So Cold the River

Could not stop reading this book. I live in Indiana and am familiar withFrench Lick and West Baden. Beautuful!!

"So Cold the River" is largely set in southern Indiana in a place call West Baden. Both West Baden and French Lick (the two towns butt up against each other) had their glory days as a destination for the rich and famous prior to the 1929 stock market crash. The two hotels were built to impress the important clientele and to provide a place for them to stay while partaking of the mineral baths in the area. After the hotels basically fell into ruin, the West Baden Springs Hotel was recently restored to its original glory and a casino now serves as an additional attraction. Being from the Indianapolis area for the past twenty years and living in southern Indiana all my life prior to that time, I can attest to the accuracy of the novel as far as the setting itself. The author lives in Bloomington, Indiana and his familiarity with the area shows. This setting lends itself to a page-turning novel that will keep the reader intrigued for most of the five hundred pages.Alyssa Bradford asks filmmaker Eric Shaw to create a film documentary about the life of her mega rich father-in-law, Campbell Bradford. Campbell's history is a carefully guarded secret and the only clues about his past are the name of his hometown (West Baden) and a murky bottle of mineral spring water that he has kept his entire life. On his deathbed, Campbell is in no position to assist in the project (or is he?) and Eric Shaw must travel to West Baden to try to uncover the information necessary to produce the film and receive a very large amount of money for his efforts. Even before he leaves Chicago, strange events begin happening that make him question what he has gotten himself into but he continues to move forward since the money is critical at this point in time. What unfolds in West Baden will keep the reader guessing and intrigued until the very end.I have seen this novel classified as horror but I think that is misleading. I NEVER read horror but found this book to be more suspense and paranormal intrigue. If you enjoy a good mystery and a strong sense of place, this novel would be one to try. It is a bit long and I thought there could have been some editing in the middle section to tighten it up but the beginning and end make it all worth it. I finished the last 200 pages in one evening since I couldn't put it down once I got started. Really strong writing on its own and a particularly enjoyable read if you are from the area.

Loved the paranormal mixed in with mystery. Loved the setting because I know the setting very well. Very well written, well developed story. Reading all his books now

This was another great suspense thriller from author Michael Koryta. A woman hires a cameraman to make a tribute for her husband's father, who is about to pass away. A thrilling murder mystery with ties to a mysterious past takes the reader on a terrifying wild ride. The twists and turns in this story take the reader in different directions, with a touch of the paranormal. I read this book using immersion reading, while listening to the audio book version, read by Robert Petkoff. A mild soundtrack accompanies portions of the text, with faint music and sound effects enhances the listening experience. It's not quite perfected, Star Wars unabridged audio books are precedent in that area, the character voices, music and sound effects are perfectly proportioned to perfection. This attempt isn't bad, it doesn't detract from the listening experience. Narrator Petkoff is a wonderful narrator, the character voices rather faint. It was a wild ride. Things did not turn out the way the protagonist expected, nothing rarely does. A great book, given more emphasis on audio.

This was the first Koryta book I've read. A decent book; it kept me reading. It was reminiscent of some of Stephen King's later work. Would have liked a better main character. Eric could be a real jerk. He was kindof dumb, had too much temper and jealousy; not a lot to make me really root for him. The people around him were far smarter and had to save him from himself. Also, the book was way too long. Could have done it in 350-400 pages. All that said, I'll most likely try more of Koryta's books in future.

Took a while to warm to the story but intriguing and became fast-paced as the story picked up. Characters felt real for the area.

"So Cold the River" has many of the commonplaces we've come to expect of stories about troubled men ensconced in haunted hotels since the success of Stephen King's book and movie "The Shining". In fact, Koryta has his protagonist, Eric Shaw, make direct reference to the Overlook within the story. However, he's set up a different reason for Shaw's susceptibility to the ghosts in this turn-of-the-century Indiana resort and it involves a preserved bottle of water from the mineral springs that made the resort famous so long ago. The first half of the book is quite good, especially when we focus on Eric's visions. The swirling leaves he tries to capture on camera, so vivid to his eye but totally missing from the video, are a nice homage to the grocery bag in "American Beauty". Supplemental characters vary in interest and sophistication: the old woman with her fascination for all things meteorological is nicely drawn, but the one-note bully, Josiah Bradford, who draws his evil ancestor to him is just another Renfield-to-Dracula pairing and the book descends into mayhem when it focuses largely on him. By the time the lovely but ever-loyal soon-to-be-ex-wife shows up--just in time to be captured by the possessed bully--Koryta seems to have run out of original ideas. And the long-ago murder that makes the bottle of mineral water so potent to Eric is anti-climactic after all the casual bloodshed Campbell Bradford has been up to, both past and present. Save this one for an airport purchase in paperback. When you start skimming pages in the too-predictable second-half of the book, you know you'll finish before landing.

I didn't care for this book, I found "So Cold The River" by Michael Koryta dull,tedious,and boring. The plot has been done and re-done by more than a few authors of this type of novel. You start off with an embittered main character, marriage on the rocks, career in shambles etc, that is doing a video documentary on this mysterious old man, who used to live in this mysterious town, and in this town there is a mysterious hotel, along with the mysterious properties of the local spring water. Throw in a few secondary characters and you find yourself in the middle (page 253) of a 503 page novel and you know little more than what you got from the three paragraphs on the back cover of the book. The author picked up the pace in the second half of the book but the ending of this saga is no more surprising than the rest of the novel.

The concept of bottled water from a hidden river and its secret abilities is intriguing. However the story is very dark.writing is not captivating. Interest lost after 40 pages.

Too weird & drawn out