Michael Koryta

Little, Brown and Company

A review copy of this arrived in the mail the very morning I was ready to dive into the latest book by the immortal James Lee Burke. I glanced at the jacket copy for "The Prophet," read the first few pages - and did something unprecedented. I put the Burke on the nightstand and, instead, started Koryta's instead and could. Not. Put. It. Down. The murders of two young women in a small town, a generation removed from one another, are at the core of the plot. But two estranged brothers - one the community's beloved football coach and the other a forgotten hero and bail bondsman - are at the robust heart of this wonderful, melancholy story of regret, redemption and reconciliation.

- RICK KOSTER