The Prophet

By: Michael Koryta

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Adam Austin hasn't spoken to his brother in years. When they were teenagers, their sister was abducted and murdered, and their devastated family never recovered. Now Adam keeps to himself, scraping by as a bail bondsman, working so close to the town's criminal fringes that he sometimes seems a part of them.

Kent Austin is the beloved coach of the local high school football team, a religious man and hero in the community. After years of near misses, Kent's team has a shot at the state championship, a welcome point of pride in a town that has had its share of hardships.

Just before playoffs begin, the town and the team are thrown into shock when horrifically, impossibly, another teenage girl is found murdered. When details emerge that connect the crime to the Austin brothers, the two are forced to unite to stop a killer - and to confront their buried rage and grief before history repeats itself again.

Michael Koryta, long hailed as one of the best young thriller writers at work today, has written his greatest novel ever - an emotionally harrowing, unstoppably suspenseful novel that proves why Michael Connelly has named him "one of the best of the best".

©2012 Michael Koryta (P)2012 Hachette Audio

good story, disappointing ending.

the story was interesting a lot of football a lot of stories a lot of intersecting ideas, but the ending fell short. it seemed like the writer couldn't find a way of getting out of the situation. The whole story centered around faith and yet it was never resolved in the end.

Loved the book. Hated the ending.

1. Loved the book. It was a terrific story that kept me wanting to return to listening until the very end.
2. Hated the ending. I cannot say much because it would be a total spoiler, but suffice it to say that the ending was not what I hoped for at all It’s not that it was an inappropriate ending, it was just not what I wanted….!

The Reckoning

Koryta does not write easy books, especially his non-Lincoln Perry books. Characters are complex, flawed and often just wrong. But they are written just right. Adam and Kent Austin are brothers who have spent 22 years trying to cope with the tragic murder of their sister in their own ways - and have become estranged in the process. Then another similar murder occurs with the victim having the slenderest of connections to both brothers, and they are forced to confront each other and their past. They have to find out why the killer is using their past to manipulate the present.

Football plays a large role in this story - Kent is the high school coach, and there is a significant amount of time spent discussing games, strategy and players. If you have only a passing interest in football, or no interest, try to just get the gist of what is being said - the technicalities of the game are not critical to the narrative. But if you can see the game of football as an allegory for the lives of the two protagonists, you see how their approach to the game dictated their responses to the defining event in their lives, and how they will respond to the current crisis. As I write this I realize that football-as-life sounds like a cliche, but Koryta manages it with dexterity. The characters are not caricatures.

The mystery solving portion of the story is very real, each person behaving as they must, right or wrong. Mistakes are made that cannot be taken back, forcing new decisions on others. The suspense and foreboding mount, leading to the inevitable conclusion. Koryta has added yet another heroic antihero to his list. I swallowed this book almost whole - sacrificing sleep, unwilling to let it go.

halfway through, very impressed

Would you listen to The Prophet again? Why?

My wife and I started this in the car, listened for a few hours and when we got home, put in on in the house and continued to the halfway point - gripping!

Any additional comments?

The writer does a great job with each scene - you feel that you are there.

A Good Read

If you’ve listened to books by Michael Koryta before, how does this one compare?

Not as good as his latest, "Those Who Wish Me Dead" which knocked me flat, but still a good read. Similar themes are evident: brotherly conflict and devotion; sacrifice; the trick of revealing character via a personal discipline. All are even better developed in the later work, but this is a heck of a good debut.

Any additional comments?

I'm no football fan myself, but I wasn't at all put off by the game descriptions, which serve to deepen our understanding of the main characters. In his lastt book he turns a similar trick using forest survival training. In both cases the author has researched the heck out of his subject, which I really appreciate. Will definitely read more of his work.

Great story but alot of football

I loved the story- would've given it 5 stars, but there was a little too much football interspersed for me (not enough for me to stop reading, but enough for me to contemplate a 3 star review).

More than just a mystery

THE PROFET is a mystery that seems to say that everyone could reach a point in their lives that could cause them to be the villain that they feel they normally would condemn. I've read glowing reviews, and reviews that trash this book as being too much about football and not enough about a mystery. I think perhaps those one star reviews are missing something that make this book so much more than just a mystery. Will not say lots more on that because I believe the real discerning readers will be able to see this for themselves, and realize that this is a great mystery, but it is also a story that is so much more that JUST a mystery.

The Austin brothers live in the same small town where they were born and raised, but they have had virtually no contact with each other for 22years. Their relationship stopped one year when their sister was murdered. Both boys were football heroes, and Adam was supposed to drive his sister home from school every day. One day in his exuberance, he let his sister walk the five blocks home alone. She never made it home. Adam has been living in the guilt of his actions all of these years. Now as a bail bondsman, he lives a completely different live than his brother, Kent, more commonly known as "Coach".

As "Coach" is driving his high school football team to a state championship title, another 17 year old girl is brutally murdered. How the brothers handle this tragedy, and seek to solve and resolve this tragedy themselves, is what makes this a brilliant story.

Way too much football and not enough story.

I normally love this author but this book was a disappointment. I am not crazy about football and at least one-third of this book went on and on about the details and nuances of football games and specific plays and terminology I did not understand. The author made more of an effort to explain the various types of guns to the novice reader who may not be a gun expert than he did in explaining all the football details which I didn't understand and couldn't care less about. however, I will continue to read this author's books because he very rarely disappoints me. If you are a fan of football, you will probably love this book.

Good but drawn out

There is a good storyline and I will tell you I am one to try and guess the "who done it" the entire time, and I was not expecting the twist this book provided. There is however a lot of football reference and dialogue, so if you are not a sports person or if a lot of sports talk bothers you, then you might not enjoy this book as much. Definitely a good listen and kept my intrest until the end

High school football

If you enjoy high school football you will enjoy this book. Some foul language throughout.