Dark Rivers of the Heart
Dean Koontz

A man and a woman - she is a figure of mystery, he is a mystery even to himself - meet by chance in a Santa Monica bar. Suddenly - first separately, and then together - they are fleeing the long arm of a clandestine and increasingly powerful renegade government agency: the woman hunted for the information she possesses, the man mistaken as her comrade in a burgeoning resistance movement.
The architect of the chase is a man of uncommon madness and cruelty, ruthless, possibly psychotic, and equipped with a vast technological arsenal: untraceable access to the government's electronic information banks, its surveillance systems, weaponry, and materiel. He is the brazen face of an insidiously fascistic future. And he is virtually unstoppable.
But he has never before come up against the likes of his current quarry. Both of them - survivors of singularly horrific pasts - have lived hidden, nomadic, solitary lives. Both have learned to expect "savagery as surely as sunrises and sunsets". Both have long been emboldened by their experiences to fight with reckless courage for their own freedom. Now, they are plunged into a struggle for the freedom of their country, and for the sanctity of their own lives.

There is a reason that the two main characters are called "the man and the woman" in the book's jacket description. Neither have gone by their real names and during the course of the book, they have to keep changing their names in order to survive.

The woman was married to the son of a prominent politician and both she and her husband found out about a terrifying new world order that the government was planning. The husband was going to go public with this information and was killed by his father. The woman escaped and is now on the run for nothing will stop this politician from seeing her dead.

The man met the woman by chance in a bar and became instantly fascinated by her. This fascination caused him to be pulled into her world and to be chased down by those chasing her, just because they wanted to know what his connection to her was.

Eventually, the two meet up and are on the run together - fighting for their lives and their freedom along with others in their position and who know the truth about where the government is headed.

The first half of this novel is a bit slow, but it is still quite engaging. In the second half, when the man and the woman finally meet up, that's when the real action starts. This book is a look at a terrifying possible future if the government gets too much power and looks at real laws and their implications for citizens like us.

Not only is this book a good read, it also makes the reader think about the world around them and wonder what is hidden from the public eye.

While this book contains mature themes, I believe it is appropriate from anyone of high school age on - though it might be of more interest to the adults out there.

I do recommend this novel, and with all Dean Koontz novels, it is impressive.

My rating: Four out of five snails.