So Cold the River Audiobook By Michael Koryta cover art

So Cold the River

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So Cold the River

By: Michael Koryta
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
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About this listen

Now a major motion picture: So Cold the River is a chilling, supernatural tale "guaranteed to put the cold finger down your spine" (Michael Connelly).

It started with a beautiful woman and a challenge. As a gift for her husband, Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to make a documentary about her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old billionaire whose past is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job even though there are few clues to the man's past—just the name of his hometown and an antique water bottle he's kept his entire life.

In Bradford's hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary history—a glorious domed hotel where movie stars, presidents, athletes, and mobsters once mingled, and hot springs whose miraculous mineral water cured everything from insomnia to malaria. Neglected for years, the resort has been restored to its former grandeur just in time for Eric's stay.

Just hours after his arrival, Eric experiences a frighteningly vivid vision. As the days pass, the frequency and intensity of his hallucinations increase and draw Eric deeper into the town's dark history. He discovers that something besides the hotel has been restored—a long-forgotten evil that will stop at nothing to regain its lost glory. Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, So Cold the River is a tale of irresistible suspense with a racing, unstoppable current.

©2010 Michael Koryta (P)2010 Hachette
Horror Suspense Scary Hotel
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Editorial reviews

Brooding, grainy-voiced Shakespearean stage actor Robert Petkoff narrates So Cold the River, mystery novelist Michael Koryta's icy, supernatural ghost story set in a rural Indiana town built on Pluto Water, a bottled mineral laxative of the early 1900s rumored to cure headaches, indigestion, even alcoholism. Petkoff haunts as cynical, broken Eric Shaw, a failed Hollywood documentary filmmaker who slumps home to Chicago, gets dumped by wife Claire, and starts stringing together freelance photo chronicles for weddings and funerals: "Video life portraits, that's what he called them, an attempt to lend some credibility to what was essentially a glorified slide show." Oh, and Eric also connects with dead peoples' personal belongings.

Evil snarls from the grave when grieving Alyssa Bradford hires Eric to shoot an homage to her secretive, dying 95-year-old billionaire father-in-law, Campbell. First assignment - capturing Campbell's humble roots near sparsely populated French Lick, Indiana, where Eric lodges at the improbably located luxury West Baden Springs Hotel (a real registered national historic landmark). But not even its soaring atrium dome can shade him from the rotten-egg stench of sulfur. As Eric keeps digging, an 80-year-old bottle of Pluto Water from Campbell's collection frosts, turning murky, while weather patterns predict a violent storm. He takes a sip of Pluto, and the hallucinations spin - shadows in rumpled suits, railroad trains, and violin strains pouring from a piano. At least Claire believes him.

Petkoff softens Eric with undercurrents of grit and exhaustion, so even when he's hysterical with foreshadowing, he's still grounded. The character of Anne McKinney, octogenarian widow and de facto Pluto historian, studies barometric pressure. Fittingly, her voice guides the book's emotional climate. Practical yet nostalgic, Anne nurses a daily gin and tonic at the local bar. Petkoff recognizes she's a creature of habit and tracks her quirky moods with the same steady hum. Eventually the rituals of her chuckles and her leisurely breaks and pauses stop making a difference as the past fades the present into black. - Nita Rao

Critic reviews

"A cataclysmic finale will put readers in mind of some of the best recent works of supernatural horror, among which this book ranks." ( Publishers Weekly)
"This book builds like a summer storm. Beautiful to watch until it shakes the house and knocks out the lights, leaving you alone in the dark. Another masterful work from Michael Koryta, So Cold the River is guaranteed to put the cold finger down your spine." (Michael Connelly)

What listeners say about So Cold the River

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible!

This is an author I was not at all familiar with, but this book seemed to be so highly recommended that I took a chance. I am very glad that I did! The writing is so descriptive that it grabs your imagination in the first sentence, and keeps you captive to the very end. The narration is very well done, and the background sound effects tasteful. I live in Ohio and have visited French Lick many times. I will look at it differently next time. This is an author that I will add to my list of favorites. He reminds me a bit of Stephen King with a little of the mystery of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes tossed in. It's one of those books you can't put down, and know that it is also one you will read again. Fantastic!

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very good listen

I ran across this as a recommendation from Stephen King. I don't always agree with his choices but this one did not disappoint. Great reader and interesting story. If you like a historical education with your stories then you will not be disappointed. I remember when the French Lick resorts were first restored and I always found it interesting that they would restore a resort out in the middle of nowhere. Now I have a better appreciation for the history and the place. It makes me want to go there next time I am through Indiana but it isn't cheap!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great spooky story ruined by a sex scene.

Really enjoyed the story but a descriptive sex scene added absolutely nothing and was not necessary. Great narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Close to home

I live about 40 minutes from Springs Valley so this book was like dejavu.....made me want to go walk in the woods, ride the train and just walk the halls of the hotel.....loved loved loved the style of this writer....kept you so interested throughout the entire book.....and with the audio....and the sound effects....gave me chills sometimes down your back. I'd like to read another one of this author I think...he was so interesting

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable story about a glorious hotel

Being from around this area, I very much enjoyed this book. I wish that the end would’ve provided a better explanation, but overall, I still recommend this book. Very well written, and a unique story.

What I did not like, was the performance of the audio book. Having sound effects drove me completely insane. I found it very distracting and had I not been in the car, I would’ve stopped the audio book and just read the hard copy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The story

Tight narrative that builds a good story with interesting details of actual places. Good narrative and character building

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

delightful

nice twists that keep you guessing. good suspense. sometimes spine tingling. good wrap up ending

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting setting, unsatisfying end

I loved the period research location characters and start of the concept. The narrator did a superb job. The ending left too much hanging loose like the editor told the author finish it NOW! Things never got explained or resolved. A tornado came and ... done. What??!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW This is a must read

ABSOLUTELY captivating and creative writing that draws you in and keeps you entertained for hours and the characters are realistic and diverse. I highly recommended this novel, wonderfully written and narrated.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intense!

This book was very good. It was interesting and intense. It was a little unbelievable, but it was diverting. This audiobook includes ghosts, violence, sexual intercourse, and cursing. Therefore, I would not recommend it for younger listeners. Still, I think most adults would enjoy it.

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