The Noise: A Thriller, James Patterson, J. D. Barker, authors; Amanda Dolan, narrator
Several scientists are suddenly taken by the government and brought to a top secret location to solve a mystery they know nothing about. As they are slowly introduced to the problem they have to solve, they become more and more aware of the fact that they do not know everything they need to know. Why are they being kept in the dark?
Slowly they learn of a crisis. They are taken to what these government people call “the anomaly”. In a remote Oregon town of survivalists, all residents suddenly disappear and their town is totally destroyed as if by a supernatural force, after which fires suddenly erupt, destroying everything. The surroundings had been pulverized and/or hammered into the ground by some disastrous occurrence. The group is tasked with finding out why this has happened and how it can be stopped. Where did it come from, is it a virus, is it contagious, how is it spreading? What could do the damage it did, and where are all the residents?
Meanwhile, two sisters from this town are checking their rabbit traps. Sophie is 8 and Tennant is 16. Suddenly they hear an unnatural sound that grows louder and louder until it crescendos to an unbearable level. Their parents appear from the woods and race them to a tornado shelter. They toss the girls into the shelter, but do not make it in themselves. Sophie is injured as she tumbles down the steps. The noise causes her nose to bleed and her eyes to burst blood vessels. Tennant does not fare as badly, but soon the earth begins to shudder and all the supplies on the shelves fall; both of the girls pass out.
When they awaken, Tennant tries to care for her younger sister. She is ill with a fever and small hemorrhages. With super strength, she attacks Tennant, breaking her nose. Tennant restrains her and takes her to a fallout shelter, hoping to find other survivors. She leaves a tape recorder message for their parents. They encounter no other survivors on their way or in the shelter. When she hears a noise, she hopes it is her parents but it is a group of soldiers. The girls are taken “prisoner”. One of the scientists, Martha Chan, sees them tied up and demands their release. They are brought to the base where Martha tries to treat them. She is successful with Tennant, but Sophie is both violent and ill. She is behaving as if she is possessed by a demon, speaking in an unnatural voice with odd sounds and words. Martha has to find out why they survived, but others did not. Why does Sophie speak in that strange gravelly voice? Why was she violent? Tennant will not cooperate with these people because she has never been exposed to the outside world and trusts no one.
Soon, Martha makes some progress, but not in solving the problem of this affliction that Sophie seems to suffer from.
Martha Chan is arrogant and seems to assume more authority than she has, often defying military orders. She is emotional and cannot divorce her feelings from her research. She sees herself as “I am woman, hear me roar” and often with the best of intentions disrupts the process.
As the situation worsens and scientists also succumb to this strange affliction, the danger becomes more and more obvious to all the survivors. Why have the survivors run as a horde of people? Where are they running? Can the seemingly random group of scientists find the cause and/or the cure before the entire country succumbs to this affliction bringing an end to civilization? What is this noise that seems to bring it on? How is it generated? Where does it come from? Why does it cause the victims to run and run, without an apparent destination, as a horde of people gathering more and more victims as they run? Why does it cause so much death and destruction?
While this science fiction novel will hold the reader’s interest, the reader will have to suspend disbelief because many of the scenes not only defy reality, they seem implausible. Still, the book raises many questions? To save the nation, how far can a government go? Should it murder its own citizens for the greater good? Is deniability a reasonable defense of wrongdoing? Can any government be trusted to tell the truth to its citizens? Is it possible for there to be a manmade event that will bring about the end of this world and the beginning of another? Will technology eventually destroy us all? Who did Sophie represent? Was Tennant’s final act moral or justified? These are important questions to discuss.