By Heidi Simmons
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“Last Words”
by Michael Koryta
Fiction
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I have never known, whether hobbyist or professional, a caver. To me, spelunkers seem to be a rare and bizarre bunch. It would be fascinating to know such a person to understand the draw to the deep, claustrophobic, rocky underworld. In Michael Koryta’s Last Words (Little, Brown and Company, 448 pages) supercaves and criminals collide in a strange dark world.
The story is about Markus Novak who works as an investigator for a prestigious Florida-based law firm called Innocence Incorporated. It’s an organization like The Innocence Project. The group seeks out wrongly convicted death row cases.
Novak is sent to Garrison, Indiana where he is ill prepared for the cold both weather and locals. The case is not like any the firm has pursued before and Novak suspects he’s just being sent off to get him out of the office. Novak’s wife –- a lawyer in the firm — was killed a year before and he did some questionable dealings to try to uncover her murderer. Now his job is in jeopardy and while the board members sort out his future, he is stuck in this chilling unfamiliar world.
Tens years before, a teenage girl was lost in a supercave. A professional caver, Ridley Barnes, found her and brought her to the surface – unfortunately she was dead. Barnes was accused, but never charged with her murder.
All these years later, it is Barnes who has contacted Novak’s firm requesting their help to prove his innocence or guilt if that’s the case. Barnes wants to know what happened. His time in the cave during the rescue is a blank.
When Novak begins his interviews in Garrison, he’s treated not only like an outsider, but like he’s the murderer. He is quickly tricked and deceived by the locals. This makes his problems worse in the town, as well as with his firm. Novak refuses to give into the bizarre behavior of the community and instead is determined to get to the bottom of whatever happened a decade earlier.
Soon, Novak finds himself drugged and dropped deep in the very supercave where the teen girl died. Barnes is the only one who can save him – maybe — and will he bring him out alive? Novak survives, but can he solve the mystery of the girl’s death and that of Barnes?
This is a very descriptive book. I felt the depth, darkness and dankness of the massive underground rock world with rooms and waterfalls. There were strange spaces that were tight. I felt the zero light, head scratching ceilings and lack of breathing space.
The characters were fringe and believable. I liked Novak’s tough and tenacious nature. The mystery, at first was very intriguing, but as it unfolded, I couldn’t understand the convoluted plot and who was responsible for all the shenanigans.
There’s an interesting character who uses hypnosis to get at the truth and this was fun to explore with Novak. However, her role in the mystery seemed forced.
This is author Koryta’s 11th novel. He writes with wonderful detail and I certainly better understand the intrigue and allure of caves. The best part of the book is the psychological profile of the twisted character Barnes who finds caves the only place on earth where he feels safe and secure.
Ultimately, I’m not absolutely sure I indeed know who the murderer really was and why. Koryta spends several pages with an explanation that only seemed to cloud what I already thought I understood rather than clear up the whole crazy plot.
Not having read other Koryta novels, I can’t say how this story compares. At first I thought Novak must be a returning character and Last Words is the next in the series after his wife’s death. The title, I assume, is a reference to the last conversation Novak had with his wife.
I can only guess that Novak will reappear in more stories. Next time I hope Koryta’s plot will be clearer and I won’t be left trying to find my way in the dark.
