Envy the Night

This is the first book I've read by Koryta, but it won't be the last. He really delivers in "Envy the Night". There's not a wasted word in this quick moving story, and the characters have a depth to them that's rare in a thriller. The main character, Frank, is in his mid-twenties, and seemingly drifting, moving from college to college without settling anywhere or taking a degree. Then a call comes from his father's old friend, and Frank is drawn back into his troubled past. The great turning point in Frank's life was when he learned that his much loved father, who appeared to be living the life of a straight arrow member of the law, had, in actuality, been a hitman for the Florida mafia. All during his childhood, Frank's father taught him how to react in dangerous situations. How to shoot, how to fight. Now, drawn back into some loose ends left by his fathers, he will need all the skills he ever learned.

I am so happy to see that other readers loved this book as much as I did. I have read all four of his books and like one reviewer said, he just keeps getting better. I won't write a synopsis because the other reviewers have done such as excellent job as well as outlining why this book is a "must" for crime/thriller readers. It is not only a believable scenario, but incorporates tension, humor, good characterization, etc. It is highly touted by such well known authors as Ridley Peason, Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos. Please give this author his due as he seems to fit with the best of them.

What do you hope to get out of a book when you pick it up off the shelf (or click on it)? Well-written dialogue? In-depth, interesting, and unique characters? Intense and page-turning action? Well-placed humor? Moral debates that make you question what you would do in the given situation? Writing that grabs you and takes you along for the ride? It is not often that you can get all of those qualities in one book, but Michael Koryta again has given us a thriller with such vivid writing and complex characters that "Envy the Night" answers YES to each of those questions. The real question is: What are you waiting for? "Envy the Night" is a first-class crime/suspense novel and has me greatly anticipating Koryta's next endeavor.

I really wasn't all that happy to learn that this book wasn't going to be a fourth installment in Koryta's Lincoln Perry series. Well, I guess I needed my head examined because this book stretches so far beyond the Perry books, in voice (Koryta has successfully made the jump to 3rd person POV), in characterization, in tight and ORIGINAL plotting (something he had already mastered and which I thought he could not have improved on yet HAS done so to a degree that is mind-boggling!), that I not only did not miss Lincoln Perry, I'm not sure that I even want Koryta to back track to those books. If he has more of these kinds of books in him, then everyone should just stand back and give him plenty of elbow room. His earlier books amazed me for their mature writing, but this book is something very, very special. Koryta isn't just the kid-brother author any longer to writers like Crais, Lehane, Connelly. He's their equal and maybe then some. Synopsis: Frank Temple II, the son of a dead FBI agent/contract killer, wants to go after the mobster who ruined his father. But nothing is that simple in this book; when you think you can predict where Koryta is going in this story guess again, and then guess again. And you'll probably need to guess again. Temple is a perfectly written 3D character, young and smart, but not so smart that you disbelieve him. The turns in plot absolutely demand this story be written in third person, a new stretch for the author, and one he manages so handily, so naturally, that I am awestruck and left wondering how much more does Koryta have in the think-tank still to come in his work. I'm a little jealous (not of Koryta; of him I am a LOT jealous) of those who pick this book up and read Koryta's work for the first time. It's just that good.

When his other clandestine life as a mob hit man is exposed, U.S. Marshal Frank Temple II, a, commits suicide. His family is shocked first by the revelation by the patriarch's death and his son who worshipped him cannot deal with his hero crumbling like this. Seven years later, his twenty-four years old son, Frank III remains angry and still drifting as he has since his dad killed himself. When a friend from his dad's military days in Nam Ezra Ballard informs him the rat who squealed on his father is Devin Matteson, the son finally finds a reason to focus on life; he wants vengeance. He has the opportunity when Devin is coming from Florida to Wisconsin. The III waits at his late dad's cabin in Willow Flowage, but soon realizes he has a bigger issue to deal with; he and auto repair shop owner Nora Stafford are in deep trouble as some nasty killers stalk the area. This tense thriller hooks readers from the moment Frank III leaves jail with a severe headache while thinking what to do about the info Ballard provided him.. Character fueled mostly by the son, ENVY THE NIGHT is a fast-paced taut tale that never misses a beat even when the exciting story line makes a turn from III the stalker to III the stalked. Michael Koryta is at his best with this action-packed Wisconsin thriller. This is an unputdownable thriller. Harriet Klausner