The Bodies Left Behind

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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 into 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.

©2008 Jeffery Deaver (P)2008 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

• Winner, 2009 Thriller Award, Best Thriller of the Year

Not One of My Favorites

I usually really enjoy Deaver's books, but this one just seemed too long and predictable. I saw the twist coming from fairly early in the book and was disappointed when it was finally revealed.

Never a dull moment

If you could sum up The Bodies Left Behind in three words, what would they be?

Intent on listening

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. Everytime I thought I had the plot figured out it took a different path that surprised me.

Which character – as performed by Holter Graham – was your favorite?

Brimm

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Don't know what "tag line" means

Twisty turns suspense thriller

This story has many suspects, bad guys who are really good guys, good guys who cheat on their wives - something for everyone. There is great character development and the pace is steadily applying pressure to your whodunit bone. A must read.

Good story

Liked the resourcefulness of the main character and the detailed descriptions of all the characters.

The Bodies Left Behind

I would have given higher scores if not for the political one sidedness. This was totally unnecessary to the quality of the story. Indeed I found it detracted. Degrading one political path of our society does no one well.
It took awhile for the book to reach a coalescence of story lines, once they did it was a throughly intriguing, and engrossing read.

Best Jeffery Deaver book ever!

The main character in this book has a really bad day. Jeffery Deaver is known, I think, for the unexpected twists in his stories and this one is loaded with them. I just listened to it for the fourth time in probably ten years, so I knew what twists were coming, yet it was still hard to pause the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrill ride.

ZigZag

Would you consider the audio edition of The Bodies Left Behind to be better than the print version?

Great audio. Characterizations vivid

Have you listened to any of Holter Graham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. Liked him

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

On a cliff and the edge of your seat at the same time

LOTS OF ACTION

Full of action & suspense; a real “page turner”. Hard to put down. I highly recommend this book.

Twisty

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested with all of its twists and turns. Holster Graham gives an excellent read, as usual.

underwhelming

JD's trademark pacing and twists are missing here. It's not terrible. Just mediocre at best.