The Bodies Left Behind: A Novel
by Jeffery Deaver
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeffery DeaverEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-11-11
ISBN: 1416595619
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of The Bodies Left Behind: A Novel
Book Review: "Nothing good's going to come of this."
Summary: 4 Stars
Jeffrey Deaver's "The Bodies Left Behind" takes place in Kennesha County, Wisconsin, where someone calls 911 from a cell phone. Unfortunately, the caller says only one word before the connection is broken. Using a special system, the technicians are able to pinpoint the origin of the call to Lake Mondac in the middle of Marquette State Park. The phone is owned by Steve Feldman, who works for the Milwaukee Department of Social Services. He is married to Ellen, a high-powered lawyer. The couple uses their remote vacation home in Lake Mondac as a weekend getaway.
When the police are unable to get a response from Steven and Ellen's mobile phones, Sheriff Tom Dahl asks Deputy Brynn McKenzie to check out the situation. Little does Brynn know that she is about to face one of the most harrowing and violent nights of her life. She will need all of her tactical training to outwit a pair of relentless hit-men who want no witnesses around to identify them. One of the two, a killer named Hart, develops a grudging respect for Brynn; he does not make the mistake of underestimating his cunning adversary. Brynn, accompanied by a shallow young woman named Michelle, hopes that guile and her well-honed survival skills will enable them to make their way back to civilization ahead of their pursuers. The odds are against them, but Brynn has always been a fighter and she is much tougher than she appears.
"The Bodies Left Behind" could have been just another formulaic adventure novel, but Deaver adds depth by fleshing out his characters and developing a complex and involving plot with a number of unexpected twists and turns. Brynn is far from the standard spunky heroine. Her first marriage to a fellow cop was a disaster and she is far too easy on her twelve-year-old son, Joey, who is fast becoming a little hoodlum. Her second husband is a landscaper named Graham Boyd, who would like his wife to be firmer with Joey. Unfortunately, Brynn constantly undermines her husband's authority and lets the boy off too easily. Another reason that Graham is annoyed with Brynn is that she always seems to place her job ahead of her family.
Deaver keeps the suspense at a high level as the narrative unfolds. We wonder whether Brynn and Michelle will be able to elude their well-armed attackers as they make their way through dangerous terrain. Even if she does survive the inevitable confrontation, will Brynn be able to salvage her faltering marriage and straighten out her wayward son? Besides creating intriguing characters and a fast-paced, multilayered plot, the author makes good use of his setting, depicting the forest in such detail that we can almost see the dense foliage and the plentiful wildlife that roam there. Although no one would call "The Bodies Left Behind" realistic, it is an entertaining yarn. Most Deaver fans will willingly suspend their disbelief to go along for the thrill ride.
Summary of The Bodies Left Behind: A Novel
The New York Times bestselling master of suspense is back!
When a night-time call to 911 from a secluded Wisconsin vacation house is cut short, off-duty deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves her husband and son at the dinner table and drives up to Lake Mondac to investigate. Was it a misdial or an aborted crime report?
Brynn stumbles onto a scene of true horror and narrowly escapes from two professional criminals. She and a terrified visitor to the weekend house, Michelle, flee into the woods in a race for their lives. As different as night and day, and stripped of modern-day resources, Brynn, a tough deputy with a difficult past, and Michelle, a pampered city girl, must overcome their natural reluctance to trust each other and learn to use their wits and courage to survive the relentless pursuit. The deputy's disappearance spurs both her troubled son and her new husband to action, while the incident sets in motion Brynn's loyal fellow deputies and elements from Milwaukee's underside. These various forces race along inexorably toward the novel's gritty and stunning conclusion.
The Bodies Left Behind is an epic cat-and-mouse chase, told nearly in real-time, and is filled with Deaver's patented twists and turns, where nothing is what it seems, and death lingers just around the next curve on a deserted path deep in the midnight forest.
Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Nothing is as it seems in The Bodies Left Behind, Jeffrey Deaver's quintessential can't-put-it-down thriller about an off-duty cop who investigates an aborted 911 call from a secluded vacation home and ends up on the run. From the opening scene (that'll keep even the bravest of you at home with the doors locked and the shades drawn), Deaver delivers a clever page-turner that reads like one of his tightly plotted and fast-paced short stories (fans should check out Twisted). Endlessly surprising (there is more than one jaw-dropping plot twist) and supremely gripping (two hours after cracking this stand-alone thriller, I came up for air and took a moment to shake the cramp out of my fingers), The Bodies Left Behind is one of the most entertaining thrillers of the year. --Daphne Durham
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