THE BODIES LEFT BEHIND
Jeffery Deaver
Simon & Schuster
Thriller
ISBN: 9781416595618
The arrival of a Jeffery Deaver novel normally means that one sets aside a (long) night or two and becomes immersed in a storyline consisting wholly of the unexpected. His latest work requires this; add the bonus of a new and intriguing character, and you have what may be his best book in years.
Fans of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance novels will note immediately that his setting for THE BODIES LEFT BEHIND is neither Rhyme’s New York nor Dance’s Northern California. Rather, the action takes place in the Wisconsin wilderness where Brynn McKenzie, a local police deputy, is brought in to investigate a 911 call that was cut short and originated from an isolated summer home on Lake Mondac. The house check is expected to be a quick one, although it is anything but, as McKenzie discovers a gruesome double murder. Upon her arrival she is almost immediately fired at; wounded, without a usable vehicle, cell phone, weapons or backup, she must fend for herself as she is pursued across a dark, isolated tableau with unknown territory ahead.
Complicating matters is the fact that McKenzie is attempting to protect a young woman who was also at the summer house and who appears ill-suited for defending herself from the dangers that emanate from the pursuers behind them and the wilderness in front of them. Totally cut off from communication, she is unaware that her department believes the emergency call to have been a mistake. Her only hope is her husband, Graham, who slowly becomes suspicious about her extended absence and bravely takes matters into his own hands, even as she attempts to reach safety, aided only by the most primitive tools and weapons. What she soon discovers, however, is that the wilderness that envelops her holds a number of unexpected dangers --- and that there are even more waiting for her should she reach civilization.
Readers attempting to figure out where the plot and characters are going are best served by avoiding assumptions and stereotypes. Even if one can guess any of its mysteries, such ability will hardly spoil Deaver’s dark guidance through the Wisconsin wilderness, where dangers of the two- and four- (and no-) legged variety abound.
McKenzie is an addicting and credible addition to Deaver’s growing cast of protagonists. While tough and capable, she is believably (without being overly) vulnerable, sustaining damage in THE BODIES LEFT BEHIND that she doesn’t easily walk away from. McKenzie also has domestic problems, some of which are related to her job and others to her past, which provide both tough and tender situations to play out even as danger manifests itself around her. Throw in enough fascinating secondary characters to support several novels, along with Deaver’s spot-on timing and pacing, and you have a book that is impossible to stop reading until you are finished and unforgettable once you have reached the end.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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