Never Far Away

At the start of this stellar thriller from bestseller Koryta (If She Wakes), Nina Morgan fakes her own death in a remote area of Florida with the assistance of the two hit men who have orders to kill her—but decide not to because they’re unhappy with the man who hired them, among other reasons—in order to protect her husband, Doug Chatfield, and their two small children, Hailey and Nick. Ten years later, Doug dies in a car accident, a tragedy that triggers a contingency plan. Hailey, now 13, calls Nina’s pager, believing it’s the way to contact her aunt Leah Trenton. Nina, posing as Leah, takes custody of Hailey and Nick, now 11, and they start a new life in Maine. Despite Nina’s elaborate precautions, word of Doug’s death reaches Corson Lowery, the founder of what one U.S. senator calls “Blackwater on steroids.” Lowery, Nina’s former employer, was the person who ordered her killed a decade earlier. When he learns that the children have been picked up by a nonexistent aunt, Lowery puts two other hit men on her trail. Well-developed characters enhance the high-octane plot. Fans of nail-biting suspense will be in heaven. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Feb.)