Deeper Than the Dead

By: Tami Hoag

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Tami Hoag is in a class by herself, beloved by readers and critic s alike, with more than 22 million copies of her books in print. With Hoag's first novel for Dutton, she proves anew why the Chicago Tribune called her "one of the most intense suspense writers around."

California, 1984. Three children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence. What she doesn't yet realize is that this will mark the end of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the wake of a serial killer's escalating activity.

Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course at FBI headquarters, is charged with interpreting those now revealed secrets. He's using a new technique-profiling-to develop a theory of the case, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own.

As new victims are found and the media scrutiny of the investigation bears down on them, both Mendez and Navarre are unsure if those who suffer most are the victims themselves-or the family and friends of the killer, blissfully unaware that someone very close to them is a brutal, calculating psychopath.

©2009 Tami Hoag (P)2009 Random House

Critic Reviews

“Bestseller Hoag ( Kill the Messenger) ventures into serial killer territory with results sure to please her many fans.” ( Publishers Weekly)

A pleasant surprise

I struggled for a long time when purchasing my last book, but finally decided on this one. I am glad that I chose this book because, not only was it an intriguing mystery, but it was also a critical look into the psychology of families and the impact their actions have on children. The whole premise of the novel from the description made it seem like it had nowhere to go but into nap time, but it kept me very involved. I had to put off a few things at the end because I could not wait to see what happened in the last 5 or 6 chapters. Also, the reader was excellent. A perfect choice for this particular novel. And since you usually figure out the end of novels like this well before the end, it was refreshing to be pretty surprised at the outcome. Lots of twists and turns and surprises all along the way to keep you fully involved.

Well written, well read

This book is will have you taking the long way home to spend more time listening. It is a bit graphic in parts and may give you nightmares but the story is so well-done, the suspense is amazing. Kirsten Potter's narration is outstanding and I am going to seek out her readings. She has a great talent. She even sounds sexy as the tough guy Chicago FBI agent!

this who dunnit kept me guessing

An excellent read with a long suspect list, that kept me guessing on the bad guy's identify. It is amazing how one incident can affect so many lives, this story shows it.

I liked all the characters and loved the different written and verbal voices - credit goes to excellent narration by Kirsten Potter. Her rendition of Frannie was excellent and funny and she is just fabulous!!!! thanks Tami Hoag for a great read.

author has psychological insight

Very few authors understand the borderline/abusive wife/mother as well as the dynamics between an abusive husband and his wife. Tami Hoag presents both of these situations throughout this book and is right on. As a psychologist I commend this author for understanding and presenting these characters for the readers to understand.

I loved this book! Couldn't stop listening.

This is a great book. A real "page turner". It kept me listening into the wee hours of the morning and even made my housework enjoyable!
A superb narration from Kirsten Potter. Can't wait for the next book.

Really got sucked in!

Had a hard time stopping my listen to work, go to bed, etc. Really enjoyed it.

Great book!

I really did enjoy this book. Couldn't wait to keep listening. I do think the character Anne N. was a little stiff and a little too perfect. But, ignoring that, I did enjoy the story.

Excellent Read

Excellent read! If you liked Night Sins and Guilty as Sin this is a book for you to read. There really needs to be a sequel and I can't wait for it to come out

great characters

She does a great job of making you care about the people in the book: a nice variety of characters

Good narrative but lacked surprise.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I've been fascinated by psychological profiling since I was a teenager and John Douglas published his book Mind Hunter. From that angle it was an interesting story about the beginnings of a serial killer and the way that profiling can help see past the facade of a person or situation. Admittedly, profiling takes a back seat to the character-driven plot in this story. It's an interesting retrospective on the difficulty of solving violent crimes without key technology like DNA analysis since it takes place in the '80s. At first the main characters of the story left me wondering what they really had to do with anything. Hoag does tie everything in nicely at the end concerning the seemingly disparate characters, but I found myself disappointed in the ending. I was hoping that there would be a plot twist at some point that would throw me off guard somehow; that profiling would lead to a person I wouldn't have suspected. I was wrong. An attempt at a twist was present, but it was not convincing enough to throw me. I'm sure everyone won't feel this way. I've read and seen a lot of stories about crime, murder mysteries and serial killers so you'd really have to pull out all the stops to surprise me. Overall, it was a good story, I was just hoping for something unexpected.

What about Kirsten Potter’s performance did you like?

I thought Kirsten Potter did a very good job of narrating. Her voice is pleasant and she has a smooth delivery. I would listen to other books by her which is a very positive endorsement. There are some books I won't listen to because of the reader; she is definitely not one of them!