Dark Rivers of the Heart Dean Koontz

"Suspension of disbelief" is a device we all use when we go to the movies or read a book. For that specific time we are willing not to 'disbelieve' what might be quite concrete. We are willing to believe in ten foot Godzilla's and amoeba's that eat New York. That is the territory of the imagination.

Dean Koontz puts that device to the test in Dark Rivers of the Heart. This one of his most tangled and twisted novel ever. In fact the hero and heroine never get together until the halfway point of the book.

Spencer Grant is an enigma. His face is terrible scarred by something that happened on a July night when he was fourteen. The incident was so horrific Grant can't recall all of it. His mother was dead and Spencer lived with his famous artist-father. But is Spencer Grant his real name? Koontz keeps us twirling all the facts in our heads like human blenders.

One night Spencer is driving and sees a bar called "The Red Door". Something seems to pull him inside and he can't pin down the feeling. The bar isn't crowded and the waitress, Valerie, sits at the bar talking to Grant, who is taken with her honesty and outspoken manner. Later Valerie will become Ellie, and I won't spoil the suspense. All the while Koontz is running threads through the sections of the stories so that they can be neatly stitched into a quilt of understanding at the end of the book.

Dean Koontz is a dog lover of the first order and this novel's pooch is Rocky, an abused Labrador. Koontz is brilliant in his dialogue and interplay with Rocky. You grow to love the mutt and want to protect him from harm. So deep is Koontz's love of dogs that you don't see Rocky as just a peripheral interest, but as a fully developed character that you love and care about as much as the main players.

One main player you won't love is Roy Miro, psychotic extraordinaire. Roy is an "agent" of a secret government agency that is after Valerie. Koontz is crisp and unyielding with Miro's character. Miro is the kind of person who makes your skin crawl and you pray he is never out there in the world for real; but he is everywhere in this declining world.

Spencer has Valerie's address and goes to her house, slipping in via a credit card in the door. He finds a vacant house, no sign of occupation. As he is exploring high explosives begin to explode through the windows and the little house is raked with gunfire. The suspense is chilling. The reader finds themselves wondering what such a seemingly innocent girl as Valerie has done to bring this death squad to her door.

This book is heavy with Koontz's philosophy on our doomed world. It is rife with the stench of fascism, government out of control. When Spencer heads out to find Valerie he discovers he has been lonely and some of his self-dialogue is very revealing.

Then we find ourselves in a fever pitch of mayhem and violence, with Grant ending up floating down a desert storm flood as a cowering Rocky hangs on for dear life. The solution to this little predicament could be clumsy in hands other than Koontz, but he presents the reader with a believable scenario that is also the encounter and bonding of Valerie and Grant.

Koontz peppers his stories with characters that flavors the stew just so. We have Eve, the sex-goddess blond who hooks up with Roy Miro for some steamy passion. But fear not, timid readers, Eve loves herself so much she doesn't want to be touched, and Roy doesn't like touching. So go ahead and imagine those love scenes!

One of my favorite ploys of Koontz's books is his interjection of peripheral players who find themselves messed up in the who entanglement and never understand why. A Los Angeles Detective of Police Harris Descoteaux, crosses Miro with a simple statement and Miro goes to work to destroy the cop. This is evil in it's purest form when Miro gets started.

The suspense never stops. You would delay an appendectomy to finish this jewel. Oh, and did I mention the serial killer?