Rating: 
Summary: GOOD!
Review: This story is the best of dean koonz's writing. I enjoy how he uses his extensive knowledge of weapons in his works. Keep of the good work, Dean Koontz!
Rating: 
Summary: Liked the novel...not the ending
Review: The thing I like about Koontz books is that he has a constant theme of hope: that although the bad guys are out there, a few people can make a difference. This book has the standard Koontz cast of characters (the strong guy, the strong woman and a dog) and it follows the usual plot of the bad guys chasing the good guys. And although I never seem to get sick of this formula despite having read most of his books, I like the good guys to come out ahead at the end. Dark Rivers kind of ends like Twilight Eyes in that at the end the bad guys haven't really been taken care of but the good guys are still around with others like them continuing their resistence. In other words, nothing much changed in the end: all the same bad guys (except one) are still around. Not saying I didn't like this book, just that it was somewhat anticlimactic. This book also has a very 1984 quality to it in that he discusses how forfeiture clauses, giant computer databases and other abuses of our government are turning America into a fascist state. I tend to agree with this notion and having been written ten years ago, the technology and laws that he discusses in his book ring even more true today.
Rating:
Summary: This time, Koontz nails it
Review: Okay, confession time: I've been a bit hard on Dean Koontz in some of my other reviews. The downside of being able to write good suspense is that your fans get their hopes up, and then you've got a lot of expectations to live up to. With respect to _Dark Rivers of the Heart_, though, it's simply not an issue. This novel is dynamite (and a rare exception to the general rule that Koontz's best books tend to be found among the ones with the single-word titles). It's not only one of his most riveting "chase" novels, but also a cautionary tale about creeping fascism that sadly couldn't be more relevant -- even a decade after its release. Some will assume that Koontz has concocted an exaggerated scenario in Chapter Twelve, in which an innocent local cop is framed by a psychotic federal agent. Surely the government can't confiscate your house and your bank accounts merely by implying that you're involved with drugs, without convicting you of (or even charging you with) a crime. Can it? Yes. It can. It happens all the time. All you need to do is to make the wrong enemies (or own the wrong land, as millionaire Donald Scott found out just before he was shot to death in a bogus drug raid). Koontz has done his homework, and he has used the power of popular fiction to expose open secrets that are simply too scary for most of us -- whether we're liberal or conservative -- to think about. Bravo. The Orlando Sentinel writes: "As it appears, George Orwell was ten years late, and it is left to Dean Koontz to add the finishing touches to an Orwellian future that is here and now. One of his best novels." While I'm not yet prepared to place Koontz in the same class as Orwell, there is obvious synchronicity. Hear them both now, or believe them both later. Pheasants and dragons!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is horrible.
Review: I only read 77 pages of this book. I felt like I had to force feed myself to read this book and I reached a point where I had enough of this CRAP that I had to throw it away. Koontz is an awful writer. His characters are poorly developed and I didn't ever get to a point where I felt ANYTHING for his characters. He overdescribed settings to the point that I had to skip sections in order to keep myself "wanting" to read this KOONTZHIT. And everytime there was a scene about the super wonderful hacking technology they used he described it the same way OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, like i didnt understand how they used it the 1st time. Plus I think koontz didn't understand technology much himself before he wrote this so he read Computers For Dummies; the technology descriptions were so lame (In fact the WHOLE BOOK is lame). I don't understand why so many people actually like this book, but please there are much better authors than this KOONTZ.
If you don't want a very painful experience then stay away from KOONTZ.
KOONTZ is one of the lousiest I've ever come across.
Rating:
Summary: One of Koontz's best
Review: I was hoping Koontz would write a follow-up to this book, it contained some of his most interesting characters.
This book struck me as a bit of a departure. Unlike everything else I've read, this book contains no element of the supernatural. However, this makes the book no less chilling or surprising.
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: word usage tries too hard
Review: The main plot of the book (it's been summarized) was suspenseful enough, though I do have to agree that King's short story "Everything's Eventual" covered a similar theme but with better style. _Rivers_ is passable, though--I still read on. What made the book less-than-passable was the incongruous use of vocabulary. I admit I like a book that makes use of the language, but it helps if the metaphor/word is true to character or enhances the story or description. Too often, this book didn't do any of that. I doubt a real-life Spencer would use words like "lubricious heat" in the spoken dialogue with Ellie. (Thought, maybe, but not speech.) Things can't "flow sluggishly"--"sluggish" contradicts "flow," which typically is an easy motion. The metaphor of cars being "schools of steel fish" served no purpose. It didn't comment on the setting or the mood; it was unnecessary substitution for the simple word "traffic" and distracted me from the setting. Maybe I'm being picky, but it just seemed like Koontz just threw random words into the story without thought of their effect. It spoiled the story for me because it just sounded ridiculous bordering on pretentious. (I'm not against metaphors, but they have to be chosen carefully for effect.) As an aside, I had to groan when Rocky seemed to pull a deus ex machina at the end. Koontz may have led up to it, but so thinly as to make any foreshadowing nonexistent. Rocky still seemed to come out of nowhere . . . cute dog saves the day! (possible spoiler, sorry) I guess it's suspenseful enough if you absolutely need something to read in a pinch, but it's not one I'd personally care to slog through again.
Rating:
Summary: Intricate Plot
Review: I enjoyed the seesaw action of this book, going from Spencer Grant to Roy Miro and back, then adding in the subplots of Harris Descoteaux & Eve Jammer. The most exciting section was the car being carried downstream in a flood. The mystery aspect where Spencer recovers his memory and comes to terms with the past read like a psychological thriller. For me, I never felt like I really knew Grant; but perhaps that is what occurs with a character who doesn't totally know himself. Roy Miro was certainly an interesting little guy, running around killing people for their own good. Rocky the dog was a great animal character whose reversal at the end made him essential to the plot. With his head bobbing in enjoyment during the car chases, he was a wonderful character. I also enjoyed Eve Jammer and her writhing rubber sheets. I wondered if Koontz intended to say that the only way a woman would become president was through sex and assassination. That raised my eyebrows a bit. Valerie is a great woman lead, independent and capable. The introduction of Steven Ackblom near the end of the tale was chilling and a great catalyst to bring the tale to conclusion. Overall, this was an intricate book. I enjoyed watching how the pieces fit together more than being moved by the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Action that goes nowhere
Review: This being my first Koontz book, I approached with the caution necessary whenever I read a mega-selling author such as Koontz, Grisham, or King. The suspicion turned out to be justified. The movement of the novel is sluggish, while the plot turns are ridiculously predictable. I was waiting for some huge realization at the end, some monumental literary zenith that would make the 20 hours spent slogging through this worthwhile, but in the end it was ultimately more of the same: predictable, mainstream, low-brow. Try some Douglas Coupland on for size and give yourself a challenge. I recommend Girlfriend in a Coma.
Rating:
Summary: Koontz at his best!
Review: I'd have to say this is one of the best of Koontz's books that I've read. It's not as quick paced as some of the others, but it is still a page-turner. Spencer is haunted by memories of his adolescence and even more by memories he can't quite remember. He's drawn to a woman he met one night, although he can't quite say why; he just wants to find a life. So, when he discovers this woman has disappeared, he finds himself suddenly on the run from her enemies: a goverment agency that technically doesn't exist. While on the run, he is led through many terrifying discovers - about the government, the group that's chasing them, and about his own past. Meanwhile, Roy, the leader of this group, is trying to figure out how Spencer fits in with this woman. Roy sees utopia as a possibility and desires to help achieve utopia by having "compassion" for all who are imperfect. His idea of compassion is killing them. Typical of Koontz's novels, you have the man and woman who have bad pasts, and a villain who is downright despicable. But it's still a great book. The writing is superb, and although things don't happen as quickly as I would've liked, it still keeps you on the edge of you seat, waiting to find out what's next. If you like Koontz's other books, you'll most definitely like this one. If you haven't read Koontz, this is a good book to start with to get a taste of his style. The Door to December was the first Koontz book I read, and it got me hooked. I'd have to say this book is just as good as that one.
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