If She Wakes

Two women fight for their lives against an enigmatic killer in this electrifying novel

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).

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In If She Wakes Michael Koryta gives readers not one or two but four formidable female leads...Koryta writes them with confidence, and each is someone to be reckoned with.

– Shelf Awareness

Another superb effort...a nail-biter throughout.

– Chicago Tribune

An edgy suspense story...that brilliantly plays on the primal fear of being buried alive.

– New York Times Book Review

Believable twists propel the tense “If She Wakes” as it moves to a surprising finale.

– Associated Press

‘If She Wakes’ builds a fast-paced mystery around locked-in syndrome

– Tampa Bay Times

Koryta keeps the action fast and furious, tempered with his characters’ determination to persevere against all odds.

– BookPage

Instantly gripping, with realistic action, a breath-snatching twist, and a few untied ends that hopefully signal a sequel.

– Booklist

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. Koryta has never been better than with this knuckle-biting thriller.

– Kirkus Reviews

Adept at creating Hitchcockian moments, Koryta keeps the suspense high throughout.

– Publisher's Weekly

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