When I was a kid The Wonder Years was a hit on television and between that and The Princess Bride, Fred Savage was everywhere. Really bugged me too. I hated that guy. Because he was adorable? No. Because he had no talent? Not at all. The unflattering truth is that I really felt it should have been me getting all that attention from girls my age and the world in general. What did he have that I didn’t? Why was he chosen for those roles and stupid magazine covers when I was far more talented and deserving of the spotlight? No hard feelings, Fred. I’ve worked through most of that and I’m even a fan and happy for your new success as a television producer and director.
But I’ve moved on to new objects of envy. One of them – friggin Michael Koryta, man. This guy had his first novel, Tonight I Said Goodbye, published, (and Edgar nominated too), at like twenty-one and has pumped out a fistful of acclaimed and worse – good – novels since. He has a series featuring private detective Lincoln Perry as well as the stand alone thriller Envy the Night.
His new one, So Cold the River, is a departure in tone and style, it’s a supernatural thriller/mystery more akin to Stephen King or John Connolly than Michael Connelly and as much as I hate to admit it, it’s a good chilling tale for hot summer nights and apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. (Check out this radio interview on NPR’s All Things Considered). Am I coming off jealous and bitter, here?
The story starts in a promising place, with Eric Shaw, a formerly celebrated and promising talent, a film maker, now humbled and making a living shooting wedding and funeral videos. His life changes when he’s hired by a beautiful woman to make an investigative documentary film about her fantastically rich father in law and his mysterious past.
One of my favorite things about the book is the grand hotel at the center of the mystery (evoking The Shining, but this is no knockoff). There's something great about nailing a spooky setting - anybody else out there watch HBO's late great Carnivale? You remember the ghost town Babylon? Yeah, like that. It's hallucinatory and creepy, a good bet for your summer reads. Just keep something refreshing to drink with you.
What are you looking forward to reading this summer?
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
