So Cold The River

Ninety-five-year-old millionaire Campbell Bradford is dying. His family have hired ex-filmmaker Eric Shaw to make a documentary about him, but Campbell's childhood is shrouded in mystery. The only clues to his past are the name of his hometown and an antique glass water bottle that he's kept his entire life. Arriving in West Baden with the bottle and a camera, Shaw begins to have vivid and disturbing visions. And the more he finds out about the town and the man, the more he suspects that something besides the West Baden Springs Hotel has just been restored . . . Something dark and terrifying. And cold.

About the Author :
Michael Koryta's novels have won the LA Times Book Prize and the Great Lakes Book Award and been nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, Quill and Barry awards. A former private investigator and newspaper reporter, he published his first novel at the age of 21. Koryta's previous books TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE, SORROW'S ANTHEM, A WELCOME GRAVE, ENVY THE NIGHT and THE SILENT HOUR were published in the US by St Martin's Press, but SO COLD THE RIVER is Koryta's first book to be published in the UK. His work has been translated into 19 languages and will appeal to fans of Dean Koontz, Michael Marshall, Joe Hill and Stephen King.

Review :
The atmosphere seeps over you like a November fog, dousing the sunlight and ushering you into the clammy darkness. It's a great British debut from a genuine spookmeister. Mixing the supernatural into crime novels is a tradition that goes back to Poe and Conan Doyle, and this tale shows just how effective it can be . . . A thrilling read Koryta is one of the best of the best, plain and simple A superior specimen . . . Koryta sets a beautiful scene, resplendent with dreamy images of phantom railroad trains and ghosts who wear bowler hats and play the violin An icy, terrifying winner. SO COLD THE RIVER puts an October chill in your blood by the end of the first chapter. It's not much longer before you've turned on all the lights and rechecked all the window locks. Few novelists warrant mention alongside Stephen King or Peter Straub. Michael Koryta, however, earns comparison to both. This book builds like a summer storm. Beautiful to watch until it shakes the house and knocks out the lights, leaving you alone in the dark . . . Masterful. Like King's 'Overlook', Kortya's West Baden Springs is a real spa-hotel with real history. But if you stay there, for God's sake, don't drink the water! . . . Fright-inducing fiction worthy of our time, attention, and real enjoyment Fast-paced and action-packed, SO COLD THE RIVER is good, unclean fun. Like Joe Hill, Michael Koryta is infusing the old-school supernatural horror novel with new blood. Drink up! A great story, but what held me was the lean, clean prose and the sharp presentation of scenes and dialogue. Michael Koryta is a good story teller and a wonderful stylist. Michael Koryta is a gifted storyteller. His writing reminded me of the great Ruth Rendell - eerie, suspenseful, and pleasantly wicked. Fascinating. Put simply it meets the hype. A chilling supernatural tale . . . Koryta's novel is being compared to the writings of Stephen King and Peter Straub. He lives up to the comparison in this dark novel. Calculatingly spooky A fast, eerie chiller of a book that will make you shiver in the sun A paranormal horror story in the Stephen King mould -- and a chilling one Spellbinding and check-your-doors-and-windows scary . . . At its deliciously creepy core, So Cold the River is about two men facing down their demons, and what happens when those demons fight back. Koryta has ventured into genre-bending, successfully melding thriller elements to a horror story that recalls Stephen King. His tight, clear prose makes West Baden as creepy as Transylvania, and Eric is a compellingly flawed protagonist. Legions of King and Peter Straub devotees will be delighted by this change of direction. A spellbinding tale of an unholy lust for power that reaches from beyond the grave . . . A cataclysmic finale will put readers in mind of some of the best recent works of supernatural horror, among which this book ranks. Fantastically well-written . . . excellent characterisation and great pace. Just the thing to induce a chill on the back of the neck during the long, hot summer. Mesmerising . . . chilling, compelling and captivating Builds slowly yet relentlessly, cranking up the suspense until it's taut as a bowstring Koryta entwines a murder mystery with the supernatural and brings us a marvellous, gripping novel that will definitely have the hairs standing upright on the back of your neck.