Those Who Wish Me Dead by, Michael Koryta

Those Who Wish Me Dead by, Michael Koryta Narrated by, Robert Petkoff

Available in-house in hardcover and in Audio on Library2Go

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When 13-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.

Review of the audiobook:

This was a great thriller; you could cut the tension with a knife! Jace Wilson is in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses two men getting rid of a body and to make matters worse the men know he saw them and now he must die. Jace’s parents decide to send him to a mountain camp for troubled kids, under an assumed name, he hides from the hit men but they know he’s there somewhere and will stop at nothing to find him no matter who gets in their way or who has to die. Ethan, the man running the camp knows he has a witness in the group but doesn’t which boy it is. But the Blackwell brothers do and these are two of the freakiest, creepiest killers I’ve read about in a long time I would not want to be hunted by these men they scared the bejeezus out of me, they were so well written!

This was my first book by Koryta but sure won’t be my last, this book was very hard to stop listening because from beginning to end it was fraught with tension and you just had to know if Jace and the people helping him were going to make it out of these mountains alive.

This book is set in Beartooth Pass between Wyoming and Montana I have been through this pass on the back of Harley in August and it was snowing at the top so I could imagine what it was like hiking through there and how steep it is and all the switchbacks coming up one side and down the other. So was kind of fun to be able to picture this location in my head as I was reading.

I thought Robert Petkoff’s narration was amazing  and very impressive especially the narration of the 2 psycho hit men The Blackwell Brothers that are after Jace/Conner then when one of the characters describes how these men talk, it was even more right on because he narrated them exactly how the author describes them. Every character has a distinct voice and his female voices were well done.  I will be seeking out other books Petkoff has narrated. I see he narrates quite a few of Koryta’s books so; I will be listening to more of this author & narrator combo.

If you hadn’t guessed I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend this thriller!

4 ½ Stars