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Summary
Summary
Two women fight for their lives against an enigmatic killer in this electrifying novel from a New York Times bestselling author and "master" of thriller writing (Stephen King).
Tara Beckley is a senior at idyllic Hammel College in Maine. As she drives to deliver a visiting professor to a conference, a horrific car accident kills the professor and leaves Tara in a vegetative state. At least, so her doctors think. In fact, she's a prisoner of locked-in syndrome: fully alert but unable to move a muscle. Trapped in her body, she learns that someone powerful wants her dead -- but why? And what can she do, lying in a hospital bed, to stop them?
Abby Kaplan, an insurance investigator, is hired by the college to look in to Tara's case. A former stunt driver, Abby returned home after a disaster in Hollywood left an actor dead and her own reputation -- and nerves -- shattered. Despite the fog of trauma, she can tell that Tara's car crash was no accident. When she starts asking questions, things quickly spin out of control, leaving Abby on the run and a mysterious young hit man named Dax Blackwell hard on her heels.
Full of pulse-pounding tension, If She Wakes is a searing, breakneck thriller from the genre's "best of the best" (Michael Connelly).
Author Notes
While still in high school, Michael Koryta worked as a newspaper reporter and for a private investigator. His first book, Tonight I Said Goodbye, was published when he was twenty-one years old and an undergraduate at Indiana University. It won the Great Lakes Book Award for best mystery. Envy the Night won the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery/thriller. He is the author of the Lincoln Perry series and teaches at the Indiana University School of Journalism.
Koryta's book Those Who Wish Me Dead made the Nwe York Time bestseller list in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of this taut thriller from bestseller Koryta (How It Happened), the car in which Tara Beckley, a student at Maine's Hammel College, was driving Professor Amandi Oltamu before they parked on a bridge is struck by a car driven by Carlos Ramirez. Oltamu, who was on his way to deliver the keynote address at a talk related to his work on batteries and solar panels, is killed, and Tara ends up paralyzed, conscious but unable to communicate. Insurance investigator Abby Kaplan, who's employed by Hammel, probes the fatal collision. Why Tara chose to stop on a bridge nowhere near her destination is a puzzle. College officials are hoping to avoid any liability for Oltamu's death and Tara's injuries, a prospect that seems likely when Ramirez admits to having been on his cellphone at the time of the accident. But when Ramirez is shot to death, Abby begins to suspect that something more sinister is at work than distracted driving, and that Tara may have some answers. Adept at creating Hitchcockian moments, Koryta keeps the suspense high throughout. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Slowly emerging from the coma she's been in since a black cargo van rammed the car she was using to transport a visiting professor, killing him, Maine college senior Tara Beckley is targeted by a ruthless young hit man.After the driver of the van admits his guilt, police rule the collision a simple wreck. But it doesn't take long for insurance investigator Abby Kaplan, a former racer and stunt driver who knows how cars behave at high speeds, to determine that this was no accident. She responds emotionally to Tara and her family; Abby's boyfriend in Los Angeles was left in a coma after a reckless joy ride she took him on ended badly. The bad news for the bad guys, who are desperate to get their hands on a device that was in the professor's possession, is that Tara is now conscious and alert and able to communicate by moving her eyes. Dax Blackwell, the boyish, creepily calm gunman (whose father, Jack, an Australian assassin, died in Koryta's Those Who Wish Me Dead), must not only get past Abby to get to Tara, he also has to contend with Tara's fiercely protective sister, Shannon. It's a measure of how good this book is that the chilling, masterfully sustained suspense is only one of its standout achievements. Koryta never brushes off anyone's death; he makes you feel for the victims. The relationship between Tara and her sibling is beautifully nuanced, full of revealing details going back to their childhood. And Koryta's (How It Happened, 2018, etc.) fans will surely appreciate the suggestion of a sequel.Koryta has never been better than with this knuckle-biting thriller. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Escorting visiting professor Dr. Amandi Oltamu around Hammel College's campus was the strangest student-ambassador assignment Tara Beckley had ever undertaken. Oltamu was jittery, and, after they shared an awkward selfie, he pleaded with her to lock his phone in her glove compartment. Seconds later, a van slammed into Tara's car, killing Oltamu and leaving Tara comatose. Tara awakens in the hospital gripped with fear as she realizes she's trapped in her body, fully aware but unable to respond. Abby Kaplan, a former stunt driver turned insurance investigator, suspects the collision was an intentional attack when she realizes that the damage to Tara's car contradicts the van driver's story. Unable to interview Tara, Abby searches Tara and Oltamu's phones for clues to the killer's possible target. Unfortunately, a young hit man aiming to prove his worth is also after Oltamu's phone, and Abby will have to tap into her guilt-laden past to defend herself and Tara. Instantly gripping, with realistic action, a breath-snatching twist, and a few untied ends that hopefully signal a sequel.--Christine Tran Copyright 2019 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The latest from best seller Koryta (after How It Happened) brings readers along as college student Tara Beckley drives a visiting professor, who is in possession of a valuable phone, to her campus in Maine. Tara's car is struck violently, and she is sent into a coma while her passenger is killed. Tara's condition is diagnosed as locked-in syndrome, which means she's fully alert but unable to move or communicate. Meanwhile, insurance investigator and former stunt car driver Abby Kaplan is sent to check out the collision site. She sees immediately that the driver who caused the incident lied about the events. Soon, the driver turns up dead, and it seems that a killer named Dax Blackwell (whose father and uncle were introduced in Those Who Wish Me Dead) is hunting for the phone, which was lost during the initial accident. Dax is trying to be as deadly as his father and even more cunning. Abby will need to face her fears to figure out where the phone is and how to get the information from Tara, who is trapped in her own body. VERDICT Fans of Koryta's previous works, especially Those Who Wish Me Dead, will greatly enjoy this exciting story. [See Prepub Alert, 11/12/18.]-Jason L. Steagall, formerly with Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
