Book Review: So Cold the River

**This book review is purely my opinion of the book after having read it. I would love to start some discussions about other readers opinions. Thanks.**

This is a review of So Cold the River, by Michael Koryta. Copyright © 2010; fiction. List price: $24.99. ISBN 978-0-31605-363-1.

Synopsis (from the publisher):

It started with a beautiful woman and a challenge. As a gift for her husband, Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to make a documentary about her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old billionaire whose past is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job even though there are few clues to the man's past--just the name of his hometown and an antique water bottle he's kept his entire life.

In Bradford's hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary history--a glorious domed hotel where movie stars, presidents, athletes, and mobsters once mingled, and hot springs whose miraculous mineral water cured everything from insomnia to malaria. Neglected for years, the resort has been restored to its former grandeur just in time for Eric's stay.

Just hours after his arrival, Eric experiences a frighteningly vivid vision. As the days pass, the frequency and intensity of his hallucinations increase and draw Eric deeper into the town's dark history. He discovers that something besides the hotel has been restored--a long-forgotten evil that will stop at nothing to regain its lost glory. Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, So Cold the River is a tale of irresistible suspense with a racing, unstoppable current.

Analysis:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a great, quick read – suspenseful, with good characters and an intriguing plotline. From the opening chapter, Koryta captures the reader’s attention with vivid descriptions and flawed, but still likeable, characters.

I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks, secondary character points of view, and various characters’ back stories that were intermittently sprinkled throughout the main tale. Koryta uses these tools to move the story, to allow the mystery to unfold, and to foreshadow future discoveries by both the main character, Eric, and the reader. He allows the reader to be just a bit more omniscient than Eric for a good part of the book, while holding back some surprising twists that are revealed with perfect timing.

The supernatural elements of the tale are woven masterfully into the everyday natural events, and might be unbelievable had they not been written with such clear and realistic prose. Koryta’s descriptions bring these elements to life, and his ability to create such vivid scenes keep the reader on the proverbial seat’s edge.

Koryta’s background as a private investigator and newspaper reporter have served him, and his readers, well in his writing career. I will definitely add his previous novels (and any upcoming novels) to my “must read” list.