[724] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: Koontz' DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Fri Feb 17 10:15:53 1995
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:12:45 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART
by Dean R. Koontz
[Knopf Publishing]
(reviewed by Anders Monsen)
*Dark Rivers of the Heart* is a numbingly brilliant piece of
work that transcends all other Koontz' previous novels. This
novel's libertarian radicalism burns with fierce intensity:
rarely in any modern novel has the state faced such moral
accusation and indignation.
Spencer Grant, a loner with a dark and hidden past, meets
Valerie Keene, a waitress who also hides a troubled past. When
Valerie fails to show the next day, Grant seeks out her
apartment, where he is caught in a SWAT raid. Showing reflexes
hinting special abilities, Grant evades the SWAT team, only to be
caught up in a larger search for Keene. The tense action and
pace, along with the gradually unraveling mysteries, hurtle the
reader forward. The hunter/killers after Keene turn out to be the
government, represented by a secret, powerful agency resembling
the worst of the FBI, IRS, and ATF. As the novels reveals, the
murderous nature of this agency in our society is no aberration.
Grant's and Keene's pursuers muster a wide and dazzling
array of hi-tech surveillance, which seemingly grants them the
upper hand. Yet Keene and Grant are not without their own bag of
techno-tricks. They hack into virtually any computer system in
the US, and beyond, to delay, confuse and outwit the agents on
their trail.
Woven into the fast-paced plot is a scary political reality,
not unfamiliar to libertarian nightmare visions. A government
that uses the law to crush and destroy the lives and worlds of
innocent individuals is more real than people imagine: asset
forfeiture laws, burdening regulations, agencies that operate
like arrogant fiefdoms, these are facts in American life, not
extrapolated fiction.
Minor subplots in the novel draw these images in horrific
detail. The underground battling these abuses hovers in the
background, an important but not integral part of the novel.
Interestingly, the individuals fighting at the forefront are
recent immigrants, who long held high the image of America as
land of the free and home of the brave, only to have Uncle Sam
crush their fantasy. Koontz' bitter and anti-statist afterword
will draw attention, and hopefully, action.
A power resonates through this novel on every level. Despite
some nagging dialogue and minor technical details, *Dark Rivers*
etches a searing attack on the state, and its superb plotting,
memorable characterization, and political realism argues for the
novel as one of the most readable political novels ever.
Some memorable quotes:
Louis Lee, recent Vietnamese immigrant and one of the heads
of the resistance/underground: "As individuals, as families, as
neighbors, as members of one community," Lee said, "people of all
races and political views are usually decent, kind,
compassionate. But in large corporations or governments, when
great power accumulates in their hands, some become monsters even
with good intentions. I can't be loyal to monsters. But I will be
loyal to my family, my neighbors, my community."
Valerie Keene: "Something like this agency was bound to come
along sooner or later. By insisting on a perfect world, we've
opened the door to fascism."
Spencer Grant: "I didn't like what I saw happening on the
computer-crime task force. They taught me all about computers,
including that access to information is the essence of freedom.
And yet what they [the government] ultimately wanted to do was
restrict that access in as many instances as possible and to the
greatest extent possible."
Book No. FN6255 (hardcover) 481p. $23.95
(Anders Monsen (Anders_Monsen@capmac.org) is editor of *Prometheus*,
the journal of the Libertarian Futurist Society.)
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Thanks,
Chris
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Chris Whitten LFB@panix.com
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