So Cold The River
On sale
17th March 2011
Price: £9.99
Genre
Now a major motion picture: So Cold the River is a chilling, supernatural tale “guaranteed to put the cold finger down your spine” (Michael Connelly).
Ninety-five-year-old millionaire Campbell Bradford is dying.
His family have hired ex-filmmaker Eric Shaw to make a documentary about him, but Campbell’s childhood is shrouded in mystery. The only clues to his past are the name of his hometown and an antique glass water bottle that he’s kept his entire life.
Arriving in West Baden with the bottle and a camera, Shaw begins to have vivid and disturbing visions. And the more he finds out about the town and the man, the more he suspects that something besides the West Baden Springs Hotel has just been restored . . .
Something dark and terrifying. And cold.
Ninety-five-year-old millionaire Campbell Bradford is dying.
His family have hired ex-filmmaker Eric Shaw to make a documentary about him, but Campbell’s childhood is shrouded in mystery. The only clues to his past are the name of his hometown and an antique glass water bottle that he’s kept his entire life.
Arriving in West Baden with the bottle and a camera, Shaw begins to have vivid and disturbing visions. And the more he finds out about the town and the man, the more he suspects that something besides the West Baden Springs Hotel has just been restored . . .
Something dark and terrifying. And cold.
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Reviews
Mesmerising . . . chilling, compelling and captivating
A story so chilling it would keep Stephen King up all night
Builds slowly yet relentlessly, cranking up the suspense until it's taut as a bowstring
A masterpiece of genuine chill with a cracking finish
Mixing the supernatural into crime novels is a tradition that goes back to Poe and Conan Doyle, and this tale shows just how effective it can be . . . A thrilling read
Koryta is one of the best of the best
A chilling supernatural tale . . . Koryta's novel is being compared to the writings of Stephen King and Peter Straub. He lives up to the comparison in this dark novel.
A superior specimen . . . Koryta sets a beautiful scene, resplendent with dreamy images of phantom railroad trains and ghosts who wear bowler hats and play the violin
The atmosphere seeps over you like a November fog, dousing the sunlight and ushering you into the clammy darkness. It's a great British debut from a genuine spookmeister.
An icy, terrifying winner. SO COLD THE RIVER puts an October chill in your blood by the end of the first chapter. It's not much longer before you've turned on all the lights and rechecked all the window locks. Few novelists warrant mention alongside Stephen King or Peter Straub. Michael Koryta, however, earns comparison to both.
Calculatingly spooky
This book builds like a summer storm. Beautiful to watch until it shakes the house and knocks out the lights, leaving you alone in the dark . . . Masterful.
Like King's 'Overlook', Kortya's West Baden Springs is a real spa-hotel with real history. But if you stay there, for God's sake, don't drink the water! . . . Fright-inducing fiction worthy of our time, attention, and real enjoyment
Fast-paced and action-packed, SO COLD THE RIVER is good, unclean fun. Like Joe Hill, Michael Koryta is infusing the old-school supernatural horror novel with new blood. Drink up!
A great story, but what held me was the lean, clean prose and the sharp presentation of scenes and dialogue. Michael Koryta is a good story teller and a wonderful stylist.
Michael Koryta is a gifted storyteller. His writing reminded me of the great Ruth Rendell - eerie, suspenseful, and pleasantly wicked.
Fascinating. Put simply it meets the hype.
A fast, eerie chiller of a book that will make you shiver in the sun
A paranormal horror story in the Stephen King mould -- and a chilling one
Spellbinding and check-your-doors-and-windows scary . . . At its deliciously creepy core, So Cold the River is about two men facing down their demons, and what happens when those demons fight back.
Koryta has ventured into genre-bending, successfully melding thriller elements to a horror story that recalls Stephen King. His tight, clear prose makes West Baden as creepy as Transylvania, and Eric is a compellingly flawed protagonist. Legions of King and Peter Straub devotees will be delighted by this change of direction.
A spellbinding tale of an unholy lust for power that reaches from beyond the grave . . . A cataclysmic finale will put readers in mind of some of the best recent works of supernatural horror, among which this book ranks.
Fantastically well-written . . . excellent characterisation and great pace. Just the thing to induce a chill on the back of the neck during the long, hot summer.