You can’t help but be a little jealous when it comes to the career of Michael Koryta. Over the last six years, Koryta has published six successful, compulsively readable novels, including the popular Lincoln Perry P.I. series and the near perfect standalone thriller, Envy the Night. But what makes his career all the more enviable is that Koryta is only 27 years old.
Yeah, he published his first novel, the Edgar nominated Tonight I Said Goodbye, when he was 21.
For us crime guys in our mid-thirties who are toiling away in the zines and small presses, it could be pretty easy to hate a guy like Michael Koryta. The only problem is that the man is so damned talented you can’t help but believe that every accolade, every bit of critical praise, is entirely deserved.
At this point at Koryta’s career, you would think that he would want to play it safe. You would think he’d simply write another Lincoln Perry novel and continue to build onto his existing audience with an established series character. Instead, with his latest novel, So Cold The River, Koryta has delved into new territory and has written a novel that can easily be compared to the early novels of Stephen King and Peter Straub.
And on June 26th on the second night of the Poisoned Pen conference in Phoenix, AZ, I sat down with Koryta over drinks to discuss So Cold The River and his future with his new publisher, Little, Brown.
Michael Koryta from Damon Cap on Vimeo.
Mr. Koryta makes So Cold The River hard to resist.