Rating: 
Summary: Truly frightening
Review: "Dark Rivers of the Heart" is one of Koontz' best books to date. Most of the story centers around the protagonist, Spencer Grant's, efforts to locate a mysterious woman named Valerie Keene and their attempts to evade capture/death by a psychotic government agent working for an extremely corrupt First Deputy Attorney General. There's a great deal of tension and suspense every time the two are located by the government, and some of the chase scenes are very intense. Like most of Koontz'"~ heroes/heroines, Grant is a loner with a troubled past. His past adds some mystery to the story, and it is gradually revealed over the later parts of the novel. Also, Valerie Keene is one of the best heroines Koontz has created. She's smart, witty, tough, and resourceful, and she adds much to the story. What scared me about this book was how much power the government is portrayed as having in our society. The agents use high-tech, sophisticated technology such as an EPA satellite to hunt Grant and Keene, and a subplot of the story deals with a friend of Grant's whose life is systematically and maliciously ruined by the psychotic government agent and the government itself. Throughout the book, Koontz slips in some frightening bits of info about how our supposedly "free" government is"~ really anything but.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect paranoia novel.
Review: Have you ever wondered how closely Big Brother is watching you? Dean Koontz looks at the government's abuse of authority in "Dark Rivers of the Heart". Spencer Grant envokes the wraith of a shadow government agancy (indeed, it's so secret, it has no name and offically dosn't exist) when he checks on a woman he met one night. It turns out that Valerie, the woman, is being chased by this super secret agency, but especially by the psycotic head agent Roy. Now both of them are on the run from them. The agency is pluged into everything, phone lines, internet, sattelites, DMV, social security, no one is safe. The technology and the abuse of it is so realistic it is scarier than any alians or demons most horror writers make up. If this book don't make you think twice about using your credit card, then most likely nothing will. If there is any part of the book I didn't like, it was the use of GODZILLA at the end; no, not that Godzilla, it's a bit of NASA defence weapons left over from the Star Wars program. That was the only part that was a little too over the top. This book is the best of both worlds; it's entertaining with the action, and educational with it's message of how the government is watching every move you make.
Rating:
Summary: A thrilling chase novel...
Review: Valerie Keene was married to the Attorney General's son. When Valerie discovers that the Attorney General is crooked and runs his own illegal agency, her husband is killed and she is framed for his death. Valerie goes on the run to gather enough evidence to take the Attorney General down. She is now working as a cocktail waitress in a bar. Spencer Grant is an ex-cop and a very talented computer hacker living alone with his dog Rocky. Spencer Grant falls for Valerie at first sight, and becomes obsessed with her. After several nights of hanging out in the bar, Spencer tails her home from work. When Valerie does not show up at the bar the following night, Spencer goes to Valerie's house to see what's up. When doing so, he walks in on an assault team of the Attorney General's crooked government agents. Spencer is forced to run for his life, and flee the area. Now with crooked government agents on his tail, Spencer must use all his resources to locate Valerie, so that the two can work together, and bring down the Attorney General. Dark Rivers of the Heart is an amazing book, and definately one of Koontz's best. This complex and suspenseful book is one of the best chase novels that I have ever read. This book brings a lot of paranoia and conspiracy because of the endless chase after Valerie and Spencer. The story also takes an interesting look at the government in general. It shows that we are anything but free, and that we are monitored at all times. The governmental conspiracy that Koontz creates, really provides for a thought provoking and exciting part of the story! The characters are absolutely fabulous. Spencer Grant is my favorite character. The fact that he puts his life and everything he has at risk for a woman he doesn't know is very commendable. His hacker skills are impressive, and once again Koontz creates an intelligent and loveable dog to be Grant's companion. Valerie Keene is highly intelligent, beautiful, resourceful, and a skilled computer hacker as well. Spencer and Valerie make a great team. The main villan of the story is a man named Roy Miro who leads the team of crooked agents. He is perhaps one of the best villans Koontz ever created. Roy is brutal, sadistic, and out of his mind because he sees killing as an act of mercy. The most surprising character is Eve Jammer. She is an ex Vegas showgirl that works with Roy at the agency. She spends her time using the Atorney General agency's information to blackmail people. Eve is beautiful, intelligent, and ruthless. Roy and Eve make the perfect team in and out of the bedroom! Overall, Dark Rivers of the Heart is an outstanding book. It is probably one of the best chase novels ever written. The suspense and action in the book is unending, the characters are all great, and Koontz creates a frightening and realistic government conspiracy.
Rating: 
Summary: Another hit for Koontz!
Review: I love Koontz's universe... Funny, scary and intriguing! I was a very disappointed with the last Koontz's book I read: 'Tick Tock'. It was the first time that I didn't like one of his books. I was hoping for the best with this one. OK, OK, so it's about a government conspiracy (Again...) but the characters are so enjoyable. The story is a real page turner. The bad guy is such a crazy lunatic (I think he's the craziest of all of Koontz's bad guys). You get really close to the heroes as in most of his books... and... last but not the least... THERE IS A DOG!!! -Fans will no what I'm talking about ;) I hope there's a sequel in the works... Finally, my favorite book by Koontz is the first I ever read... Watchers.
Rating:
Summary: My 1st Koontz book
Review: This is the first Koontz book I read and it is still one of the best I've read of his. The bad guy is sick and sadistic. I enjoyed reading about his thoughts. Overall a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic Satirical Parody
Review: It's very hard to describe this book. On the surface, it's Koontz's usual guy-and-gal on the run from evil government goons story. But this one is written in such a way that it can be taken as a parody - and yet it sometimes rises almost to epic poetry. It's darkly comedic, and breaks free of Koontz's standard melodrama formula in one important regard - where the virtuous may be rewarded, the evil go on to fight another day, and are bizarrely appealing, in a genuinely funny, though sick and twisted fashion. It's overwritten, as many of the author's books are, but this is a truly great book by Koontz. Dark Rivers of the Heart is the first book I've seen Koontz really spread his wings and fly with, and it's a tremendous joy to experience. He made much the same kind of attempt with the recent From the Corner of His Eye, which didn't work, but both books at least show Koontz has unexplored perspectives he's willing to work on sharing with his readers.
Rating: 
Summary: An OK book in here somewhere, struggling to get out
Review: This was my first Dean Koontz book and I found it SO verbose. Are they all like this? It was written 6 years ago, but surely even then we were over things like paranoid anti-Government secret agencies, inscrutable Orientals, evil blonde busty mistresses who writhe naked on black rubber sheets, and heroines who hack into the DoD computer from the laptop in the back of the truck and manipulate death ray satellites, give us a break. Taut writing it isn't. The book is overcome with completely unnecessary sentences overdescribing feelings or mundane details that add nothing to the story. On top of that the good guy's nauseatingly sweet dog appears every few pages, you could could extract a whole book about him alone. What saves the book, and kept me reading, is a few well done major characters - the good guy is intriguing, the secret agent weird and creepy, and a truly bad guy - sane, urbane yet capable of shocking atrocities, a la Dr Lecter - pops up late in the book, but they're just buried in the prose.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Rivers of the Heart
Review: It is difficult to imagine a reader who won't be hooked by this thriller about government power run amok and a man and woman on the run from the madman who wields that power. Spencer Grant, a mysterious and secretive man tormented by a terrible event in his past, is so taken with a waitress he meets in a Santa Barbara bar one evening that, when she fails to show up for work the next night, he goes to her home to investigate. The place is attacked by a government SWAT team with extremely deadly intent, Grant barely escapes with his life, and he's forced to follow the woman in a desperate flight. The leader of the very secret agency on their trail, Roy Miro, is literally (although not openly) insane, obsessed with perfection and driven to kill wantonly out of a corrupted sense of empathy. Koontz (Mr. Murder, 1993, etc.) skillfully keeps the reader turning the pages. The young woman who is the object of the chase does not make an appearance until halfway through the book, and the reason she is being sought is not revealed until even later. Through most of the story, only Grant knows the dark secret that haunts him and has left him with an identifying scar on his face. An amoral female government agent is added to the mix (her love affair with Miro provides some wickedly funny moments), setting up an unexpected coda to the tale. For good measure, yet another madman takes center stage in time for the inevitable final confrontation. Throughout, the author makes some telling points about government intrusion into privacy and the efficacy of asset-seizure laws. All this, plus lots of startling high-tech computer shenanigans by both sides--and one great dog. Unrelenting excitement, truly memorable characters, and ample food for thought launch this one to almost certain bestsellerdom.
Rating: 
Summary: I have more patience
Review: than one of the reviewers below that gave one zero to this nonsense. He could reach page 77; on the other hand, I, with all my will, reached 150 before finally tossing this over the sofa and leaving it for getting dust there until my cleaning woman found it and tore to pieces to get rid of a mushy formation on the book, stinking as bad as the content of it. It is a book from 90s Koontz; but nothing has changed: character development is worse than ever; there is a man and a woman with bleak pasts (a rehash of several older books)....and here comes the big SURPRIIIIIISE: An overintelligent dog! Oh my god! Is Koontz paid by pet animal food manufacturers? How many stories one can create with a syrupy sweet pet (of course a dog; Koontz seems to have a cat-, bird-, fish or other kind of pet-phobia but only dogs)? No need to mention that the writing is still lousy to the extremities. Please Koontz, with all the money you have cashed in, please take courses of creative writing in a private school secretly you have still the chance (though how little it is) to improve your tedious writing. Because I didn't finish the book, I don't know what happened at the end and I don't need to find out. Based on my past experiences with Koontz, the man, the woman and the repulsively boneless dog should lead a very happy life forever and together, overcoming everything they meet on the road and winning victory over victory against huge, invincible forces. If this is not the case then this should be ground breaking news for Koontz and his fans. Perhaps his editors has gotten a little bit wiser. And the title is one of the most laughable ones in the genre and in the book industry; it is full of passion, agony and dread, isn't it? My advice: Run from this book as if the Devil is at your heels. Even go read Amazon reviewers' articles: they are more fun than this drivel
Rating:
Summary: Average, A few peeves
Review: I listened to the audio version of Dark Rivers of the heart. I must say...The beginning was excellent. (Especially the interaction with the homeless man). But as I listened to it more and more, I began to become annoyed with the protagonist Spencer Grant. This is not the first time a Koontz novel failed for me because of the whiney and spineless male protagonist.. But...Spence whines more than the writings in even the staunchest pre-teen diary! Spence is supposed to be a tough guy police officer and an ex-army ranger, and yet in typical Koontz fashion he 'hates' guns' and would prefer to wallow in self-pity about his sad sad childhood than to be a man, deal with his problems and GET OVER IT. Second, I found his motivation for going after Ellie at the beginning to be weak and borderline stalker behavior. I found Ellie's reaction to Spence to be quite unrealistic. If I found a man following me because of a chance interaction in a bar...Especially a man with Spence's past, I'd give him the boot! Sorry. The 'romance' seemed contrived and forced. The villain: Roy Miro is extraordinarily good. I wish they'd just stuck with him being an 'extraordinarily nice killer' rather than make him yet another psychopathic serial killer. That does get old. The whole 'hand in the Tupperware' was nasty and gross. Other minor characters such as: the police chief were handled quite well. The dog "Rocky" was an annoyance. I usually like Koontz's dogs, but this dog seems very superfluous and as spineless as his owner. Erk. I give this novel three stars. It was average Koontz. Nothing extraordinary.
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