I've enjoyed many of Koryta's books in the past and although I liked this one, I also feel like it is going to be pretty forgettable. The story moved pretty well and there were some interesting and tense moments. Usually this author writes amazing characters and as a reader, you become very invested in their story, but that just didn't ring true for me this time.

This story was very convoluted and I had a difficult time believing any of it would happen. The characters were ok but I didn't feel a connection to any of them. I like Michael Koryta but I just didn't like this book.

Dax Blackwell just might be one of my all-time favorite literary characters. I’m so excited that he’s back and in a (sort of) different role in Never Far Away.

Michael Koryta gives us yet another pulse-pounding slow burn thriller, this time focusing on Nina Morgan, a woman who shed her identity and left her family 10 years ago to protect them from someone in her past who wants her dead.

This is definitely a slow simmer of a thriller, so those who are into junk thrillers probably will find it too measured in pace, but it’s my favorite way to digest the Thriller genre, and it’s tough to find anyone who does it better than Koryta.

Like Koryta’s preceding novel (this is not a sequel to If She Wakes, but does have a major character in common), the book is heavily plot-driven and doesn’t see a lot of action until the end, which works well in both cases. I prefer Koryta’s recent books to his earlier offerings (less tragedy, more witticisms).

Here’s hoping Dax continues to show up in these books. He’s easily Koryta’s best character and makes everyone and everything around him more interesting for the reader.

I’m not sure why I haven’t read this author before but will definitely be reading more. This book is a great edge of your seat read with believable characters. A mother who left to protect her children must come back after the death of her husband who was caring for the children and deal with the issues she left behind. The story covers how she takes matters into her own hands to keep herself and her children safe. When she fled before after being a witness to a heinous crime, she reinvented herself and thought that would keep her family safe. All I can say (without giving away the book) is the book is worth reading and checking into his other novels.

This was a great book. I had never read Michael Koryta, but will need to track down more of his books. Great characters, and great pacing. Dax Blackwell is a great character too. #NeverFarAway #NetGalley

Interesting opening. The plot moves fast and is easy to follow. I pictured this as a netflix movie as I read. I liked the characters and their dialogue is well done, as always in a Michael Koryta novel.

This my firs time reading this author and I enjoyed every bit of it the characters were veey well developed

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nina Morgan Fakes her death after a trial connected to her job puts her life in jeopardy. In order to protect her husband and children, she must disappear. Along with her husband they come up with a plan that ensures that if anything happens to him, their children will be reunited with their mother. That day comes many years later with a high price. Her children have no memory of her and the reconnection results in a new search for her by her former boss. This time he plans on ending her life himself.
A story filled with loss and redemption, action and reaction.
Another book by Michael Koryta that will be enjoyed by many.

Koryta's best yet. A master class in creating suspense. Not surprised that this has already been optioned for film. A very visual story.

Michael Koryta delivers a fast-paced thriller that will take you away for a fast ride to adventure. The pacing is masterful and the characters strong and believable with a solid atmosphere as well. Good read.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

"Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hidden." (Aesop)

Leah Trenton, formerly known as Nina Morgan, knows that hidden secrets, often as not, rise to the surface eventually. She vividly remembers the night that she took extra precautions to fake her death in Florida. Ten years have passed and an outstretched hand now beckons for payback.

Leah was employed by an unscrupulous individual who headed the Lowery Group, an international network of people who worked in the shadows of questionable activities. As a licensed pilot, Leah flew groups to their destinations. No questions asked and no answers expected. But one afternoon, Leah witnessed a despicable act. Immediately, she knew that her days were numbered. Death was the only way out of this. A death contrived by Leah and not at the hands of the Lowery Group.

But the price she paid was great. She left her husband, Doug, and two young children, Hailey and Nick, behind believing that she died those ten years ago. Now living in Piscataquis County, Maine, Leah lived and worked as a guide in the North Woods. Not a soul knew of her backstory.......until now.

A freak accident takes the life of Doug after all these years. Hailey has been instructed by Doug to call a certain memorized secret number. The woman who answers is said to be her "aunt". Needless to say, it's her mother Leah. Hailey and Nick know nothing.

Leah brings the children back to Maine with her. It's evident that they are not going willingly. But someone has had their finger on the pulse of this family and knows now that Leah/Nina is still alive. And the wild pursuit for Leah is now beginning with two hired men to take her out.

I've added piles of Michael Koryta's books to my TBR. After Never Far Away, I'll be bringing those books out front and center. Koryta knows how to tell a story with straightforward action lined with some devious characters. There's almost a heightened rhythm to the escalating tension from the first chapter onward. He's covered all the bases. You know something bad is going to happen at any moment. Good stuff for a Netflix movie and good stuff to grab your attention during the times that we wish to escape for a few moments from the realities of this life.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Little, Brown and Company and to Michael Koryta for the opportunity.

Published by Little, Brown and Company on February 9, 2021

Thrillerworld has a plentiful supply of “mother fights ferociously to protect her children” novels. Most of them aren’t very good. Never Far Away is well above average.

Michael Koryta’s plot has quite a few moving parts, but the story avoids needless complexity. At its center is a woman named Leah Trenton. At least, that’s her current name. When she was Nina Morgan, she gave the FBI information about her employer, the Lowery Group. The information caused trouble for Corson Lowery and his family. Lowery came after her and she didn’t want her family in the line of fire. For the sake of her husband and two children, she faked her death and disappeared.

Ten years later, Leah has made a new life for herself as a wilderness guide in Maine. She’s a former Air Force pilot but she didn’t let the seaplane pilot with whom she had partnered know about her flying skill, for fear that her background would make her easier to trace. They’ve invested in six remote cabins that they are remodeling as part of their wilderness excursion business.

Things seem to be going well until Leah’s husband dies in an accident. Following instructions her father drummed into her years earlier, Leah’s daughter Hailey calls Leah, believing Leah to be an aunt she has never met. Leah takes custody of her son Nick and daughter Hailey, then brings them to Maine, hoping that Lowery will not suspect that she is still alive.

Seasoned thriller readers can imagine where the story goes from there. Lowery sends killers after Leah, who makes it her mission to protect her kids. One of the killers, appropriately named Bleak, is a quintessential thriller villain, devoid of conscience or empathy. Leah tries to get help from the friend who helped her fake her death but worries that contacting him has imperiled his life. The two killers are eventually joined by a mysterious man named Dax Blackwell, whose family has done business with Lowery in the past. Shootouts ensue.

The story is enlivened by Hailey’s teenage attitude. She doesn’t appreciate being removed from her home and her friends. She really doesn’t like the Maine woods, where she can’t get consistent cellphone reception. She sort of likes a student at her new school named Matt Bouchard, who has an obvious crush on her, if only because Matt has promised to help her gather information that Hailey might need to get back home. Hailey is no fan of Leah, whom she regards as an aunt who never bothered to visit. Before Leah can explain that she’s actually Hailey’s mother, a conversation that might not go well, the aforementioned shootouts intrude on their family drama.

The shootouts give Leah a chance to prove that she’s no pushover. When Matt and her business partner find themselves in harm’s way, Leah’s priority of saving her kids is joined with her need to save other innocents who have been dragged into her thriller plot. All of that gives Leah a chance to shine, both as a thriller hero and as a decent human being.

Koryta keeps Never Far Away moving at a steady pace while taking the time to define his characters with sentences like, “The man had a shaved head and dark, observant eyes and was all lean muscle, no body fat, as if he bench-pressed any incoming carbohydrate before he ate it.” Writers who craft such imaginative prose will always keep me reading if they use the prose to tell an interesting story. Koryta does that.

Unlike most modern thrillers, I never questioned the credibility of Koryta’s plot. His characters seem fully capable of getting themselves into the predicaments that drive the story. Tension builds nicely until the story reaches a satisfying conclusion. Prose, plot, and characterization combine to make Never Far Away a transcendent take on the overused “mother protects her kids” thriller.

RECOMMENDED

Michael Koryta has become one of my favorite authors and never fails to deliver a good solid thriller. This one is no exception as it moves at a good steady pace and delivers a gut punch in the end. If you have the need to escape the world for just a bit and get lost in a suspenseful adventure, step on board and buckle up for the ride.

When life has my mind and soul reeling, I revert back to the things that I cherish and bring joy to my life. For me, one of those things is reading.

We lost my mother-in-law to COVID-19 a week ago. It was a month-long battle that has left me emotionally and physically exhausted. Grief had me struggling to reconnect with some semblance of joy. In this case, it just happened to be a night spent on the couch, reconnecting with a long-favorite author of mine. I haven’t been able to read in nearly a month. I found myself just staring at an open book. Yet something about the familiarity of Koryta’s writing pulled me in.

One thing that Koryta excels at is crafting realistic characters. Lena’s love for her children, despite 10 years of separation, exuded from the pages. Her fierce determination to finally right the wrongs that stole her children from her was so powerful. That’s not something you can fake for the sake of crafting a character. That kind of character building comes from the soul.

I think what makes Koryta such a compelling writer is his storytelling. The basic journey this thriller follows wasn’t unique. What makes it stand out is the story Koryta weaves in doing so. For example, I could listen to Morgan Freeman read a cereal box to me and I would be mesmerized. The same goes for Koryta and his thriller writing. I don’t even read the book synopsis anymore; I just dive right in. I know it’s going to be amazing.

If you haven’t had the chance to sample any of Koryta’s writing, I recommend you remedy that immediately. Highly recommended.

The build on this story is similar to a tea kettle. A woman who even to her husband was a mystery. A mystery that supposedly ended on a lonely road far enough away to silence the sound of a gunshot. Leah enjoys the solitude and live in the wilderness, she is a guide of reputation and discretion. Learning to enjoy the life she has chosen away from her family to keep them safe. A single call on a line she keeps charged out of habit breaks into and apart the life she has assumed. A call that forces the demon back and the secret she knows would destroy him. It is a hard breathing,rush to the finish. Happy reading.

Never Far Away
by Michael Koryta
Little, Brown and Company
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
General Fiction (Adult)
Pub Date 09 Feb 2021 | Archive Date Not set

I became a reader of Michael Koryta because of a recommendation from a friend. I have enjoyed all of the books I have read by this author. This one is even better than the rest. Each book keeps getting better. This is an action-packed suspense book and I really enjoyed it. I will recommend it to our patrons. Thanks to Little, Brown and Company as well as NetGalley for the ARC.

Great Book!
5 star

I've been a Michael Koryta fan for a long time, since I got an ARC of So Cold the River at BEA. Every book since has been better than the previous ones and they've also gotten much more tense.

Never Far Away is no exception. I hate snow and winter and nature and this book takes place in Maine. Even so, the setting is one of the least terrifying things about this book. The Blackwell brothers pop up in the beginning and Dax is also here. AND somehow they're not the scariest things, either. See, there's this other guy who goes by Bleak. And you may think "Oh, that doesn't sound too bad!" but you would be very, very wrong.

This is such a relentless thriller and I felt so much dread the entire time. I don't know if it's possible to top this, but I'm sure he will. Highly recommended.

A couple of years ago, I read and enjoyed If She Wakes by Michael Koryta, after also enjoying his earlier books How It Happened and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Once again, I very much appreciated the chance to read his latest offering, Never Far Away (thanks to Little, Brown & Company and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review).

The latest book opens with a horrifying scene involving a woman named Nina Morgan who at first seems to clearly be a hostage on the verge of being murdered. As it turns out, Nina is a wife and mother of two young children who is working with the “hostage takers” to fake her own death. She is making a desperate attempt to keep her family safe from her employer, Carson Lowery, whose contracting company has been referred to as “Blackwater on Steroids.”

The “hostage takers” had been hired by Lowery to eliminate Nina before she can testify against him…unfortunately for Lowery, the guys he hired were annoyed with him to the extent that they were willing to flip and work for Nina to convince Lowery that they had completed their assignment. Nina disappears from Florida, knowing she will never see her husband and kids again, and disappears into the woods of Maine. Fast forward ten years, and her husband and kids have relocated to Kentucky, where the kids are raised believing their mother died when they were young, and that she had a sister, their “Aunt Leah.” Now thirteen and ten years old, the kids are sent to live with their “Aunt” after their father dies in an auto accident. Lowery, who has never given up looking for Nina/Leah, sends a new duo of killers to complete the job the first guys screwed up.

The assassins track Leah/Nina and her kids to Kentucky, then to Maine and the suspense is terrific. Mr. Koryta has written eleven (I think) suspense novels. I have enjoyed the three I have read, and will definitely grab the next one when it comes out. Reliable author, strong on both plotting and character development. Four stars.

Nina Chatfield is now known as Leah Trenton. She worked as a pilot for a wealthy but very ruthless boss, J. Corson Lowery, and when she agreed to testify against a couple of his hired guns, it became necessary for her to disappear. Moving from Florida to Maine leaving her children behind was the only way to keep them safe and her alive. When Nina’s husband is killed in an automobile accident, her children follow instructions to contact Aunt Leah. At the same time, the hired guns are “escaped” from prison and are on the hunt to find and kill the person who put them there. And then there is Dax Blackwell, yet another guy with his own reasons in search of Leah/Nina,. A taut, fast-paced book set in the forests, lakes and rivers of Maine (a state of apparent endless beauty), with plenty of twists and even more tension, it will keep you reading long after it was time to put the book down. I have only read one other book by Koryta, and that was several years ago. I rated that book 5 stars as well and have a couple of others in my library that will move up the “to read” list. My thanks to Little, Brown and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the ARC of this novel.

Bestselling author Michael Koryta never fails to deliver a thrilling and suspenseful edge-of-your--seat read when he writes a new novel, and the recently released Never Far Away, (Little, Brown, $28.00, 384 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-53593-9) is no exception.
It begins with a woman named Nina Morgan faking her own death somewhere down in Florida in order to keep her husband and two small children safe from the man she’s been working for. His name is Carson Lowery. He’s the man who started and runs a private contracting company that one U.S. Senator refers to as “Blackwater on steroids” . . . and he’s the one who hired the two hit men who helped Nina Morgan fake her death. They decided not to take her life because of other grievances they have with Lowery and his firm.
Ten peaceful years later, Nina’s husband Doug Chatfield goes out to buy donuts and is killed in a tragic, and ordinary traffic accident . . . which causes daughter Hailey, now thirteen years old to call a pager number and alert her aunt, Leah Trenton. Unbeknownst to the teenager and her eleven year-old brother Nick, Leah is the assumed name of their mother Nina, who they think died when they were still babies.
The death of Doug Chatfield and the arrival of a nonexistent ‘Aunt’ soon reaches the notice of Colson Lowery, who realizes he’s been duped, and sends another pair of amoral, utterly ruthless and merciless killers to track mother and kids down so that he can kill them. The chase goes from Kentucky to the wilderness of northern Maine, while the suspense ratchets up toward the moon in this exquisitely well-crafted thriller from the mind of a master wordsmith who just gets better and better with each new book!
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