‘If She Wakes’ moves to surprising finale

‘If She Wakes’ moves to surprising finale

“If She Wakes” (Little, Brown), by Michael Koryta

Multiaward-winning author Michael Koryta again shows his affinity for smoothly melding sophisticated action with solid character development – even when one of the individuals is in a coma – as happens in “If She Wakes.”

“If She Wakes” not only works well as a quintessential thriller but also as a tale about rebuilding one’s life and not giving up on one’s self amid insurmountable odds.

Bright, personable Tara Beckley, a student at Maine’s Hammel College, ends up in a coma after being injured in a horrific car accident in which visiting professor Amandi Oltamu is killed. Tara had been driving Amandi to deliver the keynote speech about his groundbreaking work on batteries and solar panels. The professor insisted they take an alternate route and had wanted them to stop on a bridge so he could take photographs with his phone when they were struck by another vehicle.

Hammel College hires insurance investigator Abby Kaplan to look into the collision to avoid any lawsuits over the death or Tara’s hospital bills. It soon becomes clear that this accident could not have happened as the police reports stated. Soon more deaths linked to the incident occur.

While “If She Wakes” is a stand-alone thriller, Koryta brings back, in a way, brothers Jack and Patrick Blackwell, professional killers who first appeared in 2014’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” While the brothers are now dead, their legacy looms large, especially in the form of Dax Blackwell, a teenage assassin who is more violent than his father or uncle.

Koryta is such a polished writer that his plots zip by. Believable twists propel the tense “If She Wakes” as it moves to a surprising finale.

Associated Press