Those Who Wish Me Dead
Author: Michael Koryta, Presentation By: Kala Philson
Character List:
- Jace Wilson- He is the main protagonist in the novel. After he witnesses a murder by the Blackwell Brothers, he needed to get off the grid. So his parents sent him to a non-traditional witness protection program, which was a wilderness survival program for troubled teens. There he took the name of Connor Reynolds.
- The Blackwell Brothers- There was Jack the oldest of the two, and Patrick the youngest and they were indeed brothers. They were very interesting and ruthless. Also very strategic when around their victims, and had a weird way of talking to each other.
- Ethan Serbin- He was a survivor instructor, and was the head of the wilderness survival program along side his wife. He had once been in the Air Force and was very skilled at what he did. He was the main person in charge of looking after Jace.
- Allison Serbin- She was Ethan Serbin's wife. She was a ranger's daughter, and almost won Ms. Montana. She owned a horse named Tango, who had to be put n rehab after he had been kicked. She was one of the few people to survive the Blackwell Brothers, but not without paying the price. Her mouth was badly damaged after she got beat by one of them and got some burns, and lost her beloved house which she built with Ethan.
- Jamie Bennett- She had been one of the people who Ethan had instructed. Then she had been with the U.S. Marshals and had left to do some executive protection. She was over the Jace Wilson case and chose Ethan's program to get him off the grid, after his parents didn't trust him to be in a traditional witness protection program.
- Hannah Faber- She occupied a fire lookout tower looking over the Montana Mountains. She was once apart of a Hotshot crew, that put out fires, however could not continue after a terrible fire killed a family she tried to save, her crew, and her boyfriend Nick, who was the boss of the crew.
Part One: Hidden Witness
After Jace Wilson had been practicing to jump Rooftop, which he was dared to do, in order to leave he had to swim in the water of the quarry to get his clothes. However he discovered a dead body, and in his attempt to flee he witnessed a murder, committed by the Blackwell Brothers. Then, he was sent to the wilderness survival program, recommended by Jamie Bennett. There he learned many survival skills with the help of Ethan Serbin. Meanwhile, the Blackwell Brothers were looking for him and were killing anyone who got in their way. They killed the sheriff, and started a huge fire that was spreading quickly. Then they came for Allison Serbin, and in their attempt to kill her, Allison sent a signal to Ethan that there was trouble, but paid the price by getting beat by one of the brothers. However, she managed to use her bear spray on the fire in the wood-stove, which caused the house to go up in flames. The Blackwell Brothers then retreated, but Jack had gotten burned on his side and half of his face, but that didn’t faze them because they continued their search for Jace.
Part Two: Point Last Seen
Ethan finds out, what happened to Allison, so he takes the boys back to Pilot Creek, where they would meet up with some police. However, Jace stayed back without the others knowing because he didn’t want to cause them any danger. When they arrived at their location, Ethan left to go to the hospital to see Allison, before he would go back to the mountains to find Jace. This caught the Blackwell Brothers attention, so they split up for the very first time (Jack went to the hospital and Patrick went back to the mountains to find Jace). Then Jack forced Ethan at the hospital to help them find Jace, threatening him with a hand gun. Meanwhile, Jace finds the lookout tower and Hannah Faber, and once they noticed that Patrick was looking for him with a rifle in hand, they set out towards the fire, in hope to lose him. After Allison finds out that Ethan left the hospital, Jamie Bennett came in to apologize for everything. It is then revealed to the reader that Jamie is Jace’s mother. So then Allison feels pity, so they decide to leave the hospital, to search for Jace and Ethan.
Part Three: The Dying Kind
While Ethan and Jack are walking, Ethan noticed that Jack wasn’t accustomed to the land, so he goes through ways that he can kill him. Then Patrick appears, and Ethan notices how skilled he is and thinks that all hope is lost. They then go to the lookout tower and find out that Jace isn’t there, and conclude that Hannah and Jace were on the run. So Ethan tries to send the Blackwell Brothers off course to buy time. Meanwhile, Jamie and Allison decide to ditch the SUV and take Tango because it would be easier to go through the terrain ahead on a horse. However, Allison worries because that would be the first time that Tango would have two riders let alone one on his back after all the rehab. Still Tango didn’t show a trace of pain, so they set off to continue their journey. On the top of the mountain, the Blackwell Brothers saw Jace and Hannah and were ready to kill him. Then Ethan noticed that that was the first time they stood close together, so he saw the advantage and grabbed a stone and aimed for Patrick’s skull. The first time was a failure, then he tried again and managed to knock Patrick out. It was dark and Jack was trying to shoot him without shooting his brother, so Ethan saw no other choice but to fall off the mountain, but not without taking Patrick along with him.
Part Four: Bury Them High
Jack found Patrick halfway down the mountain and in bad shape, but not dead. However, they both knew that they couldn’t get help, so Patrick asked Jack to carry on without him. So Jack got the handgun and put one bullet in his forehead and two in his heart, and set out to avenge his brother’s death by killing Jack and the main people involved. Simultaneously, Ethan was ready to die, but was interrupted by the thought of Allison, so he decided to carry on because of Allison and took the rife that Patrick had with him. Later, Allison and Jamie found Hannah and Jace. Then Allison noticed something was wrong and it is then revealed that Jamie isn’t Jake’s mother but the Blackwell Brother’s sister. So she held Jace, Hannah, and Allison hostage and waited for Jack to arrive. When he did he was prepared to kill them all, but took his time even though the fire was getting closer. So he shot Hannah in the knee and foot, and right when he was about to kill Allison he was shot (by Ethan, but the characters didn't know who until later), and then Jamie fled. The fire was near so Jace and Allison were forced by Hannah to get into the fire shelter. However, Hannah didn’t get in due to a promise she made Jace keep for her to never get in one. So Hannah died from the fire, but it was a peaceful death, and she felt Nick’s spirit with her. After all the chaos, Jace, Allison and Ethan, were working on recovering from the damage and rebuilding what was lost.