The Prophet
Aug 21, 2012
The Prophet
Author: Michael Koryta
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (August 7, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316122610
ISBN-13: 978-0316122610
This is the fourth Michael Koryta book the Dew has reviewed and it's completely different from the first three. The other stories had tinges, if not outright examples, of supernatural events and causes. These events are what drove the stories and the characters.
In this story, it's a psychopathic killer that drives the characters to do what they do. Actually, it's two of them years apart.
Two brothers, Adam and Kent, have suffered remorse and guilt for years and it's deeply affected both their lives. When they were teenagers their 16 year old sister was abducted and killed while she was supposedly on their watch. Both blame themselves.
Years later they're adults and fully into their careers. Kent is the head coach for the high school football team and Adam is a bail bondsman. Suddenly another girl in the high school is brutally murdered. The twists start at this point when Adam realizes that it's the same girl he did some P.I. work for and gave her an address... an address where she was murdered at. At the same time Kent starts being stalked and harassed by the murderer. Why, he has no idea.
The brothers must put aside years of animosity to come together and protect Kent's family and also find out why this centers on them and how it came about.
Again, not the Koryta book you may be used to, but as usual the writing is tight, the characters believable and the suspense full on.
An interesting aside is that Koryta obviously has a strong interest in football and there are full chapters that are nothing but the football games with the interactions on the field and in the locker room. Kirkus calls it Friday Night Lights meets In Cold Blood and I say that statement is spot on.
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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com
