Never Far Away

Starred review from November 9, 2020
At the start of this stellar thriller from bestseller Koryta (If She Wakes), Nina Morgan fakes her own death in a remote area of Florida with the assistance of the two hit men who have orders to kill her—but decide not to because they’re unhappy with the man who hired them, among other reasons—in order to protect her husband, Doug Chatfield, and their two small children, Hailey and Nick. Ten years later, Doug dies in a car accident, a tragedy that triggers a contingency plan. Hailey, now 13, calls Nina’s pager, believing it’s the way to contact her aunt Leah Trenton. Nina, posing as Leah, takes custody of Hailey and Nick, now 11, and they start a new life in Maine. Despite Nina’s elaborate precautions, word of Doug’s death reaches Corson Lowery, the founder of what one U.S. senator calls “Blackwater on steroids.” Lowery, Nina’s former employer, was the person who ordered her killed a decade earlier. When he learns that the children have been picked up by a nonexistent aunt, Lowery puts two other hit men on her trail. Well-developed characters enhance the high-octane plot. Fans of nail-biting suspense will be in heaven. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management.

January 1, 2021
Having faked her death and fled her family a decade ago to protect them from killers, Nina Morgan--renamed Leah Trenton--is newly targeted by two assassins in the Maine North Woods. The assassins have been dispatched by the Blackwater-like outfit for whom Nina was employed as a pilot and against whom she testified after witnessing a grisly murder. In her absence, before he died in a car accident, her husband instructed their daughter, Hailey, 13, and son, Nick, 11, to contact their "Aunt Leah" if something happened to him. Having never been visited by her, they're understandably upset when she suddenly appears at their home in Louisville and moves them to a Wi-Fi-less cabin in Maine. Soon enough, the killers track her down, leaving victims in their wake. Also arriving on the scene is sardonic young sociopath Dax Blackwell, part of a family of hit men featured in Koryta's novels. Asked by a family friend to protect Nina, Dax seizes the opportunity to even a score with the wealthy head of the black ops firm. He also likes the idea of making the suffering mom's life more miserable. All leads to a cleverly staged triangular encounter on and along the Allagash River. As always, Koryta uses outdoor settings masterfully. The usually persuasive author is less successful in overcoming some head-scratching plot contrivances and oddities. But the book is loaded with nail-biting suspense and parent-child emotion. And though there's more of Dax's corrosive wit than the story can bear ("You never stop talking, do you?" one character asks him), the book hits the ground running and never slows down. Not one of Koryta's best but still a freshly imagined thriller.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2021
Nina Morgan loses everything when she cooperates with the FBI's investigation of her boss, private security mogul J. Corson Lowery. Desperate to free her husband and children from Lowery's wrath, Nina persuades the Blackwells, elite contract killers, to fake her death. Since then, she's been living as Leah Trenton, a wilderness guide in Maine's remotest corner. But, when Nina's husband dies suddenly, she's reunited with her kids, posing as their long-lost "Aunt Leah" and is determined not to abandon them again, even though she knows it will put her back on Lowery's radar. At the same time, Dax Blackwell (last seen in If She Wakes, 2019), heir to the killers who faked Nina's death, needs a job that will put the Blackwell name back on the underworld's lips. Dax will be there when Lowery's killers finally track Nina down, but to what end? Cat-and-mouse tension peaks in a backcountry showdown fueled by well-placed twists; a must-read for fans of wilderness thrillers.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 5, 2021

Koryta kick-starts his latest novel with a witness to a murder faking her own death using the assassins hired to kill her. Nina Morgan must leave her husband and two children and assume a new identity to ensure their safety. Ten years later, the children's father dies and the kids, 13-year-old Hailey and 11-year-old Nick, are sent to live with Nina, whom they know only as "Aunt Leah." Her former employer, who set up the original assassination attempt, realizes that Nina must be alive. Using his power as the leader of a Blackwater-like paramilitary organization, he sends out new hit men to complete the job. From there, Nina and her children must learn to trust each other as they try to stay one step ahead of their hired killers. VERDICT Fans of the author's previous works will be on the edge of their seats as they follow his characters' attempts to survive vicious assassins. As he often does, Koryta (If She Wakes) provides strong character development, believable dialogue, and a fast-paced narrative. Keen observers will notice a brief sighting of two brothers (and evil murderers) who were introduced in Koryta's Those Who Wish Me Dead.--Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, CO

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.