The Cypress House

Beautiful and True

This book is beautifully written and intriguing. Lyrical and true to the times, this author blends a supernatural twist to the reality of the Depression with suspense and mystery that pulls you further and further into The Cypress House. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates a believable, well written tale!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The ghosts of the past will not scare you as much as the demons from the present

Arlen Wagner did not speak to the dead but he could see the dead walking among the living. When death was about to happen Arlen saw smoke rising out of the living and knew that someone's time was up. This ability to understand the consequences of having such a gift had gotten his father killed and made Arlen's life a nightmare. But he knew how to manage the curse and even through WWI he was able to fight when he needed to and walk away. Arlen was aware that for some of the enemy soldiers he was not going to die today by Arlen's hands.

When the war is over and he is working his way around the country trying to scrap a living together he finds himself on a train bound for Florida. When again Arlen sees the smoke signals of death rising he jumps off the train that he finds out later was bound to collide head on with a hurricane. Thinking he and his traveling partner Paul have been saved Arlen settles in someplace he never wanted to be again - a small town with corrupt law enforcement. Through a strange set of circumstances Arlen finds himself in a backwater town in Florida repairing a hurricane ravaged tavern wishing he were anywhere but there. The police are turning up bodies that Arlen and Paul are getting blamed for and the corrupt judge is putting on a show for everyone with him as the puppet master.

Arlen knows he should leave and wants to leave but is drawn to Rebecca, the woman running this broken down place. His friend Paul thinks she can be won over but fails to realize that Arlen has already gotten the prize and Rebecca is playing hard-to-get for a reason. But Rebecca has a lot of secrets she is not sharing and the danger she dances around is making Arlen very nervous. He knows everyone has their past but believes Rebecca's past is going to end their future together.

When Arlen figures out who the players are and he knows what is really going on in this town he figures out who needs to be removed and Arlen puts a plan into action. Arlen never expected to have someone turn on him but figured out early in life that everyone is not your friend but love does linger if you grab onto it and don't let go regardless of what you have to do to keep it.

I thought Mr. Koryta's last book So Cold the River was scary but it is nothing in comparison to this book. I kept the lights on and the shades drawn for fear of what was creeping around in the night. Both Arlen and Rebecca have such complicated pasts you don't think there is enough time to explain it all but the author does and gives so much more than just character development he gives you Goosebumps. Great book and while this is a standalone every reader should pick up all other books by this author they are great.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Awsome

After a slow start you cannot put it down...can not wait to read his next book "The Ridge"!

Great storytelling!

This is the second book I have read by Michael Koryta, and I think he gets better as he goes along. This book had very compelling characters and moved at a perfect pace. Highly recommended.

Great Read!

The Cypress House by Michael Koryta

This is on my list of "best reads" so far this year.
What would you do if you looked someone in the eye and just knew they were going to die? Would they believe you if you told them? Doing just that is how Arlen and Paul end up at The Cypress House where they meet the beautiful and mysterious Rebecca. She is in trouble though and both men will have to decide if they stay with her, for their own reasons, or go.
Michael Koryta managed to take bits and pieces of genres, mix them to together, and write a great story. There's a little something for everyone. The characters are deep and complex but yet easily liked. I could see something of myself in Arlen, Paul and Rebecca.
Recommending this book comes easily for me.
Reviewed by shayrp via Goodreads

Could not put it down

This is the second Kotyra book I've read, the first being 'So Cold the River'. I can understand why this guy has won awards. His writing is flawless. He draws you in right from the start and he tells one hell of a story. This particular book tells the story of a man who can see death before it happens in other's eyes and it is this talent that changes the direction he had planned for himself as the book opens. It is logical, and I had no trouble immersing myself into the 1935 time period or suspending disbelief in the man's unusual ability. A very well paced story that I know will long linger in my mind. I can hardly wait for Kotyra's next book, due in June of 2011.

Don't waste your time

boring

Unrelentingly grim

Returning from WWI, Arlen Wagner is travelling by train with Paul Brickhill to the Florida Keys in search of work. But Arlen has a strange gift; when someone is close to death he sees smoke in their eyes and sometimes even their fleshless skeletons. Arlen sees just that in his fellow passenger on a train to Florida and, despite the jeers of his fellow passengers, Arlen and Paul get off at the next station. The train continues on to to the Keys and is destroyed by a violent hurricane.

But the worst is still ahead for Arlen and Paul as they find themselves stranded at Cypress House, a rundown tavern in a small corrupt town in Florida. Arlen and Paul are beseiged by the local judge and police and soon find themselves penniless when Arlen's savings are stolen. Rebecca Cady, the owner of Cypress House, allows them to begin working to rebuild the hurricane damaged tavern to earn enough to get back on the road to look for work. But mystery, intrigue and corruption surround both Rebecca and Cypress House and both men become embroiled in the impending disaster of this corrupt small town, even as they are both falling in love with Rebecca.

This bleak novel with its backdrop of the Great Depression, Arlen's supernatural ability to foresee death and characters that have no respite from their merciless lives combine to make THE CYPRESS HOUSE an unrelentingly grim and difficult book to read. Lynn Kimmerle

Cypress House

"An enthralling novel that easily melds mystery fiction, the supernatural and just a touch of the old-fashioned western and historical novels without losing the conventions of each genre. Yet The Cypress House is so grounded in reality that no plot turn or character rings false. The Cypress House works as a novel about post-war stress, small-town corruption and the dusty Great Depression. Koryta dredges up the dread that festers below the surface of the characters who reside at The Cypress House.... As he did in last year's supernatural-tinged So Cold the River, Koryta again shows his affinity for incorporating varied genres into a cohesive story and, along the way, stretching the boundaries of each."

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