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Book Summary and Reviews of The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver

The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver

The Bodies Left Behind

A Novel

by Jeffery Deaver

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Nov 2008, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

When a night-time call to 911 from a secluded Wisconsin vacation house is cut short, offduty 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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A few twists will catch some readers by surprise, but the pacing and characterizations aren't up to Deaver's best. " - Publishers Weekly.

"[A] tour de force in which the suspense never flags for the first 250 pages....[but] the best suspense novels depend on making you forget that you're reading a book, not rubbing your nose in the author's cleverness. More proof that your first Deaver, before you've learned the formula, is likely to be your favorite." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about The Bodies Left Behind was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cloggie Downunder

classic Deaver twists and turns
The Bodies Left Behind is Jeffrey Deaver’s 11th stand-alone novel. The scene is lakeside Wisconsin, where Brynn MacKenzie, a sheriff’s deputy, responding to an aborted 911 call, stumbles into the aftermath of a double murder. Managing to escape from the murderers, she finds herself in the Wisconsin woods in the dark, in the company of Michelle, a would-be actress and pampered city girl, on the run from two felons who are determined to eliminate them. The heroine shows herself to be gutsy, clever and resourceful very early on, but she’s up against some tough opponents. Hart, seemingly her intellectual equal, seems especially cold-blooded and unemotional. Filled with plot twists and red herrings, this is a gripping tale, a page turner that will have the reader on the edge of the seat. Deaver does it again!

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Author Information

Jeffery Deaver Author Biography

Jerry Bauer

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world, including Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers and the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was the recipient of three lifetime achievement awards. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the ...

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