Michael Koryta – författare

Nina Morgan's bloodstained car was found a decade ago on a lonely Florida road. Forensic evidence suggested she'd been murdered, although her body was never found. Her disappearance left her infant children to the care of their father.Once a pilot, mother, wife, and witness to a gruesome crime, Nina had to flee her old life to save her family. She reinvented herself as Leah Trenton, a guide in the Allagash Wilderness in northern Maine. She never expected to see her children again, but now tragedy has returned them to her-only they have no idea that she's their mother-and delivered all of them back into danger. "Aunt Leah" will need some help, and an old ally has a suggestion: an enigmatic young hitman named Dax Blackwell.Never Far Away is a thrilling collision between old sins and new dreams, where the wills and ingenuity of a broken family will be tested against all odds.

Israel Pike was a killer, and he was an honest man. They were not mutually exclusive.After discovering seven men murdered aboard their yacht - including two Senate rivals - Israel Pike is regarded as a prime suspect. A troubled man infamous on Salvation Point Island for killing his own father a decade before, Israel has few options, no friends, and a life-threatening secret.Elsewhere on the island, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from his alcoholic father in an abandoned house only to discover that he is not alone. A mysterious woman greets him with a hatchet and a promise: "Make a sound and I'll kill you."As the investigation barrels forward, Lyman, Israel, and the fate of the case collide in immutable ways. Written with mounting suspense, stirring emotion, and deep understanding of character, Koryta continues to prove why David Baldacci has called him "an exceptionally gifted storyteller" and Michael Connelly has deemed him "one of the best of the best, plain and simple."

"Michael Koryta's best book" (Stephen King) opens with a yacht full of bodies, a woman hiding from killers on a nearby island, and a man trying to prove his innocence and save his life-in a breathtaking thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead.Israel Pike was a killer, and he was an honest man. They were not mutually exclusive.After discovering seven men murdered aboard their yacht - including two Senate rivals - Israel Pike is regarded as a prime suspect. A troubled man infamous on Salvation Point Island for killing his own father a decade before, Israel has few options, no friends, and a life-threatening secret.Elsewhere on the island, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from his alcoholic father in an abandoned house only to discover that he is not alone. A mysterious woman greets him with a hatchet and a promise: "Make a sound and I'll kill you."As the investigation barrels forward, Lyman, Israel, and the fate of the case collide in immutable ways. Written with mounting suspense, stirring emotion, and deep understanding of character, Koryta continues to prove why David Baldacci has called him "an exceptionally gifted storyteller" and Michael Connelly has deemed him "one of the best of the best, plain and simple."

Arlen Wagner has seen it in men before - a trace of smoke in their eyes that promises imminent death. He is never wrong.When Arlen and his young companion Paul Brickhill are stranded at the Cypress House with a hurricane approaching, Paul won't abandon the boarding house's enigmatic mistress Rebecca to face the storm alone.But Arlen's gift warns him that if they stay too long, they may never leave.

Investigator and former Marine Wayne Weston is found at home, killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, the gun still lying in his right hand. There is no sign of his wife and six-year-old daughter.The police believe Wayne Weston killed his family before turning the gun on himself. Weston's father is convinced his son was murdered. He turns to Lincoln Perry, former cop, now private investigator, for help.All the evidence supports the police's conclusions, but as soon as he starts asking questions, Lincoln hears rumours of gambling, extortion, and links to Cleveland's Russian mob. When the FBI asks him to back off, followed by a second murder, Lincoln is more determined than ever to uncover the truth, even if that means putting himself in danger . . .

Private Investigator Lincoln Perry's childhood best friend is on the run, wanted by the police for arson and murder. Lincoln hasn't seen Ed Gradduk in ten years, not since his friend got involved with a drug dealer and suspected murderer.When Ed is killed in a confrontation with the Cleveland police, they're happy to close the case. But Lincoln is desperate to prove that, whatever crimes his friend might have committed, he didn't set that house on fire and he didn't murder the woman whose body was found there.As Lincoln and his partner Joe Pritchard investigate, they uncover evidence about a string of arson attacks in Cleveland seventeen years ago, fires that begin to shed light on some old secrets.Lincoln and Joe are about to find out just how far those concerned will go to make sure those secrets stay buried . . .

Lincoln Perry was once a rising star on the Cleveland police force, until he was kicked out after he got in a fight with Alex Jefferson, the millionaire his fiancée left him for. When Jefferson is tortured and murdered, it isn't long before the police are at Lincoln's door asking questions.Things go from bad to worse when Lincoln agrees to do a favour for Jefferson's widow - to track down the dead man's son who has unknowingly inherited his millions. What should be a routine search for a missing person ends with the son's body lying in the morgue and Lincoln in jail.Lincoln realises that Jefferson's millions are the target of a thirst for revenge that hasn't been satisfied by blood. But soon Lincoln is being pursued by a pair of deadly assailants and under pressure from the police, who are determined to put him back behind bars, if he survives long enough to make it there . . .

Two brothers with a shared tragic past, caused by a two-second decision that haunts them both. One decides to avenge it. The other, to forgive. Both will pay for their choices - more than they could ever imagine.When he was a teenager, Adam Austin made a decision that led to the death of his little sister. His brother Kent learned to forgive her murderer but he never forgave Adam.Twenty years later, Kent is the coach of the successful high school football team in Chambers, Ohio and Adam is the town's bail bondsman - someone people turn to when they need help. When the girlfriend of one of Kent's star players asks Adam to track down her father who has just been released from prison, Adam agrees. Days later, she is murdered at the address he gave her.Overwhelmed by guilt in this horrifying echo of the past - Adam is determined to atone for his mistakes.But this is a game outside of the brothers' control. And every decision they make is matter of life and death . . .THE PROPHET is the story of family, of guilt and redemption. Epic in its page-turning power, building suspense all the way to its viscerally compelling climax.

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.

Private investigator Mark Novak is still mourning the death of his wife, and it's affecting his work. With his future on the line, Mark is sent to check out a case in the Midwest town of Garrison, home to a famous but perilous cave system. A girl has died in the caves, and the man who brought her out is still believed by many to be her killer. He begs Novak to uncover what really happened. But Garrison is the kind of place where cold cases stay cold. Mark tries to delve into the town's secrets, but in the end, he will have to match his wits against the man who knows the caverns better than anyone. A man who seems to have lost his mind. A man who seems to know Mark Novak all too well.

Mark Novak's greatest mystery might just be his own ...Private Investigator Mark Novak's relentlessness as an investigator has been his professional calling card and curse, but the one case he has couldn't bring himself to pursue is the one closest to his heart: that of his wife's death.Returning to the scene of her murder, a country road outside Cassadaga, Florida, he uncovers disturbing leads that show how her murder might be connected to Novak's own troubled youth in Montana.The investigation leads him back to the mining towns of Montana which he thought he'd left behind forever. On returning, he discovers there are more than just bad memories to be found when you go digging up the past. Novak faces an adversary more frightening than he's ever known, and a secret that has wended its way through his entire life: from the caverns beneath Indiana to the abandoned streets of a southern gothic town to the darkest corners of the Northwest. Novak is about to discover that evil and heroism are inextricably and tragically linked.

'How it Happened is precise and thrilling with an offbeat charm. Koryta in his finest moments is reminiscent of Stephen King . . . Terrific' Metro'A remarkable achievement that rises high above the genre' Nelson DeMille'And that is how it happened. Can we stop now?'Kimberly Crepeaux is a notorious jailhouse snitch and opioid addict whose petty crimes are well known to the locals in her rural Maine community. So when she confesses to her role in the brutal murders of Jackie Pelletier and Ian Kelly, the daughter of a prominent local family and her sweetheart, few believe her story.Except FBI interrogation specialist Rob Barrett. He knows that Kimberly's story - a dope-fuelled hit and run followed by a violent stabbing - is how it happened. But one thing remains elusive: where are the bodies?Barrett stakes his name and reputation on the truth of Kimberly's confession, only to have the bodies turn up two hundred miles from where she said they'd be, shot in the back and covered in a different suspect's DNA. The case is quickly closed and Barrett forcibly reassigned. But for Howard Pelletier, the tragedy of his daughter's murder cannot be so easily forgotten. And for Barrett, whose career may already be over, the chance to help a grieving father may be the only one he has left.How It Happened is a frightening, tension-filled ride into the dark heart of rural America.

'A remarkable achievement that rises high above the genre' Nelson DeMille'And that is how it happened. Can we stop now?'Kimberly Crepeaux is a notorious jailhouse snitch and opioid addict whose petty crimes are well known to the locals in her rural Maine community. So when she confesses to her role in the brutal murders of Jackie Pelletier and Ian Kelly, the daughter of a prominent local family and her sweetheart, few believe her story.Except FBI interrogation specialist Rob Barrett. He knows that Kimberly's story - a dope-fuelled hit and run followed by a violent stabbing - is how it happened. But one thing remains elusive: where are the bodies?Barrett stakes his name and reputation on the truth of Kimberly's confession, only to have the bodies turn up two hundred miles from where she said they'd be, shot in the back and covered in a different suspect's DNA. The case is quickly closed and Barrett forcibly reassigned. But for Howard Pelletier, the tragedy of his daughter's murder cannot be so easily forgotten. And for Barrett, whose career may already be over, the chance to help a grieving father may be the only one he has left.How It Happened is a frightening, tension-filled ride into the dark heart of rural America.

New York Times bestselling author Michael Koryta, the 'master' (Stephen King) of American thriller writing, returns with an electrifying new novel about two women fighting for their lives against an enigmatic killer.Tara Beckley is a college senior assigned to chaperone a visiting engineer to a conference. On the road, she is the victim of a brutal accident that kills the engineer but leaves Tara in a vegetative state - or, at least, so her doctors think. Really, Tara is the prisoner of locked-in syndrome, fully alert, but unable to move a muscle. Trapped in her body, she discovers that someone powerful wants her dead. But why? And what can she do, lying in a hospital bed, to stop them?Meanwhile, Abby Kaplan, an insurance investigator, is assigned to Tara's case. A former stunt driver, Abby has returned to Maine after a disaster in Hollywood left a beloved actor dead and her own reputation - and nerves - shattered. She has nothing left to give to the case, but she can tell there's more to the accident than meets the eye.When Abby starts asking questions, things spin out of control fast, leaving her boss murdered, Abby on the run, and an enigmatic young hit man on her heels.If She Wakes is a tension-filled thriller from one of the masters of the genre.