0 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:0.0

Michael Koryta’s Followers (2,522)

Michael’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (0)
read (0)

Michael’s Friends (110)

Michele

29,842 books | 5,118 friends

Kristi

2,643 books | 10 friends

Melanie Johnson

2,414 books | 328 friends

Jason

4,466 books | 1,265 friends

LordTBR

3,565 books | 1,615 friends

Atilio Frasson

1,343 books | 362 friends

Alex Rosca

390 books | 1,542 friends

Martha

33,219 books | 263 friends

More friends…

Michael Koryta

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.michaelkoryta.com/

Twitter

mjkoryta

Genre

Thriller, Mystery, Horror

Member Since

July 2012

edit data

Michael Koryta (pronounced Ko-ree-ta) is the New York Times-bestselling author of 14 suspense novels. His work has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Daniel Woodrell, Ron Rash, and Scott Smith among many others, and has been translated into more than 20 languages. His books have won or been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar® Award, Shamus Award, Barry Award, Quill Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Golden Dagger. They've been selected as "best books of the year" by publications as diverse as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com, O the Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, People, Reader's Digest, iBooks, and Kirkus Revie Michael Koryta (pronounced Ko-ree-ta) is the New York Times-bestselling author of 14 suspense novels. His work has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Daniel Woodrell, Ron Rash, and Scott Smith among many others, and has been translated into more than 20 languages. His books have won or been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar® Award, Shamus Award, Barry Award, Quill Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Golden Dagger. They've been selected as "best books of the year" by publications as diverse as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com, O the Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, People, Reader's Digest, iBooks, and Kirkus Reviews.

His recent thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead was named the summer's best thriller by both Amazon and Entertainment Weekly, and was selected as one of the year's best books by more than 10 publications. The audio version was named one of the best audio books of the year, as well, the second time that Robert Petkoff's narration of Michael's work has earned such an honor. The novel is currently being adapted as a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox.

Michael's previous work ranges from a trio of supernatural novels--So Cold the River, The Cypress House, and The Ridge, which were all named New York Times notable books of the year and earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly--to stand-alone crime novels such as The Prophet (A New York Times bestseller) and Envy the Night (selected as a Reader's Digest condensed book), to a series of award-winning novels featuring private investigator Lincoln Perry--Tonight I Said Goodbye, Sorrow's Anthem, A Welcome Grave, and The Silent Hour.

Various film and television adaptations of the books are underway, with The Prophet, So Cold the River, The Cypress House, and Those Who Wish Me Dead all optioned as feature films, and the Lincoln Perry series and The Ridge being developed for television. Michael has written for the screen in both feature film and television. Oscar and Emmy winners are attached to every project.

Before turning to writing full-time, Michael worked as a private investigator and as a newspaper reporter, and taught at the Indiana University School of Journalism. He began working for a private investigator as an intern while in high school, turned it into his day job in the early stages of his writing career, and still maintains an interest in the firm. As a journalist, he won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Michael's first novel, the Edgar-nominated Tonight I Said Goodbye was accepted for publication when he was 20 years old. He wrote his first two published novels before graduating from college, and was published in nearly 10 languages before he fulfilled the "writing requirement" classes required for his diploma.

Michael was raised in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated from Bloomington North High School in 2001, and later graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. In 2008 he was honored as a "distinguished young alumni" by Indiana University, and in 2010 he was named "distinguished alumni' by the criminal justice department.

Michael's passions outside of writing and reading involve a variety of outdoor pursuits - hiking, camping, boating, and fishing are all likely to occupy his free time when he's not working on a new book. Some of his favorite spots in the world are the Beartooth Mountains, the setting of Those Who Wish Me Dead and a place to which he returns at least twice a year; the flowages of the Northwoods in Wisconsin, where he began fishing with his father as a child and still returns each fall; St. Petersburg, FL, and the Maine coast. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Michael Koryta questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Michael Koryta’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 99,832 ratings · 12,500 reviews · 51 distinct works • Similar authors

	Those Who Wish Me Dead 4.01 avg rating — 15,678 ratings — published 2014 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	So Cold the River 3.57 avg rating — 8,212 ratings — published 2010 — 55 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	If She Wakes 3.85 avg rating — 7,004 ratings — published 2019 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How It Happened 3.83 avg rating — 7,015 ratings — published 2018 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Prophet 3.79 avg rating — 6,711 ratings — published 2012 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Honest Man 4.10 avg rating — 5,276 ratings — published 2023 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Last Words (Mark Novak, #1) 3.62 avg rating — 5,458 ratings — published 2015 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cypress House 3.79 avg rating — 4,876 ratings — published 2011 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ridge 3.84 avg rating — 4,676 ratings — published 2011 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry, #1) 3.85 avg rating — 4,513 ratings — published 2004 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Michael Koryta…

236 posts
Michael Koryta's Blog

Michael’s reflections on his beloved mentor Bob Hammel

I��m at 30,000 feet when I get the update, relayed via text message and Wi-Fi, technological wonders that Bob Hammel could not have imagined when he filed stories from Munich, Maui, or Madison Square Garden:

He is ready to go.

I am not surprised. Hammel has been ready, and I know this �� have heard it directly �� but I��m not ready. If he were across the table during one of a thousand lunche

Series by Michael Koryta

Lincoln Perry (4 books)
by

Michael Koryta (Goodreads Author)

3.90 avg rating — 11,300 ratings

Mark Novak (2 books)
by

Michael Koryta (Goodreads Author)

3.68 avg rating — 9,000 ratings

rss
Michael’s Recent Updates

Michael Koryta wrote a new blog post Michael’s reflections on his beloved mentor Bob Hammel I��m at 30,000 feet when I get the update, relayed via text message and Wi-Fi, technological wonders that Bob Hammel could not have imagined when he Read more of this blog post »
Jul 21, 2025 12:28AM · 3 likes · like

More of Michael's books…

Quotes by Michael Koryta (?)

“...what still blew them all away was time itself, the days and months and the years, oh yes, the years. They went faster than anything man had the capacity to invent, so fast that for a while they fooled you into thinking they were slow, and was there any crueler trick than that?”
― Michael Koryta, So Cold the River

tags: time, time-passing, years

8 likes

“You have bound us, Kimble imagined saying, to an evil world. Where’s the love in that? And in that scenario, God always answered, Temporarily bound you, yes. Now, during your time in that evil world, did you do anything to help?”
― Michael Koryta, The Ridge

5 likes

“You became what you wanted to become. That's what Ezra believe. You could become it if you tried hard enough, could take what you really were and change it, force-feed yourself a new life until it became your old life, too, blurred together until a better self emerged.”
― Michael Koryta, Envy the Night

3 likes

See all Michael Koryta's quotes »

Polls

I need your help deciding the next books we should read for Night Shift Reads group read and chat. Pick the book you would most like to read and the 3 books with the most votes will be the January, February, and March Night Shift Reads books. If you haven't joined in yet, think about trying it out.

The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers

6 votes 21.4%

An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James

4 votes 14.3%

This Is Not a Game by Kelly Mullen

4 votes 14.3%

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

3 votes 10.7%

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

3 votes 10.7%

Infinite by Brian Freeman

2 votes 7.1%

Envy the Night by Michael Koryta

2 votes 7.1%

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

2 votes 7.1%

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

2 votes 7.1%

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

0 votes 0.0%

28 total votes

5 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Mystery/Thriller ...: Happy Birthday Kay	23	30	Sep 03, 2009 02:16PM
Mystery/Thriller ...: Bouchercon reports	55	165	Nov 04, 2009 01:48PM
Romance Readers R...: 2010 February Monthly Challenge: Suggestions Thread	55	169	Feb 19, 2010 09:20AM
The Mystery, Crim...: What Are You Reading? June 2009-Mar 2010	1072	801	Apr 01, 2010 06:18AM