Michael Koryta

The newest thriller from Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he's plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

This "heart-thumping backwoods adventure" (New York Times Book Review) from bestselling author Michael Koryta will soon be a major motion picture starring Angelina Jolie and Nicholas Hoult. When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he's plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind. "Outstanding in every way...Don't you dare miss it." --Lee Child

Fraser Simons

I watched the movie and got curious about the book. Honestly, I prefer the movie. It’s far tighter, much better dialogue, and the various arcs feels less contrived and interesting to me. 

In this one, the brothers dialogue is fairly cringe worthy to me; not in an intentional way. They feel like weird caricatures because the craft behind the dialogue felt like it was playing into tropes yet not quite pulling them off. The agency for some characters that are empowered in the film is not so here, they’re used as a prop for a gotcha moment that I could take-or-leave. 

The boy-fire fighter relationship is much more developed in the film, and so the payoff works. In the book the dialogue is incongruous with what actually happens and so the ending actually feels quite unearned. 

However, the shade of the mountain scene, I think, is particularly good and at a higher level then the other craft of the book, which feels very commercial thriller. I wouldn’t be surprised if that scene was the impetus for the book; or a really clear visual touchstone for it, if not. 

I like all of the characters and the reworked events better in the movie, but because of the format you don’t get the working knowledge of the people who live in the area as much, which I think people complained about in their reviews. Can’t do toooo much about that in a tightly paced 1:45 long movie though, imo. The thing you need to nail is character, and the movie feels like the best served version of that. Which is wild! How often does that happen?

Brittany

I liked the beginning and the ending but It took me 2 weeks to read it and I never take that long to read a book. The middle is so boring. Nothing Happened. The movie is so much better and I never say that.

Lynn Braden

When Jace Wilson witnesses a murder, it is decided that he needs to be protected, but instead of going into WITSEC, Jace is taken to a wilderness camp designed to deal with troubled teenagers. Jace becomes known as Conner and starts his journey with Ethan and Allison Serbin who own and run the wilderness camp. It isn't long before the killers known as the Blackwell Brothers track Jace down and begin to track him into the wilderness, but when the brothers accidentally start a forest fire, Hannah Faber who lost her husband to a fire a year ago becomes Jace's only hope for survival.

Those Who Wish Me Dead uses the wilderness survival trope and adds a couple of unusual killers to the mix. We get very little backstory on most of the characters, but the story does focus on Jace through his thoughts and feelings as he runs from the killers. All of the characters make questionable choices throughout the story, but the plot does move forward with lots of action and adventure. Overall, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a decent survival story, which is very different from the recent movie of the same name based on this book.

When Jace Wilson accidentally witnesses a brutal murder, his life is changed forever. An ordinary teenager growing up in Indiana, Jace is suddenly forced into the Witness Protection Program and given a new name and history. Taken in by a couple ho run a wilderness program for young boys, Jace finds himself hiking through the Montana mountains, tortured by his memories and by the fear that he'll never be safe again. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are two of the most heinous criminals the country has ever known. Jace was the one person to catch them in the act, and he slipped through their fingers. Now they've tracked him down and are making their way across the country, ruthlessly slaughtering anyone who gets in their way.

Soon to be a major film starring Angelina Jolie

Laura

This was one of the most action-packed books I've read in a while. While I wasn’t too crazy about Jace, since he didn’t have much personality, it was the characters and the action of the mystery that kept me going. I freaking loved the Blackwell brothers to the point where this book might make my list because of them. I loved how Koryta wasn’t afraid to kill off characters, since I feel like a common mistake in the thriller genre is to have too few deaths. In my opinion, a good thriller means that you are always unaware of who will die next. I was even able to look past a few glaring mistakes- such as the idea that an injured horse being able to haul two grown women around the mountains- and really got into the story. The Blackwell brothers were such great villains to really get into, and I loved them and their strange brotherly relationship. Everything felt so authentic, and it was obvious to me that Koryta did his research (again, with the exception of the horse thing). That whole mountain pressure (or whatever it was) was brilliant, freaking brilliant. My only complaint is that the ending seemed too tied up in a neat little bow. But other than that, I loved this book.

Read more like this review on my blog, http://wwwbookwormbasics.blogspot.com

I.m. ruzz

I debated 2 or 3 stars. I can't offer a fair review on the book because previous to it I read an amazing book (eventide by kent haruf), and also because it's the sort of book I loved when I was 15, but have little interest in now. How I ended up buying it and reading it is still unclear, but I did and it wasn't unenjoyable, it was just shallow and like a summer action movie. You forget it as soon as you walk out the door. 

In fact, this sort of book is ripe (and almost felt written) to be made into a movie at some point. 

After the poignancy of the characters in eventide, and the subtle depth of humanity I spent time with this book came off crass, simplistic and low-form entertainment which probably isn't fair.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

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