THRILL MASTER: It’s got a psychotic madman,...

THRILL MASTER: It’s got a psychotic madman, a renegade government agency and good guys on the run. Dean Koontz’s “Dark Rivers of the Heart” is one of the holiday season’s biggest national bestsellers. “It’s a brutally tough season,” says the Newport Beach author, who is selling nearly 40% more books than ever. “The numbers you have to sell to get on the list this season is really something.”. . . Koontz considers the book, which CBS will turn into a miniseries next year, to be a breakthrough novel: “There’s those moments in your career when you realize you’ve taken a step up and are writing better than ever.”

HELP WANTED: Self-help books may not be so helpful after all. They usually bypass the unconscious, says Newport Beach psychologist Alice Vieira. If you try to change a behavior without knowing what the underlying belief system is, it’s not going to work, she says. But isn’t Vieira’s “Belief Systems and Your Personal Power” a self-help book? “I tried not to say this is what to do to change, but just be aware of what you’re doing,” she says. “Without awareness there are no options. You just continue doing what you have done in the past.”

MOUNTAIN MAN: “Ponder the Path” by Gary Wiles and Delores Brown of Laguna Niguel is a rousing historical novel about the opening of the Oregon Trail. The authors, who spent two years researching the book, show up at book signings dressed in 1830s period costumes. At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, former lawyer Wiles Brown strikes an imposing buck-skinned figure. “I also have a foot-long knife on one side and a pistol on the other,” he says.

WORKOUT: Ready to shed those extra pounds? Many who join gyms stop going after a few weeks. The reason? “One of the most common comments is they feel foolish because they don’t know what to do,” says Dana Point fitness center owner Lou Gaudio, author of “Lou Gaudio’s How to Stay Young Workout: The First 90 Days.” The wire-bound book, designed to be taken to the gym, also keeps records and charts progress.