THE PROPHET: MICHAEL KORYTA

Another book I picked up on the new book shelf at the Lakewood Library, just across the street from my yoga studio, so I have been going there often.  I was attracted by the reviews and the fact that it was a thriller set around a high school football team.  I had no idea how it would work but was interested enough to find out.  I have never heard of the author, Michael Koryta but like many of the thriller/mystery writers, he seems to have won many awards.

Adam Austin, a bail bondsmen, has spoken little to his younger brother, Kent, the head football coach at Chambers High School, a small town just out side of Cleveland, Ohio, set on Lake Erie.  The impasse between the brother's dates back to their youth, when their sister was abducted and murdered, with much of the blame on Adam's shoulders for not driving her home from school.  The novel begins some twenty five years later.  Kent is driving his team and himself towards a State Title in football, something he has yet to achieve.  Things become discombobulated when his star player's girl friend is found murdered.  And, unfortunately, it seems as though his estranged brother, Adam, had been part of it, giving the girl the address of the man posing as her father, just out of prison.  She had come to Adam, as a bail bondsmen, assuming he could help her find the address of her father.  Adam did but thought nothing more of it till she was found dead.

The story moves back and forth between Adam's search to find the murderer, to help assuage the guilt he feels for his sister's death twenty five years ago and his brother's quest for the State Title.  Adam uses his bonds men's 'horse sense,' to find the house where the killer supposedly stays. And he has vowed to the dead girls mother that the killer will die.  He goes to the house, finds the supposed killer, with a gun, and kills him on the beach of Lake Erie.  Later, he finds out from his brother that the man he killed was not the actual killer but an accomplish of some sick, lying, prison Chaplin, befriended by Kent, ironically, on his visits to prison to give solace and Jesus to the prisoners. Sounds silly as I write this but stick with me.  Kent has a crisis of spirit as he realizes that his bringing of Jesus to the prison has ultimately led to the death of this young girl.  And he makes up his mind that the only answer is a gun, not to turn the  other cheek.  Fortunately, Adam realizes this, knows Kent is a good man, not a killer, and sends him on a wild goose chase.  Mean while, Adam finds the real killer, shoots him dead, but dies as a result of a wound he incurs during the gun battle.  Before this happens, the brother's have settled their impasse, become friends, so the death of Adam is a tragedy for Kent.  The novel ends with Chambers High School winning the State Championship, Adam getting what he wanted, a State Title, but loses his brother, making it a bitter sweet accomplishment.  A decent book, not a great one, just your typical murder mystery.  I liked that it was set in the Cleveland area, and it sounded familiar to me.