Envy the Night

Ridley Pearson on Envy the Night
Ridley Pearson is the author of more than twenty novels, including the New York Times bestseller Killer View, the Lou Boldt crime series, and many books for young readers. Here Pearson shares his praise and admiration for Edgar-Award finalist Michael Koryta and gives a glimpse of this young writer’s promising future.

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.

Now, in Michael Koryta, all these years later, I've read the heir apparent to those masters. There is grit and determination in Michael's writing; there is heart and character; the threat of violence first simmers, then boils over. The pulse quickens. Envy The Night is everything this kind of novel is meant to be. A more fitting title: Envy The Writer.

It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a mystery novel as much as Envy The Night. This book had me from the first page, and much to my surprise, kept me reading hard and fast until the last.

What separates this book from others? One word: characters. Stories are stories. We all read (and write) a ton of them. But we come to novels to meet fresh faces, and Michael Koryta delivers.

This diabolical mystery novel, laid out in simple but eloquent prose and pitch-perfect dialogue, heralds a changing of the guard. I have seen the future of "The Best Mystery Writer in America" and its name is Michael Koryta. --Ridley Pearson