In an isolated stretch of eastern Kentucky, on a hilltop known as
Blade Ridge, stands a lighthouse that illuminates nothing but the
surrounding woods. For years the lighthouse has been considered
no more than an eccentric local landmark-until its builder is
found dead at the top of the light, and his belongings reveal a
troubling local history.
For deputy sheriff Kevin Kimble, the lighthouse-keeper's death is
disturbing and personal. Years ago, Kimble was while on
duty. Somehow the death suggests a connection between the
lighthouse and the most terrifying moment of his life.
Audrey Clark is in the midst of moving her large-cat sanctuary
onto land adjacent to the lighthouse. Sixty-seven tigers, lions,
leopards, and one legendary black panther are about to have a new
home there. Her husband, the sanctuary's founder, died scouting
the new property, and Audrey is determined to see his vision
through.
As strange occurrences multiply at the Ridge, the animals grow
ever more restless, and Kimble and Audrey try to understand what
evil forces are moving through this ancient landscape, just past
the divide between dark and light.
The Ridge is the new thriller from international bestseller
Michael Koryta, further evidence of why Dean Koontz has said
"Michael Koryta's work resonates into deeper strata than does
most of what I read" and why Michael Connelly has named him "one
of the best of the best."
Author One-on-One: Michael Koryta and Steve Hamilton
In this Amazon exclusive, Michael Koryta is interviewed by
fellow thriller author Steve Hamilton. The tables get turned when
Koryta interviews Hamilton on the Misery Bay page.
Michael KorytaHamilton: You broke in the same way I did, through
the St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America contest.
That first book, Tonight I Said Goodbye, went on to be nominated
for an Edgar Award. How did you handle such sudden success at
such a young age?
Koryta: Well, the positive side of being 20 when the book won
the contest and 21 when it was published was that I knew
absolutely nothing about publishing. I was an undergrad, working
two jobs. Between all that and writing, I didn’t have time to
worry, I just kept my head down and got work done.
Hamilton: You did two more Lincoln Perry novels after that first
one, then broke out of the series to write Envy the Night. That’s
a fairly early departure from a series. Were you conscious of the
risk you were taking?
Koryta: You know, I didn’t think of it as a risk. I thought it
was a better book than what I’d done before and therefore a wise
move. That was the book that had to be written. I didn’t feel as
if I had much choice in the matter. You’ve got a limited number
of s, so the only risk I see is in letting those slip past
for stories you’d love to tell.
Hamilton: You returned to the series for one more Lincoln Perry
book (The Silent Hour). Now, these were all very well-received,
well-reviewed books. You were definitely on most everyone’s short
list of favorite private eye writers. Any sane, normal person
would have kept going down that same road. But you? Not so much.
Please explain yourself.
Koryta: Again, we come back to the idea of the story you’ve just
got to write. I’d been entranced with the folklore and history
behind So Cold the River for years, and I just couldn’t put the
brakes on. I went off to write a 500-page ghost story, and it
prompted a change in publishers, but that book also ended up
selling better and getting better publicity than anything I’d
done before. So sanity, schmanity, says I!
Hamilton: Seriously, no matter what anyone says now, it was a
radical departure for you to try something so different. You
probably don’t like categories any more than I do, but you’re
probably going to find So Cold the River on the “Horror” shelf in
many bookstores, right next to Stephen King. (King, Koryta--okay,
maybe Dean Koontz is in the middle there.) The thing that makes
this so amazing to me is that just a few years ago, the horror
genre was essentially left for dead. You had to know this. And
yet here you are, breathing new life into it. What on earth made
you decide to attempt such a leap?
Steve HamiltonKoryta: Ironically, it found me shelved in
“fiction and literature” instead of either mystery or horror. I
never considered it all that different from my past work. To me,
it was still suspense, just with a supernatural thread. But of
course I knew some people would feel differently. I tried to take
comfort in knowing that other writers--King, Koontz, Matheson,
Levin, McCammon, Straub, Bradbury--had done just fine by focusing
on writing well. And Joe Hill! Before he got any bump from being
King’s son, he got a lot of attention simply for writing a great
book. Heart-Shaped Box was an encouragement for me, a reminder of
how much fun a writer should be having at his craft. You can feel
how much fun he’s having.
Hamilton: You’ve kept working in this same vein, with The
Cypress House and now with The Ridge. As good as your crime
fiction was, I can’t help but think that you’re really hitting
your stride now. Does writing a story with paranormal elements
give you a better rtunity to do something truly original and
amazing?
Koryta: It opens things up a great deal. I think of Hitchcock,
who always created suspense, but delivered it in a lot of
different ways. Any writer who’s interested in putting a real
squeeze of tension around the reader’s heart probably considers a
spooky tale at some point, and I’m surprised more don’t chase the
impulse. I find that it allows me to wrestle with larger issues
thematically and symbolically. Now, that’s a personal experience.
But the past three books feel bigger to me in those ways.
Hamilton: Any plans to return to crime fiction (or for that
matter, to Lincoln Perry)?
Koryta: Absolutely! The next book is going to be a traditional
crime novel, a story I’ve been kicking around for years, about
two brothers who lost a sibling to violent crime and grew up
coping with that tragedy in radically different ways. It’s also a
football book--one of the brothers is a high school coach in
Ohio, where high school football is a very big deal. As for
Lincoln, we’ll wait and see.