The Bush League Critic

I'd never heard of Michael Koryta. So, when I saw this book featured on John Scalzi's The Big Idea, it attracted my attention... especially after I read what Koryta had to say about the book himself. He's also done a video that describes how the book came about.

The blurb:

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.

I'd like to tell you that this was the greatest book that I've read in years -- but, alas, I can't. But I can tell you it was very, very good. Aside from a slightly hinkey beginning (which had me worried for several chapters) So Cold the River flows together rather nicely. And once it gets going, the plot continues to build exponentially right up to the explosive and satisfying conclusion.

Theres a lot of subtle themes which tie different elements of the story together that added to my enjoyment of it. But I suspect it can be enjoyed just as easily by someone who's not into that sort of thing.

Underground rivers, mystical mineral water, brewing storms and a past that won't stay dead come together to create a rather tasty supernatural thriller. I look forward to his next book -- The Cypress House -- that seems to be in the same supernatural vein as So Cold the River.