The Ridge

Every once in a while a really good supernatural book comes along with possible solutions to real threats....this is one of those times! An excellent, non-stop story that incorporates a big cat sanctuary into a devil possession tale. Not sure how Mr. Koryta did that but its quite an accomplishment. Even the character development, though not extensive, is enough to relate to the people in Blade Ridge.

The deaths over the decades have a commonality that are discovered by a "put out to pasture" newsman, goaded on by a local police official who frequents the local prison to visit a female prisoner that shot him years ago!! Is that enough info to capture your interest? Then lets throw in an escaped panther and a lighthouse in the middle of a forest setting! I know it sounds convaluted, but it works. Don't plan anything when you start The Ridge because your night will be filled.(less)

Michael Koryta has been one of the brightest voices in hard-boiled crime fiction for the past several years with his efforts coming close to that of the great George Pelecanos.

Like all talented writers, Mr. Koryta is not bound to one single genre and with THE RIDGE has boldly stepped out on to the ledge that is horror/supernatural fiction. THE RIDGE is constantly entertaining, well-wriiten and never devolves into cheap thrills and gory violence in the way of much pulp horror.

Deputy Sheriff Kevin Kimble patrols an isolated stretch of eastern Kentucky known as Blade Ridge. When he receives a call from a man who is infamous for being the town drunk he is dubious. When this individual starts spouting nonsense about ghosts, a curse and his discoveries at the lighthouse he built himself --- Kimble tries to dismiss it as drunken rambling. When he finds the gentlemen dead at his own hand and surrounded by articles and artifacts that signify a pattern of violence with origins deep in the haunted countryside of Blade Ridge, Kevin Kimble quickly becomes a believer.

When an animal-loving woman named Audrey Clark opens up a big-cat sanctuary with 67 various wild jungle cats on 'the Ridge' she gets far more than she bargained for. Her path soon crosses with Kevin Kimbles --- and it appears they may both be caught in the midst of an evil conspiracy created by a supernatural presence that haunts the Ridge and has made 'deals' with several people throughout the centuries that often result in a Faustian bargain gone wrong.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy their horror with a literary twist!

Earlier last year, I reviewed Koryta's "Cypress House." It was my first introduction to his writing. I became an immediate addict...Michael Koryta is a master storyteller. He is the type of author who could have us mesmerized for hours while we waited out a hurricane! And, we'd never even know we were in the midst of one except that it would be a fitting setting for his story. I could read his books in tandem and be entertained all week without boredom.

Koryta's genius, it seems to me, is that he draws us in right away by making the circumstances quite ordinary and believable. The first chapter leaves us with a handful of questions; some of them not so obvious until we muse upon them. So much fun to do that. And, from that moment on, we are hooked. We are driven by an urge to know...

His characters are so real, I feel as if I know them. They are easily visualized. They are easily understood from a psychological perspective. However, this doesn't mean all is immediately as it seems, ever, in a Koryta novel. My attention is driven by his type of characterization with the "brick hasn't yet fallen" suspense. What I'm trying to convey is that you think you can "see" the characters, but he always leaves you with that mote of doubt that irritates your seeker's eye.

I wasn't expecting the supernatural context of this novel. I frankly refrained from reading the overleaf because I didn't want to spoil a minute of the actual read for myself. That's how good Mr. Koryta is! So, I didn't expect this ghostly intrigue and it was a surprising addition for me. From his typical writing genre as I knew it from "Cypress House" it was an unusual twist. Reminiscent of the Gothic novel, it worked perfectly with a modern day police suspense/mystery in the end.

"The Ridge" is a book I couldn't stop reading until the end. I dreamt of it...I read it when I was eating, and I read it during commercials between the Casey Anthony murder trial. This gives you some idea of the intensity of the writing skills of this author. I'm obsessive about the Anthony Trial...and "The Ridge" tore me away at times!

I can do no more than strongly urge you to get to know Michael Koryta as an author with his mind and fingers on the pulse of new suspense/thriller writing. If there is an evolution of writers with vision in this genre, Michael Koryta is leading the curve. His work reminds me why I read suspense and thrillers.

Without going into the storyline of this book, which the reviews and other information does above, I want to say that it's a story that left me with wide eyes and the feeling that it might really happen. I'm not one to chase after ghosts and demons, but this book made me think twice...

5 stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

Michael Koryta scores again with "The Ridge," a thriller set in an isolated and rugged area of Eastern Kentucky. Inexplicable events are occurring near a hilltop known as Blade Ridge. Sawyer County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Kimble and his colleagues get involved after an eccentric old drunk named Wyatt French is found dead in his lighthouse, an apparent suicide. No one understands why French spent time and money building a wooden lighthouse "in the middle of nowhere." French had his reasons, but what he knew was so bizarre that no sane person would ever believe him.

Sheriff Kevin Kimble, who patrols Whitman and its environs, has a history of his own. While trying to protect a woman named Jacqueline Mathis from her abusive husband, Kimble was shot in the back. He still has lingering pain and stiffness, but knows he was lucky to survive. Meanwhile, a widow named Audrey Clark is carrying on the work of her late husband, David, a wildlife preservationist. She, along with a small paid staff and volunteers, has relocated sixty-seven exotic big cats (tigers, cougars, lions, and leopards who had suffered mistreatment at the hands of their owners) to a rescue center near Blade Ridge Road. Among the animals is Ira, a beautiful and unique black cougar who is crafty, powerful, and deadly when angered. Observing the goings-on is sixty-year old Roy Darmus, a veteran reporter whose newspaper has folded. When Darmus starts digging into his town's history, he makes some astounding discoveries.

As he did in "The Cypress House," Koryta presents a richly delineated cast of characters who face extraordinary challenges and grave danger. The gripping plot is chilling and eerily suspenseful. Michael Koryta is a consummate craftsman whose expressive dialogue, evocative descriptive writing, and atmospheric story draw us into his menacing world.

Having left his private eye novels behind, Koryta now he continues to explore the eerie end of the thriller sphere with a captivating tale centred on a mysterious lighthouse in Kentucky that lights up the surrounding woods.

When the builder and keeper of the eccentric local landmark is found dead, and then strange occurrences continue to occur near the lighthouse, local deputy sheriff Kevin Kimble finds himself wondering whether the incidents are connected to his own past horror; getting shot by a woman who he still feels strongly connected to. Meanwhile Audrey Clark is moving her big cat sanctuary to land near the lighthouse; sixty seven tigers, lions, leopards, and one legendary black panther. But the cats don't seem happy about their new home, and begin to grow increasingly restless.

A top notch tale from a true master; it's pacy, exciting, mysterious, and atmospheric. Koryta creates memorable characters and scenarios, has a great narrative style, and keeps the reader guessing all the way to the end.

When I read Michael Koryta's words, it feels like I'm reading poetry. His words resonant with the tone of the story. The landscape and people are described in vivid detail. I had to read this book in one day since I couldn't put it down. It was the same way for me with the other book of his that I had read, So Cold The River. The two books are a little similar in that they both take place in isolated areas where past events and people take control of the towns. But the people and the areas are so distinct and unique that you don't feel like you are reading anything at all similar. His stories linger in mind for days afterwards. If I could write like someone, I would like it to be Michael Koryta.

This book is complicated, complex, a bit scary, often rather funny and completely bewitching. It starts out with a phone conversation between an alcoholic and a local police officer - somewhere in the back woods of Kentucky. As the story develops it adds in a giant lighthouse built in the hills, a large refuge for big cats (lions and tigers) and some supernatural hints that keep you hanging until the final pages. Wyatt French, the alcoholic that dies inside the lighthouse leaves some pictures and maps along his walls that eventually pull the police officer as well as a local journalist into a distrustful partnership.

This book manages to mix a detective novel, the supernatural, an enduring love story, and an unending commitment to a cause all together in an amazingly seemless manner. Best of all you will be entranced from fairly early on and held riveted throughout the book, receiving surprises and plot twists to the absolute end. After I read it I loaned it to my wife and she had the same reaction - read it in a day and a half!

My wife grabbed this one off of the library shelf on a complete whim. She had never read the author before and was completely unaware of his work. I was in the same boat but after her strong encouragement I agreed to give this one a shot also. I am glad I did.

The first thing to note about this book is that it is written with great skill. There is no doubt that the author knows his craft and is very, very good at it. He has given us a rather odd book here; a sort of combination of the detective genre, horror, mysticism and thriller. Folks who read any books dealing with any of these genres will probably enjoy this one.

We have a lighthouse in the middle of the Kentucky wilderness surrounded by a large cat (as in big killer cats) sanctuary. The lighthouse is owned and inhabited by a very old and eccentric man. We have an occasional ghost flitting about, strange supernatural happenings and sheer terror. I cannot help but compare portions of this work to the writings of Stephen King...not my favorite author but I have to admit that some of his stuff does upset and scare me.

The term `character development' is often overused by we amateur reviewers but in this chase I have to use it. The author has done a wonderful job of introducing new characters and once you have read about them you really get the feeling you know them...they grow as the story grows...this is good.

There is of course the element of death and murder involved here but hey, that is what the book is about. There were no instances of gratuitous violence and while vivid, nothing was overly graphic...sorry, no cheap thrills here.

All in all this was a very interesting and compelling read and it kept me turning the pages from cover to cover and I am grateful for my wife's recommendation.

This was a library find.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Mixing mystery with the supernatural, Michael Koryta has developed works that are eerie and fascinating, and "The Ridge" is no less than captivating. The plot is somewhat complicated, and it takes a while to follow the thread. And, of course, it requires suspension of disbelief. But it does hold the reader from start to finish.

The story involves a particular area in Kentucky where over a century or more, a series of accidents and deaths occur. In the midst of a forest, a drunkard has built a lighthouse. For what purpose? Then the man who built it is found dead by his own hand, oddly enough leaving a note asking chief deputy Kevin Kimble to investigate it. Meanwhile, a big-cat sanctuary has opened across the road, and the lions and tigers are uneasy in their new surroundings. What does it mean? Are there sinister forces at work?

Written with a keen eye, the novel moves rapidly from scene to scene. The characters are well-drawn and the surroundings described vividly, and the novel is recommended.

Found book in library fundraiser sale for $1.00. This is a great mystery. Most glorified writers today will spend 20 pages describing a breeze. I have to stop reading most fiction novels about 25 percent in and toss book in trash because they are so over-written. This is a great little mystery! Hope author didn't become one of the over-writers! Looking forward to reading another one of his mystery books.

This is actually the first Koryta book I’ve read and it will not be the last.

The story is set in a small town in the mountains of Kentucky where a lighthouse sits on Blade Ridge, far from any large bodies of water. Its owner, Wyatt French, the town drunk, uses the lighthouse to ward off an evil supernatural force that, in the form of a floating blue light, bends the will of its chosen victims.

At the same time, a large wild cat refuge is established by Audrey Clark just across the road from the lighthouse. The first night in their new home, the cats sense the evil and it stirs them into agitation.

The story begins when French commits suicide but as the town’s chief deputy, Kevin Kimble, begins to investigate, he learns that French had, for years, been doing his own investigation into a series of odd accidents and murders that had happened at the Ridge over the last century.

Kimble, building his investigation on French’s work, contacts Roy Darmus, a local aging journalist whose newspaper has just shut down, to assist by researching the dark history of the town and the ridge.

In the middle of it all, there are more accidents and murders at the Ridge, including at the new cat refuge. There is also a one-sided love affair between Kimble and a female inmate, who previously also had an accident at the Ridge and then later shot Kimble, an escaped rare black cougar, and the floating blue light that can only be seen at night.

The book is a good combination of detective fiction and supernatural horror but I would have liked more depth to the ghost story aspect. Even so, it is tightly written with well-developed characters, an interesting setting and plenty of unexpected twists and turns. If you’re looking for a read that’s on the not so complex side, I would recommend this novel.

Another super-stunner from accomplished and incredible author Michael Koryta, whose novels satisfy, inspire, enrapture, and convince readers in every aspect. Every single essential in a novel is present-and far, far more. Mr. Koryta could teach courses to aspiring novelists on the proper ways to suspend the readers' disbelief, so that acceptance of the Supernatural comes automatically, even to readers who are usually skeptics (of which this reviewer is not one). In this novel, Mr. Koryta offers law enforcement, big cat rescue, romance, murders, history, wildlife, scenic locales, horror, and plotting that is beyond the capacity of most humans.

I could say so much about this novel, but all that's needed is this:
READ THIS BOOK

An alcoholic loner builds a lighthouse in the midist of the woods near a railroad trestle crossing a river but nowhere near the sea,ocean or rocks. He calls the sheriff and tells him in a round about way that he is killing himself. Since the loner is known from pranks, talking out of turn etc. the sheriff goes on his way planning on checking on him later in the day.
AudryClark is moving her large cat sanctuary to the area with 16 rehabbed large cats who do not and cannot settle in the area and one actually escapes. The sheriff has a mystery to solve and Audry has to lose her fear of t he cats and run the cat rescue without fear.

After the precipitating event, Koryta takes his time setting up the action. At about the half-way point, I started wondering when anything was going to happen and almost put the book down. When the action began, it was fast, shocking, and sustained. The long set-up works. Koryta builds the story around a group of people. Instead of a single protagonist, he introduces several and builds reader connections with all of them. When the crises begin, the result is breathtaking.

This is an excellent book. If you come to a point where you're wondering if anything is ever going to happen, don't give up. It just gets better and better.

What happens when the lights go out in the lighthouse, a lighthouse in Eastern Kentucky. Deputy Sheriff Kimble, along with Roy Darmus, the editor of the newspaper that was just shut down, are looking for answers. They probably won't like what they find.
This is the first book by Michael Koryta that I have read but it won't be the last.

Deputy Kevin Kimble is a good cop that keeps things going in the right direction for the fine folks of Sawyer County in eastern Kentucky. His path collides with everyone but during the latest event on Blade Ridge, nothing is as it appears and every direction he takes leads him to another mystery.

The crime scene he is called to at first appears to be the suicide of a lonely man living in a lighthouse with the occasional drunken trip to town. For Kevin it looks too much like a murder especially since the man called that morning to talk about his upcoming death saying it would not be at his own hand and he expected proper justice. The more Kevin investigates the less anything makes sense in a reasonable investigative manner so it is now time to make other decisions and call in some out of the norm help.

Kevin talks the recently unemployed newspaper owner Roy Darmus into following up on research to help figure out what the maps, names and lettering of the word NO meant to the crazy man in the lighthouse. Roy can research years of newspaper data and hit every source possible to figure out who all these faces belonged to and how they ended up dead.

Kevin is also dealing with the large cat facility that just opened and making sure the caretaker, Audrey knows what she is doing. The residents do not like the animals there and the animals really dislike the area once the sun goes down and the darkness contains them. Audrey fought to be there with her husband who died on Blade Ridge making this dream a reality but she is afraid of the dark as well and the nightmares that haunt her seem to come directly from this area.

For Kevin it seems all possible answers lead back to the woman locked up in prison for shooting him. She holds the secret to what made her take a gun, kill her husband, and then turn it on the man trying to save her without being able to remember any of it. Kevin has spent every month of her incarceration visiting her and trying to forget that what he feels for her is not victim guilt but male attraction to a beautiful woman.

This book is as phenomenal as every other book written by Michael Koryta, but really takes the scary, creepy factor up a notch. This story draws you in and you refuse to believe this is not a recounting of fact instead of fiction. You will not be able to put it down so keep reading but do not turn off the lights.

The Ridge has interesting information about mountain lions and their behaviour. We spot them omce in a while in our foothills community, so it's good to know more about them.The subject is of more actuality due to the recent news from Ohio about exotic wild animals as pets and how tragic an ending that can have.
Too much of the supernatural in Koryta's last two books may be a trend that turns some of his readers away.
Th story of The Ridge is compelling enough to keep the reader interested, but the characters don't convince in their actions, with the exception of Roy.
Recommended as a book with an original theme;the paranormal background is not very convincing.

Koryta again emulates Stephen King in plot and structure. He resurrects the standard formula: some old entity haunts the current world and a band of mostly nice people set out to destroy it. In this outing though the people are not very interesting and the entity is not so scary. My biggest criticism is the lack of suspense and biggest accolade is the moral quid pro quo demanded by the supernatural being. The setting is interesting but a large-cat sanctuary sub-plot is distracting and largely unnecessary when one truly analyzes the story. Overall, it has been done before and done much better. This is my third Koryta and I must praise his publisher's publicity efforts more than the actual books.

I just finished this yesterday and had to think about that ending and how it left me in very deep thought. Hmmmm. Well, turns out I agree with how it ended. The characters are very well done as is the story's mystery and actual resolution really. It was an engrossing read as was The Cypress House. After all is said and done, I've decided I like The Cypress House the best of this series, but all are very very well written.

Scary stuff! A terrifically well told story, perfect october reading. On a minor note, when I read novels set in eastern Kentucky I'm always waiting for a stereotypical hillbilly or some cringe-worthy dialog so I deeply appreciated the respect Koryta had for the people and the area. And his readers!

Stephen King's and Dean Koontz's horror/thriller crowns remain intact, Koryta no threat in this genre. While I have enjoyed some of this author's other titles, skirting the evil men do without straining believability too far, The Ridge is built on a shaky premise that never quite delivers. The lighthouse built on eastern Kentucky's Blade Ridge is an eyesore and an anomaly far from the sea, but when crusty old Wyatt French is found dead inside after vague declarations of reluctant suicide, Deputy Sheriff Kevin Kimble is forced to investigate the man's wild claims- but only after he stops for a visit at the local prison with the woman who shot him. Kimble just can't stay away from this raven-haired beauty, even though their last encounter nearly cost him his life.

A number of eerie things occur on Blade Ridge, a series of fatal and near-fatal accidents, a strange blue light glowing in the dark, a reluctantly curious newspaperman who finds Wyatt's maps and the obituaries of those involved in macabre events over the years in the vicinity of the lighthouse. And when newly-widowed Audrey Clark (you guessed it: her husband died in an accident on the ridge) moves her big cat sanctuary to land adjacent to the lighthouse, the night rings with the cacophony of howling lions, cougars, tigers, and one black panther (weirdly named Ira). There's an explanation for all the sinister activity on the ridge, but it's one that requires more from an audience than even a blind leap of faith can sustain. The characters are colorful and eccentric, a bizarre mix of good and questionable, but too broad to add context to a weak plot. Like a story told around a campfire on a dark summer night, The Ridge aspires to terror, but only dances along the edges of man's confrontation with the unknown and the unthinkable. Luan Gaines/2011.

Using character back story, Koryta artfully fleshes out to novel length a story that could be outlined in a few pages. He does that well, and you cannot deny the readability of The Ridge. But the plot unfolds in a workmanlike fashion and I can't saying "thrilling" or any of those adjectives apply. Perhaps as a movie, when we could see and hear the jungle cats and spooky blue light, etc., the story would pack more punch. Congrats the the publisher's publicist for dressing this one up. But those reviews from fellow authors seem like a roar when a meow would do.

A decent synopsis in the above review, however, after the first few chapters of setting up the story lines I could not put the book down. If you like the other books by this author, than you will love this one. If you didn't like the other books by this author, you will still like this one. Character development was good as always, creating the scene in the readers head also above par like always with this author. Buy it, read it, give it a chance...you can read the book in a just over a few hours. Can't wait for the movie!

A decent synopsis in the above review, however, after the first few chapters of setting up the story lines I could not put the book down. If you like the other books by this author, than you will love this one. If you didn't like the other books by this author, you will still like this one. Character development was good as always, creating the scene in the readers head also above par like always with this author. Buy it, read it, give it a chance...you can read the book in a just over a few hours. Can't wait for the movie!

The only reason I finished this book is because I couldn't believe a writer of this caliber was actually going to resort to supernatural garbage. And yet he did. This book was so bad it was insulting. Don't bother.