Selected Book
Envy the Night
- Hardcover
- Edition: 1st
- Author: Michael Koryta
- Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
- Release Date: August 2008
- ISBN-10: 0312361580
- ISBN-13: 9780312361587
- List Price: $24.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryRidley Pearson on Envy the Night |
Reading James Crumley and John D. MacDonald set the writing hook in me: I wanted to write mysteries and thrillers. I wanted to be a storyteller.Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Koryta gets It!
Rating:
This is an author who really knows how to write. This is a fast paced novel of revenge and redemption and it is done in a first class way by an author who is seasoned far beyond his years.
I'm not going to recount the story line - others have done that. What I am going to tell you is to put this author's name in the list of authors one checks to see if they have produced another novel, because he has a sure sence of what he wants to say and does it in a manner that rewards the reader.
Sins of Fathers
Rating: 
This is the author's first standalone novel, and it is a fine example of craftsmanship. It portrays the short life of Frank Temple III, whose legacy includes two previous Franks, both war heroes (Silver Stars, Purple Hearts and the like). His father, Frank II, was a respected U.S. Marshall, before he became a paid hit man who ate his gun rather than be apprehended when the lad was 17.
Frank III was trained by his father to shoot and aggressively defend himself and could react faster than the eye could see. Misinformation from an FBI agent allowed Frank III to labor under the impression that an army buddy of his father, now a Miami gangster who lured him into his evil ways, ratted him out in a deal to save himself. The two friends, along with a third army buddy, built cabins along a Wisconsin lake, and Frank III vowed to kill the Miami gangster if he ever returned to the scene.
From these beginnings comes a well-plotted thriller with dire consequences for all. Frank III, who has stayed away from the Wisconsin lake for seven years, is informed that the Miami gangster is coming to his cabin. Naturally, the youth goes there intent on murder. A chain of killings results and Frank III has to face up to his own sense of morality and justice. The conclusion is as startling as it is unanticipated. Recommended.
Terrific thriller--fast paced, great characters, lean writing
Rating:
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.
Nicely Done but Nothing Spectacular
Rating:
Maybe I'm just not a fan of Michael Koryta's style but I didn't find this book any better than the normal run of the mill mystery. He does write good dialog but then many writers do. He develops his characters well, but then many writers do. He has a good idea of where he is taking the story, but then a lot of writers do.
What I did find unappealing about the book, was the number of stock characters. The misunderstood son of a murderer, a 'Nam Vet who went off into the "boonies", a drug guy from Miami and his bad boys, the young girl fighting to save her daddies business after he has a stroke and the gun-moll with a heart of gold. So, what is this a Lifetime movie of the week?
Well written and well done but nothing to write home about.
Zeb Kantrowitz
Koryta's best...so far!
Rating:
Frank Temple III had a bad day. First, a man who he trusted as a mentor revealed himself, like many before him, to be more interested in the story of Frank's father, Frank Temple II, who, seven years earlier, when Frank was only 17, was exposed as a hit-man. Then, the phone call from old family friend Ezra Ballard, who told Frank that the man who exposed his father, Devin Matteson, who Frank blamed for his father's death, was returning to the Willow, a lake in Wisconsin where Ballard,...more Frank Temple III had a bad day. First, a man who he trusted as a mentor revealed himself, like many before him, to be more interested in the story of Frank's father, Frank Temple II, who, seven years earlier, when Frank was only 17, was exposed as a hit-man. Then, the phone call from old family friend Ezra Ballard, who told Frank that the man who exposed his father, Devin Matteson, who Frank blamed for his father's death, was returning to the Willow, a lake in Wisconsin where Ballard, Matteson, and the Temple family owned land and spent time together. It was the last place Frank had to remember good times with his family, and Frank had not returned there since his father's death. Frank had promised himself, and Ballard agreed, that Matteson was no longer welcome there.
Frank immediately left for the Willow, leaving yet another college without finishing, another attempt at starting his life thwarted by the resurgence of his past. When he was almost at the cabin, he was in a car accident with a man he thought was Matteson. It wasn't, but was a very suspicious person, who insisted on no police involvement, and on paying for the damaged vehicles even though the accident was Frank's fault. The only body shop they could find belonged to Bud Stafford, and was his father's before that. Bud had been in a nursing home for some time, his shop in the hands of his determined daughter, Nora. Nora was barely keeping the shop open, and jumped at the opportunity to repair the two cars, against her better judgments, despite the unusual circumstances.
Frank quickly learned that Devin Matteson was not at the cabin. Instead, a woman and the man involved in the accident were. And a few others have come to town, intent on finding the man Frank was in the accident with, willing to kill anyone who got in their way.
Frank learned Matteson was not there, and the people who were had probably attempted to kill Matteson in Miami and were here hiding. But he learned too late, and he and Nora were now targets, loose ends, as he put it, and in his estimation could not be allowed to live.
Throughout the many twists and turns of the story, Frank battled with himself, and with the memories of his father. He was torn between revenge, making his father proud, and letting go, being better than his father. Ezra Ballard was also torn, not wanting to bring violence to his peaceful existence, an existence he had worked hard to achieve, and a past filled with violence that he had worked even harder to leave behind.
This is the fourth book by author Michael Koryta, and the first that is not part of his Lincoln Perry series. It is, without question, his best effort. Koryta was able to keep up a quick pace, while the character's complexities were explored. As a reader, I felt I knew how Frank and Nora became who they were. Even secondary characters, like Ezra Ballard and Nora's mechanic, Jerry, seemed more than supporting roles. In that regard, Koryta made each character, the situations they found themselves in, and their reactions understandable and believable, despite the decisions not being the right or best thing to do.
Koryta also seemed to master the environment portrayed in the book, describing the area in a way that showed he knew it well, therefore helping me get a good idea of where the story was set, and the challenges presented as a result.
While Koryta's first three books were very good, they had a sense of inexperience to them. Envy the Night does not, and shows the promise of Michael Koryta as an author who is able to tell a complex story with well developed characters as well as any of the established fiction writes of the Twenty-First Century. I look forward to reading his books for years.
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