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This was my second supernatural thriller by master suspense writer, Michael Koryta. Once again, he did not disappoint. The characters and story are both brilliant. SO COLD THE RIVER has such a wonderful atmosphere and otherworldly quality about it. Amazing...I loved it.
Eric is a once upon a time Los Angeles cinematographer who is currently etching out a living in Chicago, creating videos for weddings, anniversaries, graduations and funerals. Lots and lots of funerals. In fact it is at one of these events that he meets Alyssa Bradford, who makes Eric a very generous offer to travel to French Lick and West Baden, Indiana where her father in law grew up and to make a documentary based on his early years, which remain shrouded in mystery. She has also brought Eric...
I picked this one up at the gift shop at West Baden Springs Hotel in Indiana, the setting and inspiration for the story. I enjoyed learning more historical details about the magnificent old hotel. The story dragged at times in the middle but built towards a very exciting conclusion.
Be sure to visit my Favorites Shelf for the books I found most entertaining.I first read Michael Koryta's, So Cold the River back in January of 2013. It was my first experience with the author for whom I'd never even heard of before. I'd read a few reviews and some compared his writing style to the likes of Stephen King. Jeez, talk about putting pressure on someone. I remember - like it was yesterday - how engrossed I became in the story; the mysterious, almost eerie tale so very rich in history...
I invested about 200 pages into this book before I decided to call it quits. Starts off promising, but the further I read, I realized that I didn't care too much about what fate the characters were destined. It also seemed as though the pace was moving at a snail's pace. Thought it might be me, but it seemed that the reviews for this one veer more towards the negative than the positive. The author was unclear as to whether he intended this to be a horror novel or a thriller.
Check out my interview with Michael Koryta in August 2012 >>http://more2read.com/review/interview-with-michael-koryta/The main protagonist a film maker needs to define and separate visions and dreams with reality. For a living, while not working on a movie, he made tribute videos, wedding videos etc for private clients and some malevolent insidious presence seems to call him to a little job of putting together a tribute video for a dying man. It may be a project that could hold some meaning and
When I heard about So Cold the River on a podcast, I thought it sounded interesting enough to put on my wishlist. It has an old hotel with an interesting history. It has a mysterious bottle of mineral water. It has a ghost. It has every element needed for a terrifically creepy story.Unfortunately, it fell kind of flat. It was good, but it missed very good by a long shot. Koryta's style is too reminiscent of Stephen King. It seems deliberately imitative. To me, that detracted greatly from my read...
This is the only horror novel author Michael Koryta has written (as far as I'm aware) and it's perfect for fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Set predominantly in a small town, the book focuses on a couple of hotels and a deep spring with a dark and disturbing secret, one documentary film maker Eric Shaw will soon uncover. Despite a hefty page count the novel flows as seamlessly as the underground river alluded to in the title. The characters are well fleshed out and read 'real', not dissimil...
This book dragged. It started it out with a promising premise but half way through the novel I was fed up with the protagonist's resentful, self-pitying, whiny personality. He felt that he was the victim of powerful men intellectually inferior to him and much less talented and by God, even if it destroyed his career and his marriage, he was the brilliant and wronged victim and wanted everyone to agree!The story was sluggish in places and didn't come together very satisfyingly, for me at least, i...
Oh man, this book was awful. I can't believe I finished it. It would have made a good drinking game if you were reading it at a party, though. You could do a shot whenever a character started a sentence with hell, or used damn as an adjective or said that something "damn near" happened. It wasn't that they were swear words that offended me, it was that there were a MILLION ZILLION of sentences like that. It got to where I had to set the book down and groan at parts to rally myself into plunging
Moral of the story.... when someone hands you a greenish water bottle with a grinning devil on it, hand it back, IMMEDIATELY! I was captivated by the storyline of this book, and saw shades reminiscent of a Stephen King book in it. Michael Koryta was able to blend past, present and paranormal into a interesting and well told story.
No rating. DNFWay, way too long. If I wanted to read a book about whirlies or wind vortex, then I'd want to read non-fiction on those measured studies.What happened to the edItor?This become lost within a 10,000 mile detour. With such a good start and premise?Do I understand why this seems his only horror, psycho try. The mood HAS to.be sustained. No, not close.Only read this if you don't mind culling out every fifth name in an old school phone book.Ange's review is spot on.
This is not normally the sort of book I would pick up to read. In fact, if I saw this cover in a store I would think, "I am in the WRONG section! Get me out of here." But I heard a review of the book on NPR and learned that it is a paranormal thriller that takes place in French Lick, Indiana. Most people associate French Lick with Larry Bird, but I have a very close relationship with the town. My family started visiting French Lick almost 20 years ago and have gone down almost every year. It is
I cannot believe anyone would rate this book any less than 5 stars. I loved it so much I actually flew to Kentucky, drove to West Baden Springs and stayed there for a week... the hotel was EVERYTHING that Michael described in the book. Yes, the book is a little mystical in some parts which I normally am not into, but hey... I grew up on Goosebumps books and Tales from the Crypt. The only other thing I will say besides READ IT, is that my husband, who can barely get through a magazine article wit...
I didn’t enjoy this book very much. It’s a paranormal thriller which is a genre I usually enjoy. The story was mildly interesting and the back story was by far more intriguing. Koryta does a great job of doling out just enough of the secondary plot to keep you turning pages. He writes well and clearly and the characters are well defined but for me the book never took flight. There are so many wonderful books around that it upsets me to read 500 pages of a book that’s just so so. I think I’d feel...
Super-fantastic, excellent! Did not want to sleep-must find all this author's other books. One reviewer compared it to King's "The Shining," but for me it has overtones of that and Robert Jackson Bennett's "Mr. Shivers" and much, much more! 50 stars would be nice! This is the kind of incredible storytelling at which I marvelled with Stephen King's "Literary Three" (Bag of Bones; Lisey's Story; Duma Key) and with Bennett's "Mr. Shivers." I don't find it often, but a story this compelling, this me...