Dark Rivers of the Heart

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Dark Rivers of the Heart
Cover of Dark Rivers of the Heart
Author	Dean Koontz
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Suspense, Thriller
Publisher	Bantam Publishing
Publication date	1994
Media type	Paperback
Pages	592
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-58289-5

Dark Rivers of the Heart is a novel by Dean Koontz, released in 1994.

[edit] Synopsis

Spencer Grant is a man with a tainted past and a lovable dog, Rocky, who together embark on a quest to find a life in a woman named Valerie Keene, whom he meets in a night club. Grant and his dog come back to the club later to find out that the woman is late for work.

When Grant attempts to find her at her home, a SWAT-like team bombards the place, sending Grant into confusion. Grant is now determined to find Valerie.

He searches for her in Las Vegas and is pursued by a secret government agency who are also looking for Valerie. He get's caught in a storm in the Nevada desert and is injured. He is rescued by Valerie and she helps Spencer's injuries.

Meanwhile Roy Miro, a high ranking official in the agency, is the main antagonist who has been looking for Valerie for months. Him and the agency use a satellite to find Spencer and Valerie's location in the desert. Roy and some agents get into a helicopter and corner them into a shopping center.

Spencer and Valerie take hostage a helicopter and fly out of Nevada to Colorado to visit the house Spencer had his childhood in. When Spencer was 14 years old he heard a noise in the night and went out to the barn in the backyard to investigate. Inside the barn he found his father torturing a women and Spencer found a gun and non fatally shot his father. His father was later sent to a mental hospital. Roy takes Spencer's father out of the hospital and flies to the Colorado house to confront Spencer and Valerie.

Spencer's father shoots Roy in the barn which only paralyzes Roy. Spencer then fatally shoots his father while he and Valerie leave the barn. They use a satellite heat beam to disable the other agents while leaving the house and starting a new life together helping a resistance group against the government agency.