Dark Rivers of the Heart

Dark Rivers of the Heart – Dean Koontz   

This is only the fifth or sixth Dean Koontz novel that I have read.  Unlike Stephen King, Koontz’ brand of ‘horror’ seems to be much more from skeletons ‘within’ as opposed to outward threats of monsters, ghosts, and the supernatural.  At least this is what I’ve observed within these five or six books.  This book, unlike a Stephen King story, is very “real”.  I’m not sure about “realistic”, but definitely “real”.  I guess the story told within these pages is something that COULD really happen, although a lot of it seems rather farfetched. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, I thought it was overall a strong story, yet I did find myself shaking my head and suppressing laughter at times because of various events and predicaments.

There are three main characters in this book – Spencer Grant, Valerie Keene, and Roy Miro. Spencer is supposed to be the good guy, but his actions in the first half of the book kind of creeped me out.  He has a very scarred past (I mean that literally) which can explain much of his behaviors, but if I was a single female, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with someone like him in my neighborhood.  Spencer is never far away from his loyal dog; basically his only companion.  The dog gets a lot of attention in this book. I guess if you’re a dog lover this will make you like Spencer, and the story, a bit more.

Spencer has a strange attraction for a woman he meets one night named Valerie Keene, and without giving away much of the plot, Valerie is a wanted woman by a sinister rogue government agency.  This leads us to Roy Miro, the one who in charge of said agency.  Roy probably deserves his own story in his own book.  I don’t mean that in a good way.  I guess Koontz figured out his plot wasn’t creepy enough, so Roy is a grade A psycho killer on the side. His character is very well fleshed out, and his actions are quite believable, yet at times I felt like I was reading two different very strange books about two different very strange people. Spencer might be creepy, but Roy is a certified lunatic.

Then there’s the ‘government conspiracy’ angle of the book that I found a tad silly.  Again, I won’t go into details, but much of the motivation in this story arrives from a very deep personal fear of the author in terms of where he sees the country headed (the book was written about 20 years prior to this review).  Is the country really in such warped shape?  The hopeless would say so.  The hopeful, probably not.  Anyway, it kind of adds a preachy unwelcome message and sub-story in the book.  In fact, the ending of the book is rather unsatisfying as Koontz purposely leaves certain aspects hanging. It’s almost as if he’s refusing to have a nice neat happy ending, otherwise his readers might not take up their pitchforks and rise against the masses because of the new unwelcome government laws that Koontz apparently loathes.

There are other parts of the book the were a little ridiculous.  Roy’s nightly fetishes with the Las Vegas security officer wear thin very early and are borderline nauseous.  The chase in the middle of the book in the desert during the rainstorm went on longer than it should have as well.  

I realize I’m complaining an awful lot, but as I said, I really did enjoy the book.  Koontz spends a lot of meticulous detail when describing his characters, their predicaments, and the overall plot, yet it never seems forced, and the reader with patience is rewarded with the many rich descriptions.  Overall I might conclude that I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but after I finished it, I thought the whole thing was kinda stupid.  The book was enjoyable, but by no means earth shattering.