Dark Rivers of the Heart (Group Read - May 2011)

[Jaice]

I think I would rate this one about a 3.5 (rounding up to a 4) out of 5 stars. I wasn't particularly attached to any of the characters, including the dog. I found myself to be most intrigued by the villains of this story, especially Roy. I didn't care much for him at first, but developed an admiration for him by the end. Though I admired Roy's compassion for humanity (as misguided as it might be), I was disappointed by his need to seek revenge against those who annoyed him, destroying their and their families' lives. That seemed very hypocritical and against character to me. Eve was just a power-hungry sociopath, though she seemed like she might be coming over to Roy's way of thinking at the very end. Mostly, this novel seems to be intended as a rant against utopianists, the government and politics in general, but specifically against forfeiture laws (which are very scary and, I agree, do not belong in a democracy, especially in the form in which they existed in this novel), and the potential evils of new technologies. The interview with Dean Koontz at the end of the audiobook is very interesting and I recommend listening to the audiobook just for that reason. Overall, this novel had a few good aspects, but was not really something special--I certainly don't regret reading it, but am not very influenced by it either.

[Maciek]

Actually Dark Rivers can be pretty enjoyable if you turn off your brain. The characters are as stale and cardboard as ever and the dialogue is much like that from the third episode of Star Wars (George, you suck at this!), though there's one funny scene when a furious lawyer unleashes his anger on those who framed his friend by shouting: "those...those morons! those geeks!" LOL that was funny.

You know a tell-tale sign to spot a weak writer? It's the one who spends pages on descriptions of things completely unrelated to the plot, this time it's technology. There's way too much ink wasted on this stuff and it doesn't sound that impressive all these years later, and obviously Koontz wrote about it so much to impress the reader with his knowledge. But he, uh, forgot how quickly technology evolves and such information stops being impressive...and becomes redundant.

Also, do you remember my meteorite comment? I was inspired by this book. The ending is so awesomely stupid and anticlimatic that it's a wonder that it ever got printed. Where was the editor?

Maybe I'm getting soft, but I gave this book three stars because it felt like these straight-to-video flicks that I used to watch when I was little.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Dark Rivers of the Heart is our Group Read for May 2011.

Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz

[Tracy]

You could see that one coming in the nominations.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I know :-) Dark Rivers of the Heart!!!
I've ordered it from the library but I've got to read By the Light of the Moon first.

[Tracy]

I actually have that Dark rivers of the Heart and I am about half way through with By the Light of the Moon.

[Lynai]

I've read this a few years back and I hate to say that this was one of the DK novels I did not really enjoy. I remember putting this on hold for a few weeks because I found the first few chapters too boring and slow. But when I resumed reading (because I couldn't just let a DK book unfinished) I found the story picking up pace. And so I changed my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Lynai wrote: "I've read this a few years back and I hate to say that this was one of the DK novels I did not really enjoy. I remember putting this on hold for a few weeks because I found the first few chapters t..."

This wasn't one of my favorites either, I also found parts boring and nothing really memorable except some made up government position in it, but I'm going to give it another try - opinions can change :-)

[Tracy]

I read this one a long time ago and really can't remember what it was about. Must have been a good book since I can't remember (ha!ha!). That probably isn't a reflection on the novel because I have short term memory loss, just ask my kids.

[Nora aka Diva]

I have this book, somwhere... Now to remember exactly where that is!

[Suey]

Man! It seems like everyone hates this book! WHY are we reading it?!?! Actually, I LIKED this book - a LOT - when I first read it - enough that I made it a point to remember the title....so, when I dug it out yesterday to start the May read, I couldn't remember a thing about it, except that I really liked it.

And there is was - in the first paragraph - he's got a dog - phew - everything's going to be alright. And then - also in the first paragraph...it's raining in California - expect bad things right away...!!!

[Erica]

I'm excited to read this. Can't be any worse than What The Night Knows, imho.

[Nora aka Diva]

Still digging for my copy. ugh!!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Did you realize that this bookcover features two faces? One is a profile of a face made from a dark river of some heart I guess. I just realized this. How interesting.


For some reason this title brings to mind another title called YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME - I can't quite put my finger on why I'm connecting the two.

[Nora aka Diva]

My copy has a different cover. it's grey with the Title in black and has a red star looking thing on it.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

DuctTapeDiva wrote: "My copy has a different cover. it's grey with the Title in black and has a red star looking thing on it."

Yes, that's the cover I have on my library copy :-) Why didn't notice the two faces before. Funny how many different covers are out there.

click here for our fun Bookcovers discussion:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

[Suey]

Yah - loved this book the second time around too. I'm a conspiracy theorist - what can I say?

[Nora aka Diva]

Suey wrote: "Yah - loved this book the second time around too. I'm a conspiracy theorist - what can I say?"

You and me both. :)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Well, I tried to re-read this but just couldn't get into the story so I've put it aside. I remember the first time I didn't like it all that much. I think The Dead Town will be my next Koontz book. I might have to buy me a copy since the library hasn't gotten theirs yet.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Karen and Kaia. Here is the Dark Rivers Discussion Thread for you. I dug it out of the folder :-) Happy Reading!

[Kaia]

Thanks!

[Karen B.]

Thanks Dustin. I decided to read the posts regarding the book after hitting the 50% read point. They really helped.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I don't get this book - it's confusing to me so I can't help you out :-) Good Luck!

[Karen B.]

I am enjoying the strange characters and some of the minor ones that I like. I do tend to skim over too much computer description that is hard for me to comprehend but on the other hand, it makes me laugh. I realize this was written a long time ago but the references to saving things on floppy disks and the use of "tapes" rather than digital to record the special agency's spying really do date the book. But it's okay. And truthfully I don't think I've met a Koontz book with a animal companion that I didn't like. I like when Koontz says the dogs "chuffed". I picture a dog with some understanding of what is going on with the humans.