Stephen King loved this book. I loved it too.
Yes, I was just complaining in a separate post about how many books I have to read, the huge stack waiting to be read, books that people have sent to me to review here or on one of our sister sites. But I chanced upon THE RIDGE by Michael Koryta at an overstock store, and as luck would have it I had it in my car when I found myself at the garage with some time to kill waiting for my car to be serviced and I started reading it. I picked it up initially because I found the premise on the back cover intriguing. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact the book was much better than even its back-cover blurb made it out to be.
So what’s it about? There’s this spot out in the woods in Kentucky where a man built a lighthouse. Yes, in the woods, miles away from the nearest body of water. Locals thought he was just crazy, but he’d tell anybody who’d listen that he was afraid of something that comes in the dark. Shortly after these wildlife rescuers open a big cat preserve in the shadow of the warehouse, the builder commits suicide, but not before warning the local police chief deputy and the head of the defunct local newspaper that more blood will soon be shed. Oh, and there’s this black panther, a big cat that shouldn’t even exist, and might not even be a cat at all. And it isn’t a coincidence that it arrives just in time to join the other lions, tigers, and leopards on “the Ridge.”
Good stuff, here. Top notch. Buy it. Read it.