So Cold the River (Koryta)

Book Reviews
As plot hooks for suspense tales go, haunted water is certainly unexpected. Mr. Koryta decided to use it for a very specific reason. His inspiration for So Cold the River comes from its spectacular setting: the grand old West Baden Springs Hotel in rural Indiana. As a Hoosier with a keen sense of the hotel's history, Mr. Koryta has worked backward to concoct an eerie narrative and used the place for the basis of his own personal version of The Shining.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


A super-natural mystery that intensifies the suspense by thickening the atmosphere. So Cold the River…is a superior specimen, with its eerie tale of a lovely valley in Indiana where at one time an elixir known as Pluto Water bubbled up from the underground springs...Koryta sets a beautiful scene.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review


So Cold the River takes a while to build up momentum, but the material is so fresh and the characters so appealing that my interest never flagged. After reading it, I'm sticking to good old D.C. tap water.
Dennis Drabelle - Washington Post


In this explosive thriller from Koryta (Envy the Night), failed filmmaker Eric Shaw is eking out a living making family home videos when a client offers him big bucks to travel to the resort town of West Baden, Ind., the childhood home of her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, to shoot a video history of his life. Almost immediately, things go weird. Eric uncovers evidence of another Campbell Bradford, a petty tyrant who lived a generation before the other and terrorized the locals. The older Campbell begins appearing in horrific visions to Eric after he sips the peculiar mineral water that made West Baden famous. Koryta spins a spellbinding tale of an unholy lust for power that reaches from beyond the grave and suspends disbelief through the believable interactions of fully developed characters. A cataclysmic finale will put readers in mind of some of the best recent works of supernatural horror, among which this book ranks.
Publishers Weekly


Edgar Award nominee Koryta breaks from his Lincoln Perry PI series with this work of dark, supernatural horror that demonstrates the quality writing style and well-developed characters for which he is known. Down-and-out filmmaker Eric Shaw agrees to produce a biopic of an elderly billionaire from West Baden Springs, IN. While there, a bottle of "Pluto" water enhances Shaw's psychic abilities as he becomes increasingly caught up in the mystery surrounding his subject's family, in West Baden history, and in the water's source and powers. Actor/Audie Award nominee Robert Petkoff (robertpetkoff.com) renders Eric's visions and descendant Josiah Campbell's ruthless pursuit of fortune with veridical insight. Highly recommended for all audiences.  —Sandy Glover, Camas P.L., WA
Library Journal


A gothic horror story set in-wait for it-rural Indiana. Filmmaker Eric Shaw, reduced to preparing video montages for memorial services since the failure of his Los Angeles career caused him to retreat to Chicago and leave his marriage to Claire, is approached by wealthy Alyssa Bradford, who offers him $15,000 to re-create the life of her father-in-law, Campbell, 95 and near death in a nursing home. The only clue to his past is a green glass bottle, still stoppered, that he's kept in his safe-a bottle of something called Pluto Water from some hidden spring between the twin towns of French Lick and West Baden, Ind. Quicker than Stephen King conjures goosebumps, Shaw finds himself hearing train whistles, having visions of an old gent in a bowler hat and suffering world-class headaches. Kellen Cage, a black student working on a doctoral thesis concerning French Lick and West Baden, offers some help. Meanwhile, the last Bradford, ne'er-do-well Josiah, hopes that the video may bring him money. The weather turns ominous. Shaw's headaches worsen. His scary visions continue. Would a sip of that reputed elixir, Pluto Water, help? As the visions intensify, Josiah turns more menacing, killing with no provocation a private eye sent from Chicago to stop Shaw. Old Anne, a weather spotter, senses that the wind is up. Shaw becomes obsessed with finding out more about Pluto Water. But four tornados will hit the county within an hour, the Lost River will rise and a major conflagration will almost annihilate Claire before the Campbell past is bottled up tight once more. A departure from Kortya's Lincoln Perry p.i. series (The Silent Hour, 2009) that's every bit as well-written.
Kirkus Reviews