Those Who Wish Me Dead is a 2014 thriller by Michael Koryta, a New York Times bestselling author who started out in life as a private investigator and journalist in his home state of Indiana. So, too, does the story of Those Who Wish Me Dead, which begins with fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnessing a murder in an engaging, suspenseful introductory sequence.
Cut to a remote ranch in Montana, where Ethan Serbin, a highly trained wilderness survival instructor, runs a program for troubled youths together with his wife, Allison. They are approached by a private security consultant who asks them to hide Jace “off the grid” in their program to keep him away from the sociopathic, sadistic Blackwell Brothers, vicious killers who want to silence him before he can identify them at trial.
Ethan, against Allision’s better judgement, agree to take on this high-risk assignment. If the killers find out where Jace is, there’s going to be mayhem and killing. The boy shows up as part of a group of problem teenagers who are enrolled in the wilderness survival program. Ethan and Allison don’t even know which boy he is. His identity has been masked, though we, the readers, follow Jace as he adapts to his new environment and builds his confidence with wilderness skills like orienteering and making fires,
Cut to Hannah Faber, 29, a former forest firefighter, settling into her lonely job as a lookout on a remote fire tower. Faber, who is severely traumatized after losing the love of her life and her whole fire crew the previous fire season, spots a fire on the horizon. Little does she know, it’s the Blackwell Brothers on the hunt, and she’s about to become involved in a deadly game of chase in the mountains.
Cut to…well, I can’t really say, and I’ve already gotten into spoiler territory. This phrase is apt here because the book reads like a screenplay. And, indeed, as the cover says, it was made into a “Major Motion Picture” starring Angelina Jolie.
What I liked about this book: Those Who Wish Me Dead features effective writing. You find yourself absorbed in the moment, with distinctive characters and generally strong suspense. There are a lot of interesting details, too, which I like—in this case having to do with surviving in the wilderness and fighting forest fires. There’s a lot of authenticity. The Blackwell Brothers are deliberately odd, which makes them more menacing, certainly different from your run of the mill bad guys.
What I didn’t like about this book: I don’t give bad reviews. That’s my policy here at #mysterhound. And, for sure, an author at the level Michael Koryta doesn’t need my feedback. However, I will point out a couple of things. For one thing, the book felt a little long. This may be a publisher preference now, to offer 180,000 words when 90,000 would do.
Certain story arcs feel, at least to me, a bit telegraphed. Like, you have a strong hunch that Hannah Faber is going to have to work out her trauma by battling a new forest fire… and yup, here it comes. Also, there’s a massive hole in the plot, unless I was smoking the curtain. At the end, you’re like, wait, what? That doesn’t make any sense, but again, perhaps I misread it.
If you like a good suspenser, though, I would give this a read.