Randy M. looks at Michael Koryta’s The Cypress House as the Countdown to Halloween continues.
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THE CYPRESS HOUSE by Michael Koryta (2012; Little, Brown and Company)
They’d been on the train for five hours before Arlen Wagner saw the first of the dead men.
Since fighting in the Belleau Woods, Arlen Wagner has seen which people are about to die. Wagner and his young friend, Paul Brickhill are traveling from a finished job on a Civilian Conservation Corp project in Alabama to Florida to build a bridge between the Keys when Arlen begins to see all of them as skeletons.
Wagner convinces Brickhill of the danger of continuing on, but not the others. Later he and Brickhill hear of a hurricane that devastated the Keys (historically accurate), but are already embroiled in another adventure after meeting Rebecca Cady, proprietor of a decaying inn on a picturesque bay, and not long after her brother, fresh out of prison. Judge Wade has an interest in the Inn and he rules the nearest small town with his enforcer, Sheriff Tolliver, and McGrath and his sons, who are even more dangerous than the sheriff. Prohibition is few years gone, so what business does Tolliver run, why does he need the Inn and how does he keep the Cadys under his thumb?
More so than in The Ridge Koryta has to build his setting and characters, folding in references to things no longer used or well-known in such a way that the reader understands and continues on, his or her reading unimpeded. Set in 1935, The Cypress House moves along at a spritely pace even as it introduces the reader to its Florida setting and builds character: Wagner’s mental state at times seems to border on shell shock, which we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a teenager he saw his father exercise a similar gift to his own, witnessed his father’s murder, saw men in combat die in spite of his efforts, and often resorts to self-medicating with liquor. Brickhill, a young man with instinctive engineering skills, exhibits all the enthusiasm of childhood but has taken on some of the responsibilities of an adult; at times he struggles between youth and adulthood, and also struggles with loyalty, love and ambition. In him, Wagner sees some hope and does what he can to further Paul’s ambitions.
If there is a weakness to the book, it is the character of Rebecca Cady. She is the beautiful woman who comes between the two men, although not intentionally. As stereotypical as that sounds, Koryta does a good job of depicting her as capable and tough when necessary, a survivor whose loyalties are not clear until near the novel’s end. Much of what happens in the novel swirls around her family’s ties to Judge Wade and his enterprises. Recognizing impending death in his allies and friends prods Arlen into action.
As a historical thriller, to my ear it is true to the time and the people, from their actions to their speech patterns. As with The Ridge I appreciate how the characters do not insist on disbelieving once overwhelming evidence points to the supernatural (except for one, for a reason that works in the context of the story) and here I especially appreciate that Koryta does not opt for the pacing and inconsequential action scenes of adventure movies: What happens takes place over weeks and the consequences of action include pain and death and guilt and anguish. No one who survives walks away unscarred as the thriller slowly evolves into a story of redemption, of atoning for past sins and failures, and of fighting for those you love.
Other Southern supernatural:
Manly Wade Wellman: Who Fears the Devil? (collection)
Davis Grubb: Twelve Tales of Suspense and the Supernatural
Lucius Shepard: Softspoken
Ann Rice: Interview with a Vampire
Poppy Z. Brite: Wormwood (collection)
Catlin Kiernan: Threshold
John Horner Jacobs: Southern Gods
