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mostlybees's review against another edition
Luckily I didn’t finish this book. It was the book club book for March. Reading a story that takes place in a state I live in is neat, and that’s my only good comment about this book. I think the story is bad, the characters are poorly written, and the writing is bad.
I listened to the audio book because I thought that would be better than reading 500-something pages, and I think that was a mistake. The narrator’s voice was infuriating, and they used accents for characters and some accents were not in good taste.
I listened to the audio book because I thought that would be better than reading 500-something pages, and I think that was a mistake. The narrator’s voice was infuriating, and they used accents for characters and some accents were not in good taste.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
tduchscher's review against another edition
5.0
I fell in love with this book and author after reading the first paragraph! Michael Koryta is on the top of my must read list! I love the paranormal aspect to this book. It's an easy mystery to follow along with but still has you guessing at what will happen next. My three favorite things 1) storms 2) paranormal and 3) mystery. Highly recommend this book
beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
Eric Shaw used to be a one of the most talented and most sought after film makers. That all changed in an instant. All it took was for him to lose his temper and after that, his career crumbled faster then you can say “Oscar”. Eric still produces films but recapping the lives of ones who have passed away. At one of the funerals, Eric is approached by the lovely, Alyssa Bradford. Eric did her sister’s movie. Alyssa is impressed with Eric’s work.
Alyssa calls Eric a few days later. She wants to hire him to do a documentary on her father in law, Campbell Bradford. Her father in law ran away from home during the Depression, when he was just a young boy and stuck it rich in Chicago. He is a billionaire. He doesn’t have much time left on Earth but feels he has a story to tell. Eric agrees. There is just one last thing, Alyssa hands Eric a green bottle with some mucky looking water in it. The bottle is cold to the touch. Alyssa tells him it is Pluto Water. West Baden Springs, Indiana where Campbell’s home town is, is famous for its spring. This is where the Pluto Water came from.
Eric heads to West Baden Springs. There he teams up with Kellen Cage. Kellen is also writing about Campbell Bradford for his theses. It becomes apparent real fast that neither Eric nor Kellen are welcome by Josiah Bradford, a relative of Campbell’s. Strange things start happening to Eric, while in West Baden Springs. For example the green bottle he was given by Alyssa keeps getting colder and colder. It appears that the murky water has turned into a sweet drink with a hint of honey. What dark secrets will Eric uncover?
So Cold the River is a book you will be thinking about for a long while after you have put this book down. The whole time I was reading this book, it reminded me of the old, classic feel of a Stephen King novel combined with the Twilight Zone. I loved this feeling. The best part is that Mr. Koryta put his own twists on this chilling story. Mr. Koryta based this story around historical locations. This is part of what made this book so good. I really got sucked into this book. I forgot about it being over 500 pages. All the characters were engaging. I felt for Eric and hoped this would be the break he would get to turn his career around again. So Cold the River is my first taste of what author, Michael Koryta has to offer. Now that I have, I plan to go back and check all his other novels. So Cold the River is flowing upstream to the top of the best seller’s list and for good reason!
Alyssa calls Eric a few days later. She wants to hire him to do a documentary on her father in law, Campbell Bradford. Her father in law ran away from home during the Depression, when he was just a young boy and stuck it rich in Chicago. He is a billionaire. He doesn’t have much time left on Earth but feels he has a story to tell. Eric agrees. There is just one last thing, Alyssa hands Eric a green bottle with some mucky looking water in it. The bottle is cold to the touch. Alyssa tells him it is Pluto Water. West Baden Springs, Indiana where Campbell’s home town is, is famous for its spring. This is where the Pluto Water came from.
Eric heads to West Baden Springs. There he teams up with Kellen Cage. Kellen is also writing about Campbell Bradford for his theses. It becomes apparent real fast that neither Eric nor Kellen are welcome by Josiah Bradford, a relative of Campbell’s. Strange things start happening to Eric, while in West Baden Springs. For example the green bottle he was given by Alyssa keeps getting colder and colder. It appears that the murky water has turned into a sweet drink with a hint of honey. What dark secrets will Eric uncover?
So Cold the River is a book you will be thinking about for a long while after you have put this book down. The whole time I was reading this book, it reminded me of the old, classic feel of a Stephen King novel combined with the Twilight Zone. I loved this feeling. The best part is that Mr. Koryta put his own twists on this chilling story. Mr. Koryta based this story around historical locations. This is part of what made this book so good. I really got sucked into this book. I forgot about it being over 500 pages. All the characters were engaging. I felt for Eric and hoped this would be the break he would get to turn his career around again. So Cold the River is my first taste of what author, Michael Koryta has to offer. Now that I have, I plan to go back and check all his other novels. So Cold the River is flowing upstream to the top of the best seller’s list and for good reason!
tobinlopes's review against another edition
3.0
A haunting story told in fairly straightforward manner. A good mystery-thriller-horror that had a satisfying, but not completely enthralling, bad guy.
Recommended for any Stephen King fans. I gave it a 7/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
Recommended for any Stephen King fans. I gave it a 7/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
mmc6661's review against another edition
5.0
One of my new favorite authors. Great read with some suspense and horror built in. At the end of the book he gave information about the hotels and I looked them up, awesome ! I wish he would have put that as a forward to the story so I could have pictured the setting better. Will be looking for his next book. Recommend him to King and Koontz fans.
lcourage's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
suebee135's review against another edition
4.0
Once a highly sought after cinematographer, Eric Shaw’s film career is in a downward spiral. He shouldn’t be surprised-punching a famous director in the face will often have that effect. Eric’s personal life isn’t faring much better. He walked out on his wife Claire when he began to feel that she and her father were starting to think of him as a failure. Eric’s gift has always been his innate sense of knowing which pictures or footage would move the audience. His new career is using that gift to make personal memorial videos for funerals, weddings, and other occasions. When the sister of a woman memorialized in one of his videos offers to hire Eric to make a video about her dying father in law, Campbell Bradford, Eric agrees. Armed with his camera and a curious bottle of vintage mineral water that belonged to Bradford, Eric travels to French Lick, Indiana, to begin his project. What he finds there contradicts all he was previously told about Campbell Bradford. This and the fact that the bottle of mineral water he’s been carrying around keeps getting colder and colder to the touch, even as the temperature around him rises, should have been enough to convince Eric that he was heading toward danger. But, alas, Eric plunges ahead and ends up in a fight to save his life and his very soul. This is a fast paced, action packed supernatural thriller with great characters and a very clever plot. I enjoyed this from cover to cover.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, so before we go too much further SO COLD THE RIVER came with a media release that flagged it as, amongst other things an "explosive thriller" and "supernatural horror". Not exactly a recipe for my perfect book. Having said that, there have been plenty of reading examples in my recent past that make me aware that my "recipe" is a very fluid thing.
Eric Shaw is down and out. A disgraced movie maker, separated from his wife, he's in Chicago making "life portraits" for people on video - think weddings, parties, and funerals. During one of these funerals, Shaw is approached by Alyssa who wants him to make a documentary of the life of her father-in-law Campbell Bradford. The family knows very little about the billionaire head of the family, except that his hometown is West Baden in Indiana. Alyssa also hands over a very old bottle of Pluto Water which Campbell has held onto for many years, tying him to not just that small town, but a large part of its own history. This small, mysterious, smelly, murky water bottle is the key to Shaw going to West Baden and somewhere a whole lot stranger.
The language used in SO COLD THE RIVER was quite beautiful in places, the basic bones of story intriguing. An elderly, private man and what happened to him, and this small town over all those years. The author is also doing something that I really like with dialogue: it's crisp, pointed, realistic. There's also the sense of pace and suspense that you want from a first class thriller. They come with an extremely hefty dose of the supernatural, the paranormal. It is absolutely intrinsic to the way that the story unfolds and is told. Undoubtedly Michael Koryta is a very good writer, as I stayed with this book even as I found this increasingly alternative reality more and more unconvincing.
Unfortunately, the supernatural elements were simply laid on so thick that suspension of my disbelief would have required engineering greater than the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge. I'm also not sure I understand the inclusion of horror in the definitions, as there didn't seem to be many of the standard elements I expect with that genre - so if you're normally nervous of that, there's not a lot that should concern you about that.
Undoubtedly this is a book for readers with a higher tolerance for the supernatural elements being a core component of the story. Perhaps that's the difference between SO COLD IS THE RIVER and other books that I've read and enjoyed recently. The supernatural in SO COLD IS THE RIVER is an intrinsic part of the way that this story unfolds - there's no getting around it, there's no balancing of a fantasy and reality. To be fair there's no attempt, no pretence, an overt declaration that this fantastical series of events is the point of the book. Because of that it's most likely a book for people who really like fantasy, the fantastical.. the supernatural. It's likely to also be a book for dedicated fans of Michael Koryta's writing. For the rest of us, well I've not had the pleasure of reading any of Koryta's "straight" crime fiction but I'm going to have to rectify that.
Eric Shaw is down and out. A disgraced movie maker, separated from his wife, he's in Chicago making "life portraits" for people on video - think weddings, parties, and funerals. During one of these funerals, Shaw is approached by Alyssa who wants him to make a documentary of the life of her father-in-law Campbell Bradford. The family knows very little about the billionaire head of the family, except that his hometown is West Baden in Indiana. Alyssa also hands over a very old bottle of Pluto Water which Campbell has held onto for many years, tying him to not just that small town, but a large part of its own history. This small, mysterious, smelly, murky water bottle is the key to Shaw going to West Baden and somewhere a whole lot stranger.
The language used in SO COLD THE RIVER was quite beautiful in places, the basic bones of story intriguing. An elderly, private man and what happened to him, and this small town over all those years. The author is also doing something that I really like with dialogue: it's crisp, pointed, realistic. There's also the sense of pace and suspense that you want from a first class thriller. They come with an extremely hefty dose of the supernatural, the paranormal. It is absolutely intrinsic to the way that the story unfolds and is told. Undoubtedly Michael Koryta is a very good writer, as I stayed with this book even as I found this increasingly alternative reality more and more unconvincing.
Unfortunately, the supernatural elements were simply laid on so thick that suspension of my disbelief would have required engineering greater than the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge. I'm also not sure I understand the inclusion of horror in the definitions, as there didn't seem to be many of the standard elements I expect with that genre - so if you're normally nervous of that, there's not a lot that should concern you about that.
Undoubtedly this is a book for readers with a higher tolerance for the supernatural elements being a core component of the story. Perhaps that's the difference between SO COLD IS THE RIVER and other books that I've read and enjoyed recently. The supernatural in SO COLD IS THE RIVER is an intrinsic part of the way that this story unfolds - there's no getting around it, there's no balancing of a fantasy and reality. To be fair there's no attempt, no pretence, an overt declaration that this fantastical series of events is the point of the book. Because of that it's most likely a book for people who really like fantasy, the fantastical.. the supernatural. It's likely to also be a book for dedicated fans of Michael Koryta's writing. For the rest of us, well I've not had the pleasure of reading any of Koryta's "straight" crime fiction but I'm going to have to rectify that.