The Bodies Left Behind

September 15, 2008
Usually a strong plotter, bestseller Deaver (The Bone Collector
) fails to deliver on the promise of this stand-alone thriller’s nicely creepy opening. When two masked men break into the isolated lakeside weekend house of Steven Feldman, who works for the Milwaukee Department of Social Services, and his wife, Emma, an attorney who may have stumbled on union corruption in the course of some corporate research, Steven has just enough time to phone 911 before the intruders shoot him and Emma dead. That interrupted plea for help brings Deputy Brynn McKenzie, who possesses a set of predictable emotional baggage (an abusive ex-wife, a troubled teenage son), to the scene. A protracted and less than suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse between McKenzie and the hired guns responsible for the murders ensues. A few twists will catch some readers by surprise, but the pacing and characterizations aren’t up to Deaver’s best.

Deaver's cat-and-mouse thriller plunges Wisconsin Deputy Brynn McKenzie into a case involving the murder of a husband and wife at their remote vacation home. When she investigates the scene of the crime, what she discovers sends her fleeing from the house with a guest who also escaped the killers. Together they make a terrifying journey through the woods--with the killers on their trail. Narrator Holter Graham superbly handles each member of the cast, giving every one a distinctive voice and persona. Most impressive of all is Graham's ability to keep up with the breathless pace as the story rushes toward its end--and a big surprise. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine