After
jumping from a quarry ledge, a young teenage boy of 13, Jace Wilson, finds a
dead man in the water. A few moments later, the boy witnesses the killing of
another man who is also thrown in the water. The only person who can identify
the two killers, Jace needs to be protected during the investigation.
So Jace
Wilson becomes Connor Reynolds under a non-traditional witness protection
program; he is sent to a summer camp in the mountains of Montana. Run by Ethan
and Alison Serbin, the wilderness survival program helps out damaged kids, from
difficult backgrounds and troubled homes, build back their self-confidence and
prepare them for the rest of their lives against everything the world will
throw at them.
Meanwhile,
the two killers –known as the Blackwell Brothers—are on the hunt for
Jace/Connor. They show great patience and deadpan humour when obtaining
information but they show no mercy for anyone who stands in their way; for
them, killing is not a game it is a survival skill. They will hit, maim, and
burn only if necessary but they’ll never hesitate to act. And then they will kill.
Always.
As the
brothers get closer to Jace/Connor and his new friends, out in the wilderness,
the elements of nature are also crowding the mountain and forest; a fire is
burning with increasing intensity, and the sky is thundering with the whole package
of special effects it contains. Staying outside under these unpredictable
conditions, even without two killers on your trail, would be extremely
dangerous and life-threatening for anyone. For Jace/Connor, it might just be
the safest place on Earth.
Michael
Koryta’s writing blazes on the page and seers through your mind and bloodstream
until your heart-rate starts climbing to dangerous levels. You’ll rush through
the book as if running from a wildfire. Almost every single character in Those
Who Wish Me Dead are directly involved in Jace’s fate: Ethan and Alison
Serbin will need to dig far deeper into their knowledge of the wilderness
in order to protect Jace, while giving themselves a chance to survive; Hannah
Faber, posted in a fire lookout tower in the forest, will have to deal with
events that she can affect rather than dwelling on her recent, traumatizing
past; others will influence in varying degrees by helping or not, willingly or
not; but the Blackwell Brothers –two of the most dangerous and brilliantly
insane characters I’ve come across in recent years—will learn to stretch the
limits of their destructive ways while realising that their mission in the
wilderness is not the walk in the park they thought it would be.
Every
character and natural element can influence the unfolding events one way or the
other, but whatever their intent, they can also destroy everything at a moment’s
notice. That unpredictability throughout the story is one of the main hooks
keeping the reader involved; it holds the intensity very high at all times,
from the very beginning until the last pages. Even during the quieter moments,
it is always felt in the background. Michael
Koryta is a specialist of pacing; every scene is at the right place in the
build-up of the suspense, like dry wood before the approaching flames. Just don’t
expect too many of these quiet moments.
Koryta
never overwhelms you with unnecessary details either, preferring sharp
descriptions like this one “Up above
them, lightning was working on the mountaintops. Below, to their right, the
forest fire glowed in the woods just south of Silver Gate. The wind fed it and
drove acrid smoke toward them.” From there, in bits and pieces scattered
through the pages, Koryta slowly brings the elements of nature into play,
closer to the characters; where at first thunder could be heard from a distance
and the forest fire could only be detected by the smoke over the trees, now
lightning is hitting closer, and fire is seen and felt. Koryta continues
until the blaze and the storm rage all around, and nature becomes fully
involved.
Look out,
your summer is about to get insanely hot.
Rating: 4
thumbprints (see Review Room for rating
system)
And now,
here’s a short Q & A I did with Michael Koryta.
HoCaM—Those Who
Wish Me Dead is not only about survival but also, I think, about
self-discovery, introspection, and the possibility of changes for most of the
characters; Jace Wilson learns more about himself than any teenagers ever will
about themselves; Ethan and Alison Serbin, each on their own, reassess
deep-rooted values and face life-altering choices –for them and for others;
Hannah Faber, still carrying the heavy baggage of a painful past, is now forced
to relive it; even the Blackwell Brothers, these two dangerous sociopaths, are
not entirely prepared for what lurks in the wilderness.
So my
question is: when you work on character development, what do you aim for and
how much of it reveals itself while writing the story?
M.K.—Wow,
that’s a tricky one. Let’s start with the surface layer: I know that I need
character development or the story is dead. If the events of the story do not
change the characters in some fashion, then what was the point of the journey?
Now we get into the second layer, which is how those changes reveal themselves.
Sometimes I’ve been fortunate to have a good sense at the start. In The
Prophet, I understood where Adam and Kent were going from almost the first
page. At times I wanted to stop them. With Those Who Wish Me Dead, I didn’t have
as good of a sense of the characters early, which led to many, many drafts of
the opening 100 pages. I think I attempted seven different entries, and in each
case the character relationships were different. In one, Jace was Ethan’s son.
In another, Jace was much older and working as a counselor for the program,
playing more of Ethan’s role, and another kid was handling the “Jace” role, but
I didn’t give him a point of view. That was an epic failure. For the first five
attempts, there was only one Blackwell. (What a loss that would have been for
my fun! Ha.) All of this is to say that the process is incredibly varied from
book to book, and I’m comfortable with the story only when I understand how the
events of the book will shape and change the cast.
HoCaM—The mountain, the fire, and other elements of
nature (wind, rain, lightning, etc.) are characters on their own, highly
unpredictable, but important parts of the unfolding events. They are completely
neutral in regards to the objectives of humans. In fact, it’s how the human
characters adapt themselves to the forces of nature and to the mountain itself
that could have an impact on the final outcome. Both nature and humans are part
of the finely tuned crescendo of the story arc, right up until the climax. How
did you envision the balance between all the elements in place, and how
difficult was it to keep that balance (while making sure not to overdo it)?
M.K.—Trusting
the subconscious. You articulated the role of nature in the story perfectly,
and I knew it was going to be, on some level, a story about the timeless power
of that mountain landscape and about how even the most competent human can be
made laughably small and weak in the face of nature. The balance is just
something you have to feel. I’m better when I get out of my own way in
overthinking things like that. Over the years I think my internal warning
system has improved: I can feel the scales tilt a little easier now than I
could before. And, of course, I have great editors!
HoCaM—Do you regularly trek in forests and on
mountains? Any special experiences you can share that either inspired you to
write this book or happened while researching for it?
M.K.—Absolutely.
This book was born on backpacking trips in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana
and Wyoming. I’ve hiked the same ground of the story, and I’ve felt the
incredible beauty and menace of that landscape, which is quite powerful. I’ve
never felt as small as I do in those mountains, which is no doubt why I feel
the pull to return to them. Talk about a place that provides you with a sense
of perspective. It’s a wilderness in the most real sense of the word. This book
is a product of the setting, without question.
HoCaM—Which one of your books is closer to a movie
adaptation at the moment or has the best chance of becoming one?
M.K.—I’m
told they are all close to development, and yet nothing has been made! Each
project has wonderful people attached. I’ve stopped trying to guess, honestly,
because it can be enormously frustrating. I’m hopeful for each project, but
right now I suppose I feel the best about Those Who Wish Me Dead, because it’s
fresh! I’m excited to see that script. Chris Columbus wrote a beautiful script
for The Cypress House, so I’d love to see that one move forward, too. There’s a
chance of a TV series for The Ridge. I live in hope!
HoCaM—TWWMD is your 10th book. I have a
vivid memory of reading your first one Tonight
I Said Goodbye, back in late September 2004: I had it with me at the very
last game the Expos played in Montréal (against the Florida Marlins) and I even
caught a foul ball without dropping the book. (Still have both the book and the
ball). When you look back at those ten years, how do you assess what you’ve
accomplished, how you’ve grown as a writer, and where do you want to go from
here?
M.K.—Love
that story! Ha. Nice catch, too! I honestly haven’t done too much
backward-looking assessment. I don’t see the gain in it. Onward and upward,
right? My only real look back has been to flip through some of the early books
and realize that I couldn’t tell you all the character names if you had a gun
to my head. I’ve published about a million words now, which means I’ve surely
written about five million in the last decade, because about 20% makes the
final draft, and I’ve also started four books that I never finished. That is
sort of staggering for me to consider, just the sheer volume. It’s been fun,
though. It has been a constant joy. I believe that I’m a better writer now, and
I believe that I need to improve enormously going forward. So you take it one day
at a time and remind yourself how fortunate you are to have the chance. My only
clear goal for I want to do from here is to continue to let the story pick me,
and not the other way around. Challenging as it might be for the marketing
folks and even some readers, I firmly believe that the only way to go about
this craft is to write the book that you feel passionate about, and not to
worry about finding the book that the mass audience desires. You hope that
cream rises, and that if you write well and try to get better every day, the
audience will be there. I’ve been very fortunate so far.
HoCaM—Can you share a little about the next book?
M.K.—It’s
all of the stops I’ve made on the page in the past 10 years showing their
impact, I think. A detective novel à la Lincoln books, an eerie, atmospheric
vibe à la the supernatural stories, and it continues to show my fascination
with the natural world. We’re dealing with caves instead of mountains in this
one, and snow, and a 10-year-old cold case of a murdered girl whose body was
discovered in a little tourist trap cave in the rural Midwest. My detective in
this one will probably rear his head in books to come, which was a surprise to
realize, as I thought I was done with a series approach. But I feel as if he’ll
have work to do by the time I put THE END on this one, so I suspect you will
see him again. It has been great fun and I’m hoping to have a draft done in
early summer, so it should be a 2015 release. The tentative title is LAST
WORDS.
HoCaM—Thank you again!
M.K.—Thank
you. Truly my pleasure, and I appreciate the great questions and the support.
GIVEAWAY: for a chance to win a copy of the book, send me an email to housecrimyst@gmail.com along with your name and address. You need to be 18 years or older, and a resident of the US or Canada. You have until Wednesday, June 11th, at noon, Montréal Time. Bonne chance!
UPDATE: I've just realised that I have an extra copy of Michael's THE PROPHET. I'm including it as a bonus prize; winner will get, not one, but two books!
To read a longer interview with Michael Koryta, from March 2011,
and a review of The Cypress House just go to my Interrogation Room page.
To know more about Michael Koryta and his
books, visit his website and blog, his Facebook page, and Twitter account.
If you’ve never read his books and still need convincing, read these amazing
comments by some of the more successful writers out there:
“Oustanding in every way, and a guaranteed
thriller-of-the-year…Stephen King would be proud of the set up, Cormac McCarthy
would be proud of the writing, and I would proud of the action. Don’t you dare
miss it.” –Lee Child about Those Who Wish
Me Dead
“…a relentless, heart-in-your-throat thriller
about ordinary people caught in the middle of an extraordinary nightmare.” –Dennis
Lehane about The Prophet
“A man in love with the woman who shot him. Who
could possibly resist that story? Not me. Read on, and discover one of the
scariest and most touching horror tales in years.” –James Patterson about The Ridge
“He uses the psychology of place to penetrate
the human heart and delivers his tale of hurricanes and love and hauntings with
great narrative force. Koryta’s becoming a wonder we’ll appreciate for a long
time.” –Daniel Woodrell about The Cypress
House
Thanks for visiting and for reading,
JF
June 8th, 2014
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