing. When her attempt to kill him fails, she commits suicide. 

As shocking as that is, he’s even more stunned when the Secret Service seems to target him as the offender. Before he can be detained, a teenage girl with surprising command of the situation creates an escape route for him. Within hours, he and his wife, former Marine Aviator Shannon Parks, are branded terrorist assassins and top the most wanted lists of every law enforcement agency in the country.

Hundreds of miles away in Florida, Shannon Parks is catching up with an old family friend when the bulletin for her arrest goes out. Unable to establish consistent communication with Harrison, her only option is to find a safe place to hide and hope that he does too. But an old enemy is after her, and already several steps ahead. 

Before long, she will be fighting a biological weapon the likes of which the world has never seen, one that controls its victims from within. Without Harrison by her side, she will need all her skills to face this threat.

The Whispering Chamber is the second novel in the Parks/Randolph series. It opens three years after the first novel, D.I.T.T.O., ends. While the characters and events of the first novel are vital to this one, enough backstory and context is built in that Whispering Chamber can be read as a stand-alone. It is a near-future political sci-fi, told from multiple perspectives. 

There are some hefty social and moral implications in the subject matters Whispering Chamber explores. The discussion of how far technology should go and who should be in charge of it sits central. Further than that, there are discussions on who technology actually benefits, the people or the corporations. Exploitation of the vulnerable and the inability to lock certain boxes that are opened also feature. There is a great deal of thought and nuance built into the logistics of advanced technology in this increasingly desensitized world. Many of the concerns touched on in Whispering Chamber feature in our own discussions, but the repercussions in the novel are more devastating.

Whispering Chamber does a superb job of building a menacing threat to the two protagonists, but it doesn’t always maintain its high stakes. I love when antagonists are forced to adjust—this novel follows that trajectory well—but this time, it feels like the heroes have less to fight against.

The AI component of this novelistruly fascinating. Rather than treating it as an unassailable threat or as an indisputable aid as most novels will do, Whispering Chamber takes the more nuanced path of suggesting it could go either way. There’s the definitive sense that, like a lot of advancements, the technology here was designed to benefit humans before being horrendously mishandled. Having the viewpoints of the AI be part of the narrative offers a unique and interesting perspective on how AI functions in the world. It’s also a cute, often funny look at the disconnect between human brain and machine.

In the end, The Whispering Chamber is excellent—a well-worthy follow-up to D.I.T.T.O. It advances the characters, builds on the nuanced themes of AI, and introduces an even more terrifying antagonist. The threat from this novel is resolved in a satisfying way, but the ending is left open and intriguing for the next installment.

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