A Welcome Grave

A Welcome Grave is the third of the four-book series by Michael Koryta about Lincoln Perry, a private investigator. Considering the book’s title, a grave would be something one would welcome to avoid a particularly horrendous circumstance in life, and that is just how this books starts. Alex Jefferson is being tortured, killed very slowly, mutilated until dead – a grotesque and ugly scene which hangs over the rest of the book. Jefferson just happens to be the man who swooped in and stole Perry’s fiancée some years before, and that led to significant trouble between the two men. A remarkably successful man, Jefferson also had a dark and corrupt side, and upon his death, Perry was the man the police suspected of having done the deed. But then Karen, Perry’s ex and Jefferson’s wife, thought Perry was the very man to find Jefferson’s estranged son Matt, to inform him of the death of his father and his inheritance of $8,000,000. However, when Perry found Matt, before Perry could say anything, Matt said he guessed his father was dead, and then promptly put a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger. Is that a dark enough beginning for you?

This is the fourth book reviewed in the blog by Perry, so he has gotten some interest from Men Reading Books, but like East Coast Don has written, the books mostly did not light his fire. I was mostly intrigued by Koryta’s use of Southern Indiana for part of his story. He is from Indiana University and continues to live in Bloomington, my old haunts. I loved reading about the places I used to know and love, places that I’ve not visited for too long a time. I put this book in my class of airplane novels, something to entertain you on a cross country trip, but a book that is less than great literature. I doubt that Koryta will make it to my list of top ten go-to authors.

Last Words by Michael Koryta

Markus Novak is a private detective for Innocence, Inc., a Florida based company that uses modern forensic technology to evaluate the guilt or innocence of convicts.  His wife, Lauren also worked for this do-gooder organization when she was murdered.  Markus becomes obsessed with solving her murder and takes actions inconsistent with the ethics of his employer.  His boss sends him to Southern Indiana on the pretense of evaluating a possible new case but more realistically to get him out of Florida to gain a fresh perspective.

Small town Garrison, Indiana was known to tourists for Trapdoor Cavern.  But the cave was closed to the public when a teenage girl, Sarah Martin was lost and died in the cavern nearly ten years earlier.  Ridley Barnes was the local spelunker who found her body and retrieved it from the cave.  But Ridley is a strange bird. An eccentric recluse, he feels more comfortable alone in the dark, in tight quarters underground, than he does on the surface in everyday society.  Further, he personifies the cave and thinks it has powers and can talk to him.  When he refuses to discuss how he found Sarah’s body, he quickly becomes the leading suspect for her death.  But it isn’t that Ridley just won’t talk about finding Sarah, he can’t remember how or where he found her.  Without evidence, local officials can’t charge Ridley and he just becomes more of a societal outcast.  After years of psychological misery, he tries hypnosis to help him remember but with limited success.  He decides to contact Innocence, Inc. hoping a fresh investigative look will resolve events surrounding Sarah’s death.  At this point, he just wants to know the truth whether it implicates him or not.

So, Markus Novak arrives in Garrison to evaluate the case.  But apparently there are those who don’t want the truth about Sarah to be known.  Markus is lied to, kidnapped, beaten, drugged and left for dead inside Trapdoor Cavern.  Yet after Markus is rescued, the sheriff does not believe his story and now his reputation is on the line in Indiana as well as in Florida.  Now he has no choice but to personally take the case.  Finding the truth about Sarah’s death is the only way to save himself.

I’ve read a couple Michael Koryta books and this is the first time (that I know of) he writes about his resident state, Indiana.  In fact, the location of the fictional Trapdoor Cavern as he describes it, can’t be more than an hour from his home in Bloomington.  As for Last Words, I had some trouble liking the protagonist, Markus Novak.  True he had some events in his life that incite sympathy but I thought he acted more out of necessity instead of nobility… perhaps a little too self-serving for my brand of hero.  Nonetheless, the author leaves the door open for a sequel.  I’ll probably read it when nothing else looks appealing. 

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

Those Who Wish Me Dead is a quick paced thriller about survival.  Survival of a 14 year old boy in the Montana wilderness dealing with all that Mother Nature can throw his way including an out of control forest fire- all while two desperados track him down with intent to kill him.

Jace Wilson is a normal young teen reacting to peer pressure.  He is deemed a coward by his friends and has been challenged to jump from a lofty height into a pool of water at the bottom of a stone quarry near his Indiana home.  While practicing and building his courage for the event, Jace inadvertently witnesses a brutal murder.  Two men slit the throats of two other men and throw their bodies into the quarry.  Jace narrowly escapes but the murderers, Jack and Patrick Blackwell spot Jace as he slips away.  The authorities know Jace is in danger until these criminals can be captured.

In lieu of the witness protection program, Jace’s parents decide to enroll him in a Montana wilderness survival training program designed for troubled teens.  Armed with a new identity, Jace becomes Connor Reynolds and is sent to the ranch of Ethan and Allison Serbin in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains.  Ethan is a former survival skills instructor for the Air Force and teaches his skills to a small group of troubled teens each year hoping to change their attitudes toward life.  Ethan agrees to accept the young witness into his program but is not told his identity. Ethan just knows that one of the seven teens in his care is being sought by heartless sociopaths.  While authorities assure the Serbins that the villains will not find them, Ethan’s own deep seated insecurities surface- If these desperados show up, is he capable of being more than the teacher?  Can he find it within himself to practice what he has been preaching for most of his life?

Connor quickly finds himself submerged in the grueling wilderness survival course with the ‘bad kids’.  Yet he learns to thrive in the environment and the clumsy and cowardly Jace becomes the level headed, purposeful Connor.  For him survival skills have more relevance than a mere summer camp.  He’s certain these skills can save his life.

Predictably, the worst happens- the Blackwell brothers arrive in Montana and quickly learn of Jace’s general location in the wilderness.  They torture and kill the sheriff, brutally assault Allison and set a forest fire intent on ‘smoking out’ the hikers.  Connor senses they have arrived and sets off alone into the wilderness employing all he’s learned about survival.  But can that new found skill offset the desperation and determination of two sociopathic killers who wish him dead?

Koryta (pronounced Ko-ree-ta) tells a great story in Those Who Wish Me Dead.  He reminds us of those awkward and painful social situations in our youth that mold our personalities and impact us our entire lives.  He shows us what regret is like... What it feels like to make a mistake and to live with that decision and how that can changes our life.  He also tells us about fear and dread and motivation to keep going even when spent physically and psychologically... He teaches us about survival.  This is the best I’ve seen from Michael Koryta.  He grabs hold of you from the beginning and doesn’t let go until his tale is told.

THE PROPHET by Micheal Koryta

THE PROPHET by Michael Koryta is a mystery and psychological thriller featuring brothers, Adam and Kent Austin and Northeast Ohio high school football.

The Austin brothers live in Chambers, Ohio, a declining former steel town on Lake Erie where high school football gives residents purpose and escape from otherwise ordinary lives.  Adam and Kent are former stars of the local football team whose lives were altered when their teenage sister was kidnapped and murdered over twenty years earlier.  They each have reason to blame themselves for what happened to their sister but each have dealt with that guilt very differently.  Adam obsessed on revenge and joined his father in drinking too much.  His obsessions ruined his promising football career at Ohio State and eventually he returned to his hometown to work as a bail bondsmen and PI.  He moves into his childhood house, maintains his sister’s room as a shrine and often speaks aloud to her ghost.  Kent focuses on football becoming a very successful head coach of Chambers High School.  He marries the daughter of his former high school coach and finds religion as a comfort to his guilt.  He becomes a lay minister frequently visiting local prisons to share his faith and tell his story.  The brother’s very different ways of dealing with their sister’s death, bitterness vs forgiveness, have marred their relationship.  They rarely see each other, even avoid one another.  Adam however still attends the Chambers High football games and is very proud that his brother has a chance the win the state football championship this year.

Then another teenage girl is murdered in Chambers.  She is girlfriend to one of Kent’s football players whom he has counseled.  Adam, as private investigator, worked for the girl helping her to reconnect with her estranged father who was supposedly recently released from prison.  She is murdered at the address where Adam sends her as a result of his investigation.  Later, they learn that the girl’s father is still in prison. The Austin brothers again feel responsibility and guilt for the murder of a teenage girl in their hometown.  Again they choose very different courses of action.  Kent goes to the police revealing all he knows about the girl and Adam vows to the dead girl’s mother he will personally find and kill the murderer.

The brothers are drawn together when Kent suspects the murderer is one of the prison inmates to whom he has witnessed his faith.  The predator starts to threaten Kent’s family.  Adam steps in to protect his brother hoping to find the killer and fulfill his promise.

THE PROPHET is my first venture into the works of Michael Koryta.  His strength is clearly in character development.  He reminds us that while one event can change our lives, the way we chose to deal with that event can define who we are.  Even brothers approach a traumatic experience very differently.  Koryta develops each brother with likeable and dislikable qualities, each with strong survival instincts and good intentions, each with a strong but individual sense of right and wrong, yet both with a family bond that is undeniable.  Throw in Ohio high school football and you have a great selection for Men Reading Books.  (btw…Koryta is an IU graduate and now lives in Bloomington, IN.)