Almost the author:

Born: Marion, Ohio

Pedagogy:

B.A. – Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Website: http://www.ericbernt.com/

Thriller Sub-genre: Techno-Thriller

Hereafter of the series:The second volume in the serial is entitled The Sound of Echoes was released on half dozen/4/19.

The Simon Review

We've all heard the phrase 'if these walls could talk' when referring to a room that resulted in something that may take been historically momentous or perhaps scandalous. Well Eric Bernt takes this phrase on a whole new level with his Speed of Sound serial by making the walls really talk. The series begins with a immature autistic man that goes by the name Eddie Parks, who is also a savant, creating a device known as the 'echo box'.  The echo box has the capability of picking up physical signals from the surrounding environment and somehow converting them back to sound waves that are remnants of conversations that had occurred in the past. Eddie's female parent died while giving birth to him and Eddie had been told that she was a beautiful singer. So Eddie's purpose in life is to hear his mother sing, which gives him the idea of creating the echo box.

What Eddie doesn't know is that there are others that would like to go their hands on the echo box, and they would be willing do annihilation to get it, including murder. Ii forces are at piece of work in acquiring the repeat box, ane is Dr. Marcus Fenton, the head of a government-run facility that cares for Eddie. Fenton knows that the echo box would be highly desirable to whatsoever government and they would be happy to pay a hefty toll to get it. The other entity that is interested in the repeat box is the American Heritage Foundation. The AHF was created in the early on 1970s past a group of intelligence officers that felt that the American government was condign unstable and a covert operation that is contained of the government would be necessary to keep it under command. Thus the American Heritage Foundation was born, and they see Eddie'due south echo box equally a piece of engineering that they must take in social club to fulfill their mission. Luckily for Eddie, he has a savior by the proper name of Dr. Skylar Drummond, who is a psychiatrist that specializes in autism.

Drummond is hired to aid bring Eddie out of a slump that is preventing him from executing the last phase in the echo box's creation. Drummond unfortunately finds that the contempo death of her boyfriend was really a murder and is related to Eddie'south echo box. Drummond realizes that Eddie's life is at stake and knows that she has no choice but to take Eddie and make a run for it and with every agency with an acronym chasing them, it won't be easy. Fortunately for them, they find a trivial aid along the way.

This is a fun action packed series with some delightful characters. Unless you lot expect the 'techno' in technothriller to be somewhat realistic, the echo box makes for an interesting plot device. When Eric Bernt is non writing novels, he is busy at work as a Hollywood screenwriter and it is not surprising that the Speed of Sound series has that motion picture-like feel to it. The second book in the series, The Sound of Echoes, comes out in June of 2019 and is a continuation of The Speed of Sound novel, so it would be best if The Speed of Audio is read before The Sound of Echoes. If you accept read and enjoyed The Speed of Audio, then you will most probable bask The Sound of Echoes.

Simon'south pick:

Most Favorite Novel in the Serial- The Speed of Audio-because it was more than of an on the edge of your seat thriller than The Sound of Echoes

Least Favorite Novel in the Series- The Audio of Echoes-because it was less of an on the edge of your seat thriller than The Speed of Sound.Also the conversations between Eddie and Lolo were a piffling too cutesy for me.

What about the science? The science in this serial revolves around the science of audio. Sound waves are considered mechanical waves and are created when some form of matter vibrates, such as plucking the string on a guitar or a shoe hitting the pavement. This vibrating matter sets in motion a wave in the surrounding medium which is most likely either air or h2o. The resulting sound moving ridge eventually comes into contact with other forms of matter, such as a wall or the membrane of your ear drum. Two things can happen, either the audio wave is absorbed past the matter or it is reflected outward in what we know as an repeat. Eventually the energy from the echo will be absorb by the surrounding medium.

In Bernt's series, sound waves somehow exit a permanent signature in the matter that absorbed information technology and then later can be retrieved using Park'southward repeat box. The but possible mode that this would be true in real science is that the matter is somehow changed at the quantum level, and as of at present there is no scientific indication that this is true. And so Park's repeat box is totally fictional with no basis in real science (see technical discussion in review).

The Eddie Parks Technical Discussion in Review: Acoustic archæology-is a discipline inside the field of archæology that investigates how sounds may have influenced the design of ancient buildings, monuments and sites. For example, some archaeologist believe that the positioning and shape of the stones at Stonehenge may accept created acoustics that enhanced the ritualistic aura of the monument. Researchers accept performed measurements and modelling studies on the acoustics of the stones at Stonehenge and the results gives back up that their positioning by the ancients was intentional in club to raise the sound quality. Studies done within the ancient Byzantine churches have shown that the architectural design of the churches may have enhanced sounds such as chanting or music.

Audio-visual archaeology is not an verbal science and nosotros volition never know for sure what was exactly on the minds of our ancestors. However, it does give usa a glimpse into how sound has had profound effect on our history and culture.

"Doc, if you don't mind, I accept a few questions." She flipped through some of the classified Harmony Business firm enquiry materials. "What, for instance, is acoustic archaeology ?"

Fenton smiled. "Remember dorsum to some of the most sensitive conversations that you've ever had. Now imagine that someone could walk into the space where y'all had one of those conversations, and utilize a device to re-create the exact dialogue from the degenerated, only even so identifiable, waves of audio that were outset created when you were having that private dialogue." –The Speed of Audio

The concept of audio-visual archaeology has also been used in reference to a paper written in 1969 past Richard Yard. Woodbury III entitled "Acoustic Recordings from Antiquity" for which Woodbury claimed that aboriginal recordings could be recorded in the groves of ancient pottery. Information technology is based on the concept that a potter's tool would vibrate when exposed to audio waves, creating a pattern like to that of a gramophone type recording.  Others including the team on 'Mythbusters' tried to replicate Woodbury's claims only to observe that there were no distinguishable sounds that indicated any blazon of recording.

It seems that Brent is referring to this type of acoustic archeology with his concept of the 'repeat box'. Unless sound waves event matter at the quantum level and we can notice engineering to measure that change, the concept of the 'echo box', for now, is just a fictional concept.

Books in the Serial past Order:

Nigh Favorite in the series: The Sound of Echoes with a score of 4.43

Least Favorite in the serial: The Speed of Sound with a score of four.20

Based on overall ratings from Goodreads, Library Thing and Amazon (US & UK)

#1-Speed of Sound – 2018

Commencement Line:

Dr. Marcus Fenton, the senior and most respected doctor on the grounds of the government-funded facility, studied the applicant closely.

Characters

Eddie Parks : A young autistic man with savant capabilities; creator of the 'echo box'

Skylar Drummond: A psychiatrist that specializes in autism

Butler McHenry: Ex-ranger turned cop

Bob Stenson: Head of the American Heritage Foundation

Marcus Fenton: Head of Harmony House

The Setting

New Jersey, New York Metropolis, and Pennsylvania

Harmony Firm is more than a "special place for special people." It's a call back tank where high-functioning autistic savants harness their unique abilities for the benefit of society. Resident Eddie Parks's contribution is nothing less than extraordinary: an "echo box" that can copy never-recorded sounds using acoustic archeology.

All Eddie wants is to hear his tardily mother's vocalization. But what he's created is inadvertently posing a threat to national security.

To Harmony House's shadowy authorities backers and radical extremists, the echo box is the ultimate intelligence nugget—an end to the very concept of secrecy. Now for Eddie and the compassionate Dr. Skylar Drummond, the true nature of the institution is becoming chillingly clear.

As ruthless competing enemies close in on Eddie and his miraculous machine, Skylar risks all to take him on the run. Considering once that prize is won, Eddie Parks volition no longer be considered a "special person" merely a dangerous redundancy. An inconvenient echo that must exist silenced.

Looking for a review of The Speed of Audio?  Check out:

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Amazon Rating-United states: iv.42 out of 5 stars based on 1,561 ratings

Amazon Rating-United kingdom: iv.48 out of v stars based on 147 ratings

GoodReads Rating: 4.13 out of 5 stars based on 5,870 ratings

Library Rating: three.66 out of 5 stars based on 16 ratings

Total Score four.20 (Updated 8/9/19)

#ii-The Sound of Echoes- 2019

First Line:

Every bit she drove across the Delaware River on the Walt Whitman Bridge, Skylar took in the Philadelphia skyline.

Characters

Eddie Parks, Skylar Drummond, Butler McHenry, and Bob Stenson

Caitlin McCloskey: An American Heritage Foundation employee and girl to one of the original founders of the foundation

Lolo: Eddie's new friend

The Setting

Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland

After going on the run—for what he knows and has created—autistic Eddie Parks is back in Harmony House, the think tank that has been his sanctuary for sixteen years. With his miraculous invention, an "echo box" that excavates sounds from the past, Eddie achieved the but affair he wanted: to hear his belatedly mother sing. Just where Eddie sees good, others see infamy. Considering no conversation ever held will be a secret again.

For Bob Stenson, leader of the American Heritage Foundation, whoever controls the echo box controls the future. To seize the game-changing device, he has to get Eddie where he'south about vulnerable: by kidnapping Dr. Skylar Drummond, the but person in the earth Eddie trusts.

Just Stenson has underestimated his casualty. Eddie has the ability of echoes on his side. At present he must follow them—into the most dangerous places he's ever ventured—to salve Skylar and the state.

Amazon Rating-US: four.60 out of five stars based on 64 ratings

Amazon Rating-United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland: four.55 out of 5 stars based on xi ratings

GoodReads Rating: 4.41 out of v stars based on 422 ratings

Library Rating: 3.00 out of 5 stars based on 1 ratings

Full Score 4.43 (Updated 8/9/19)