Dark Rivers of the Heart

Rating:
Summary: Without at doubt, my favorite Koontz book.
Review: Some people make it a point to read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy once a year. I read this.

Simply put, this is the best book I have ever read. It quickly drops you into the action, but leaves enough hidden to make you guess all the way through the book.

I loved the character development between the main character and his dog, as well of course the supporting cast.

I did think that one of the most interesting aspects of this book was in that the hero and his nemesis never did meet once through the entire book until the end. This is the type of thing that Koontz (and everyone else) traditionally prefers to stay away from, feeling that there needs to be interaction in order to build suspense.

I can't recommend this book enough, and would highly recommend giving it a look.

Rating:
Summary: Tangled Web of Suspense and Technology
Review: This was my first Dean Koontz novel and from the first page to the last, I couldn't put it down.

Being a computer enthusiast for more than 20 years - this book was sent to me as a gift. My first thought was that it was going to eat into my computer time. It did, but pleasantly so....

If you like suspense and technology, you get the best of both in this book.... Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A Flood Of Suspense: DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART
Review: Still waters run deep and so do the undertows of Dark Rivers Of The Heart, a fictional study of both computer technology and serial killers by Dean Koontz yet, in this story, the former has little to do with the latter. Spencer Grant is the book's central character and Koontz conveys that Grant is a sensitive yet tragic man in the novel's opening paragraph: "With the woman on his mind and a deep uneasiness in his heart, Spencer Grant drove through the glistening night, searching for the red door. The vigilant dog sat silently beside him. Rain ticked on the roof of the truck." Dean sets a ruminative mood with this opening and it hooked me right away.

If I were to sum up the plot in one line, it would be "Quiet boy and his gentle dog meet computer geek girl in trouble." Only this boy is a tortured older version of his younger self and that geeky girl is a gorgeous and intelligent woman for whom computers hold the key to survival. Still on page one, Koontz draws the reader further inside his hero with the following passage:

"Waiting for the traffic signal, he raised one hand to his face. He had a habit of meditatively stroking his scar when troubled, as another man might finger a strand of worry beads. The feel of it soothed him, perhaps because it was a reminder that he'd survived the worst terror he would ever know, that life could have no more surprises dark enough to destroy him. The scar defined Spencer. He was a damaged man."

Of course, I had to know why. And so does Spencer Grant for he is missing the long-ago memory of how that scar came to be. Koontz has a track record with me for authoring interesting suspense novels and I got a solid story as expected for, in just the opening pages, Koontz quickly establishes the reason for Spencer's red door search: Valerie Keene, a mysterious woman who turns out to accidentally provide the impetus for Spencer's final (and much needed) emotional cleansing. Believe me, Spencer Grant has some serious emotional baggage. Really serious. Koontz drops well placed hints and effectively teased me onward through the pages to solve the many mysteries intertwined in this novel.

The story's anti-hero, Roy Miro, is a very interesting employee of a "hidden" government agency and the lead man in a "hunt" for Spencer's mysterious love interest, Valerie Keene. Miro's own havoc-wreaking journey through the story also provides him with a romantic interest in the exquisite form of a buxom vixen who turns out to share Roy's, shall we say, peculiar tastes. If this story ever made it to film, Kevin Spacey would be perfect casting for the character of Roy Miro, a baby-faced soul who harbors dark and perfect secrets while Tom Berringer would be a wonderful choice for Grant.

Okay, I can't say too much more or I will spoil some of the surprises in this interesting novel. By his inclusion of computer technology as a main player in the story line, Koontz also presents some fascinating food for thought about the alleged personal privacy of us all and his observations concerning "government snooping" still have me wondering. If you're looking for a solid summer read or a great book for a lengthy air trip, grab a copy of Dark Rivers Of The Heart and get ready to be swept away in the story of one man's search for his own hidden past as he strives to solve the mystery of a woman who has captured his heart.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you enjoy this novel, try Watchers and The Bad Place. I consider these novels to be the best of Dean Koontz's work in both plot and character development.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Dark Rivers of The Heart
Review: In my opinion, this is Dean Koontz best work. I haven't read many of his books, at the most 20, but this is definately my favorite. He has some other amazing works, such as Lightning, Watchers, and Strangers, but while I loved all of these books none of them compared to Dark Rivers Of The Heart. All of those books had one particular part of them (such as the end or middle), or an aspect that made it wonderful, like the surprise ending in Watchers, the twist on Lightning, o
r the suspense in Phantoms, but Dark Rivers of The Heart is the total package. I thas unforgetable charachters, Rocky (the dog) being one of my favorites, a suspenseful and exciting rising action and a truly superb ending making it not only the best Dean Koontz book but also one of the top 5 books i've ever read (in my opinion). If you are wondering wether or not you should read this book the n you should know now that it is an amazing peice of work and to pass it by would be terrible and piontless, it makes you think, casts your heart down and then lifts it back up on the next page. "I laughed, I cried" and I greatly enjoyed myself during both. That is what I thought about Dark Rivers of The Heart.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry but no way...
Review: I tried Koontz four times before. Although Watchers and Lightning were somehow interesting (particularly the latter one), Whispers and Voice of the Night were terrible and the poorest books I had ever read. When I broke my leg, one of my friends insisted on me to give a last chance, cause this book was a new side to Koontz. I started with hopes but alas...I gave up now forever. Sorry, Mr. Koontz, but King has done it before and much earlier and much better in Firestarter, in Dead Zone, in the Stand, and even in the title story of his last short-story offering Everything's Eventual on humans and individual against the Government, State, huge Forces...so what you offer here is a weak, meaningless de javu that has been released better before (I am sure, considering your prose, in addition to King there are many more who have done it better than you). Besides your prose is banal, childish; your characters are always cartoon-like ones with one dimension, either unbelieveably smart and intelligent or pitiful utterers of third-rate wits and jokes. And what about those dogs by the way? Always some talented, happy-sappy, human like dogs in almost all of your bag? Add two characters (one woman and one man) with bleak, sorrowful, painful pasts full of troubles that are not deserved...meet them along with that kind of dog; and then chase and run; chase and run...and the novel is completed..so are all these not enough to show you are an extremely formulaic writer? I thought King and Straub were overdescriptive but you are sure unwittily and boringly overdescriptive; your observations on human mind and soul are generic and extremely simple; average at best. I think there was no chance for you to become successful but King created a hungry market for horror stories through the 80s and that market had to be absolutely satisfied either with originals (Peter Straub and Clive Barker) or with imitators (it did not matter for the publishers if the gap-filler was a talented one or not). Being in the latter group, you must count yourself lucky because if there was not that gap you would never get the status and raves you are receiving now(of course all those sales and money) and you would remain a third-rate horror-yarn spinner known to a marginal community. And the fact that you got the mass attention only around 1987-1988 although you have been writing books since the beginning of 1970s supports this claim very justifiedly. I am sure you should give your thanks to King! By the way as for this book... Have I not told enough already about it?

Rating:
Summary: Crude, revolting junk
Review: This guy is supposed to be a good writer? This was the first of three novels in one hard cover book. I threw the book away without reading the other two stories after reading Dark Rivers of the Heart because I could not in good conscience give the book to anyone else. I could not believe the theme could be so wacky, the text so poorly written, the character development so infantile, that, to give the author the benefit of the doubt, I finished the book only to reaffirm my initial reaction of "why am I wasting my time on this?"

Mr. Koontz, you will not waste my time again.

Rating:
Summary: Dean Koontz--Dark Rivers of the Heart
Review: A truly different kind of Koontz novel, with so much emotion, violence, love, hate, technology, dogs, and chasing, that it seems as though "Dark Rivers of the Heart" may just be a collection of all the great aspects of all of his previous novels. The initial chapter takes us into the mind of Spencer Grant, a mysterious, scarred (literally, but emotionally as well) individual who subconciously knows that he must enter the Red Door and meet the woman he has been waiting for his whole life. He doesn't know why he feels this way or where this will lead him, but Spencer must continue to see Valarie Keene. What Spencer did not know is that a SWAT team is after Valarie and that he eventually becomes a wanted man by a mysterious illegal agency. But Spencer is even haunted more by a terrifying, forgotten past that may even destory him before his other enemies do. Right on top of Grant is special agent Roy Miro, whose prime interest is killing Valarie and trying to make the world a better place. Koontz does a magnificent job depicting the characters of Spencer, his love interest, agent Miro (who is perhaps the most interesting of all the characters because of his unusual look upon life), and even Spencer's benign dog Rocky. "Dark Rivers of the Heart" is an exhilarating cat-and-mouse chase that takes a peak at what the future might hold if technology continues to advance before our eyes and how corrupt our government truly is. A total 180-degree turn for Koontz, but this novel is perhaps his most intriguing, believable, and thoughtful one to date.

Rating:
Summary: Big Brother!!
Review: This was my first Koontz book and I loved it. It was almost too real. It was supenseful and creative. I had a hard time putting it down. I'm primarily a non-fictional reader. This had to have been good to hold my interest as well as it did. I recommend it to anyone who wonders about big brother or who just wants a suspenseful novel.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre.
Review: WARNING: FIRST-TIME READERS OF KOONTZ SHOULD STEER CLEAR OF THIS BOOK! Koontz is my favorite author of all time, and I was SO looking forward to getting this book after all the rave reviews of it, but when I finally DID get it, I was so disappointed! The plot is cliched and, to be honest, pretty boring, the characters are tissue paper thin, and there are discrepancies within the story itself that are too numerous to count (like why a man who has erased himself from public [and non-public] records would be stupid enough to put his real name on a dog-bone order form when he didn't use his real name to subscribe to the magazine from which it came. You have to read the story to understand, but don't bother. It'll be a waste of your time and money.

Though the book is only mediocre, not TERRIBLE, I gave it one star to try to lower its rating and perhaps steer people away from it. Also, compared to other Koontz works (Lightning, Watchers, Phantoms, and Intensity, the books for a Koontz "first-timer"), this novel DOES rate one star.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpice.
Review: From the bigging to the end, this book was non stop action, non stop drama, non stop horror. It kept me hooked from the very first sentence "With the wonman on his mind and a deep uneasiness in his heart, Spencer Grant drove through the glissining night, searching for the red door." It builds and builds, and builds to an extraodanary climax, leaving the reader shocked. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING should have been deleted or added to this book it is perfect. Once a agian Dean Koontz wrote another book I will be reading multiple times. Watchers wasn't even as great as Dark Rivers Of the Heart. If you don't belive me..go read the book and see for yourself how perfect this piece of litirature really is.