The Prophet

Description

A KILLER IS LOOSE IN A SMALL TOWN. In the small town of Chambers, Ohio, there is one thing that everyone gets excited about: high school football. Coach Kent Austin has led the team to an undefeated season, and they're finally headed for the state championships after decades of waiting. Kent's older brother, Adam, is the local bail bondsman, known for finding people who don't want to be found. So, when high school student Rachel Bond wants help tracking down her father, an ex-con who has just been released from prison, she turns to Adam for help. But just days after Adam gives Rachel an address for her father, she is found murdered on the side of the road. The death shakes the town and Rachel's boyfriend, star of the college football team's, to the core. It also causes Adam and Kent to relive the tragedy of their sister's murder many years before. Feeling responsible for Rachel's death, Adam vows to find the killer...

Michael Koryta's novels have won the LA Times Book Prize and the Great Lakes Book Award and been nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, Quill and Barry awards. A former private investigator and newspaper reporter, he published his first novel at the age of twenty-one. His work has been translated into twenty languages. A former private investigator and newspaper reporter, Koryta lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida. Visit Michael Koryta's website at www.michaelkoryta.com and his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/michaelkoryta for regular updates, and follow Michael on Twitter @mjkoryta

THE PROPHET is a relentless, heart-in-your-throat thriller about ordinary people caught in the middle of an extraordinary nightmare. It's about the sins of the past haunting the hopes of the present and the need to find redemption from the jury of your own conscience. It's also . . . irrefutable proof that [Koryta] has enough game to one day be considered a master of the genre. - Dennis Lehane Friday Night Lights meets In Cold Blood in this powerful tale . . . This book succeeds on any number of levels. It's a brilliantly paced thriller that keeps its villains at a tantalizing distance, a compelling family portrait, a study in morality that goes beyond the usual black-and-white judgments, and an entertaining spin on classic football fiction. A flawless performance. - Kirkus Starred Review Koryta triumphantly returns to crime fiction with this multilayered exploration of guilt and redemption . . . [he] has a gift for melding a suspenseful, twisty plot with a probing, unflinching look at his protagonists' weaknesses - Publishers Weekly Edgar-nominated mystery wunderkind Koryta (he turns 30 this year) has earned kudos from veteran thriller writers Stephen King and Dean Koontz. He proves plenty worthy of praise in this vivid portrayal of a small Midwestern town and the evils that befall it . . . With its crisp writing and steady suspense, this is a must-read for his fans both old and new.' - Booklist Starred Review I've been an admirer of the hardworking Michael Koryta for many years. I loved SO COLD THE RIVER'S creepy gothic tone; I was enthralled by the eerie world of THE CYPRESS HOUSE. Koryta is a fantastic writer, and a remarkable storyteller. But his latest book, THE PROPHET, finds him at an entirely new level; I suspect it may be the novel that brings him the sort of widespread acclaim he's deserved all along. A gridiron metaphor would seem appropriate, given the crucial role football plays in The Prophet. It's as if Koryta has been wowing us with a brilliant running game for eight novels. We'd be more than happy to see him keep driving the ball up the middle, but here, suddenly, he's gone to the air: THE PROPHET is like a long, heart-stopping pass down the sidelines in the final seconds of a decisive game. It's made me want to leap to my feet and cheer him on. - Scott Smith, author of The Ruins Michael Koryta is one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction. - Mail on Sunday Koryta is one of the best of the best - Michael Connelly [Koryta] possesses an unusual gift - the ability to write a sure-fire bestseller. - News of the World