Read: "Afraid" by Jack Kilborn

Read: Afraid by Jack Kilborn (Joe Konrath), 2009, 9780446535939.

This took a while to get interested in this but the story picked up steam about 1/4 of the way through.

Helicopter crashes in the Wisconsin forest outside the remote and isolated town of Safe Haven. Bad dudes in black uniforms and fancy body armor start to terrorize the populace looking for a guy named Warren. The Sheriff, a firefighter, a waitress, and the waitress's son become the focus of the story.

Nobody in town knows who Warren is because everyone calls him Wiley and he has been a recluse for thirty years. The bad guys are part of a "Red Ops" unit of surgically enhanced government assassins and terrorists that are supposed to be used behind enemy lines. Bad guys cut, burn, chew, pinch, and torture their way through the populace to find Warren. People die, dogs are threatened, young children are threatened, bodies are stacked, guns are fired, selfish women are murdered, houses burn, people are skinned alive, close calls occur, boats run out of gasoline. No sex.

Thoughts:
1. Once Konrath gave more info on the bad guys I liked the book better because he gave me a reason to believe in the story.
2. I'm still listening to Dispatches by Herr and some references to Vietnam in Afraid got me comparing the fictional story in Afraid to the real stories by Herr.
3. Konrath has a fair amount of gun stuff in here. References to different makes and models, shooting styles, low light shooting methods, calibers, etc. All of that was accurately done until Konrath referenced the Glock 17 as a .45. Yes, this a gun nerd gripe. No, I am not going to send him a nit-picky email about it. Yes, I would like to send a nit-picky email about it.
4. Let's not get into the reasoning why the rich, recluse Warren would even own a Hi-Point.
5. I just remembered there may have been a continuity error with one of the characters. Maybe I could send two nit-picky emails.