Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll, #1)

Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll #1)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98  ·  rating details  ·  8,115 ratings  ·  840 reviews
The #1 New York Times bestselling author joins the Dutton list with the thriller her millions of fans have been awaiting for two years.

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.
California, 1985. Four children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried f...more
432 pages
Published December 29th 2009 by Orion (first published December 31st 2008)
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Community Reviews

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Once Upon
The book took off from the very beginning. Every chapter was filled with suspense and drama and honestly, I couldn't put the book down. I especially loved how Tami Hoag described the characters and their surroundings with such detail. I actually felt like I was living in Oak Knoll! The book had me guessing who the serial killer was the whole time and just when I thought it was this person, new things happen and made me change my mind completely. She really did a phenomenal job!

review link: http...more
Keri
The year was 1985. Duran, Duran was on the radio, Queen's Radio GaGa was on video and dead bodies are half buried in the park. At least that is what four 5th graders discovered as they were racing through the park. To bad young sensitive Danny is the one that fell right on top of the victim. As Anne Navarre, their teacher, tries to help her students cope with the horror that they have uncovered. Law enforcement have to cope with the fact that this is not their first victim, this is their third....more
Missy Ann
I pushed myself through the first 50 pages (I try to give every book I pick up a fair chance). I then gave it even more time and it did move ok for a bit.

But it's asking too much of me. I just can not suspend disbelief enough to finish this.

1. A gay male kindergarten teacher. What more can I say? It's about as believable as a unicorn. He lives alone with his two dogs and he's the heroine's BFF. He literally referred to himself as her "sidekick". Argh! He comes across to me as the stereotypical...more
Min
This book is set in the year 1985, and it's about four grade five children who discover a dead woman in the woods just outside of their school. It ends up being the work of a serial killer and after a few chapters of discussion, the local Oak Knoll, CA, sheriff's department calls in an FBI profiler. Of course, this being 1985, profilers were a new animal in behavioural science.

The profiler called to work this case is technically on leave, but he happens to be in the office when this case gets ca...more
Liz
It’s odd to think of a contemporarily written novel set in 1985 as historical fiction, but that’s what Tami Hoag has done with Deeper than the Dead. At the time of this review, it is 2013, making 1985 almost 3 decades ago.

A forward reminds us of how much has changed in those 3 decades. It would be another 2 years before someone was convicted of a crime based on DNA. Standard office equipment was a typewriter. Cell phones were enormous & only something the rich could afford; to give one to a...more
Jane Stewart
Absorbing mystery. Scary suspense. But unfinished ending.

Well done story telling. Good character development. I liked interactions and conversations. The last hour was edge of your seat. There is an enjoyable romance, but it’s a minor part of the story. Anne’s friend Franny was very entertaining.

CAUTION FOR SENSITIVE READERS:
Violence and torture. The serial killer glues the eyes and mouth shut, destroys the ear drums, and tortures with a knife. There was not a lot of detail, but those ideas stay...more
Laurel
This is the first Tami Hoag book I've read, on loan from a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed "Deeper than the Dead", and stayed up late to finish the last few chapters. I wished that I had the next installment in the Oak Hill trilogy "Secrets to the Grave", to begin right away. I found the female lead character, Anne Navarre, very appealing. She is a fifth grade teacher and caring for an elderly, cantankerous father. Four of her students stumble across a dead woman's corpse in woods near their school...more
Nicole
I have read most of Tami Hoag's novels and I'm not sure why I waited so long to start reading her Deeper than the Dead/Oak Knoll series. All three books are now out in paperback.

I do love a good thriller, especially with a sliver of romance. Tami Hoag, in my opinion, surpassed all her previous efforts with Deeper than the Dead. What makes DTTD so chilling and unique are the POVs from the four children who came across the dead body in the park. There are a great cast of characters, which include...more
Nicole
I feel like I used to really like Tami Hoag - it's hard to tell now though because it's been so long since she had something new come out. Regardless of whether I used to like her or not, I THINK I did so therefore I was really excited to see Deeper Than The Dead come out recently. I blindly put it on hold from the library, not even bothering to read the cover blurb, and was pleasantly surprised when it came in relatively quick. I eagerly dove in before I realized this was not the deep, cool wat...more
Heather Bokon
This was fun. Well, not fun, women are being kidnapped and tortured, but it was fun for me to read about the police force in a small town in the mid 80s. Recently enough that I remember the time well, but far enough back in time that a lot of what they had to do seems positively archaic.

Oak Knoll is a small California town. (I constantly had it in my head that it was in Illinois, I have no idea why, but it's in CA). It appears to be a typical small town until the body of a woman is discovered in...more
L. Chambers-Wright
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
June Ahern
I really must stop with these gruesome books with too vivid descriptions of how the victims die. Remember in the older mysteries, we just knew that a knife wound brought blood, not shredded the heart, opened the valves, with gallons of blood soaking - etc etc - but, I did read Ms. Tami Hoag's mystery thriller - no, not read, listened to the CDs and found the plot good, the characters believable and interesting and the dialogue real. The gory, ugh. Women (always the chicks) going a missing and th...more
Auriette
I don’t read many mysteries, and I’d never read anything by Tami Hoag until I picked up “Deeper Than the Dead” a couple of weeks ago. I should explain that more clearly. A few months ago, I won copies of two books by Ms. Hoag, and I gave them to my mom, and she read them and gave them back, and then I started reading the paperback a couple of weeks ago.

“Deeper Than the Dead” is set in the dark ages of 1985, when I was in college. The author explains in her forward that this is before the interne...more
Shazza Maddog
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Kelly
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jessica Schira
If you are looking for a romance novel with hot guys Deeper Than the Dead is not the book for you. However, if you want a novel that is going to keep you up late and worry about what your neighbors are up to, you are going to love this novel. Deeper Than the Dead has all the ingredients a good thriller needs including crooked cops, creepy kids, grisly murders, and bizarre burials.

One of Hoag’s trademarks is her writing voice; it is consistent and smooth. That alone would be enough to have her st...more
Jaime
Tami Hoag and I go way back. In the early/mid-90s, she was one of the first authors I poached from my parents’ bookshelf. She introduced me to romantic suspense long before I even knew what romantic suspense was. And then I read Kill the Messenger, which didn’t connect with me at all, and she fell further down my list of go-to authors. Thankfully, with Deeper Than The Dead, she is back.

First of all, I think the title and the meaning behind it is genius. It refers to the location of the FBI’s Beh...more
Kathy
Tami Hoag has written a real pager turner here (no spoilers). Some of her recent efforts (The Alibi Man Prior Bad Acts), in my opinion were not up to her earlier work but Deeper Than The Dead is good. The story is set in suburban California in 1985. Four elementary school children find a body on their way home from school. Their teacher, Ann Navarone, arrives on the scene to help the children with this horrific event. The murder is soon seen as the work of a serial killer. FBI profiler Vince Leo...more
Denise
3.5 stars for this uneven thriller..., June 21, 2010
By Denise "DC"

This review is from: Deeper Than the Dead (Hardcover)
I don't expect to read about 1980s police procedures when buying a new book so the fact that Deeper Than the Dead was set in this time frame was a bit disconcerting. In the end, however, the time setting didn't make that much difference in my overall impression of the book.

The story moves at a fairly fast pace and the red herrings thrown out to make the reader think that first...more
Kesha
I preface this review by saying that I have read another Tami Hoag book and liked it, so this is not a general reflection on the author, if you like her style of writing. That said, I found this book laughably bad. I have given it 2 stars because I reserve 1 star ratings for books I can't finish after a year or more. I managed to finish this one, but was sorry I did.

The author challenged herself by setting the story in the 80s, before most of the forensic devices used in most modern mysteries we...more
Lisa Harwell
This was my third audiobook choice selection and I couldn't have been more pleased.

As a new voiceover artist, part of my research is to review other works and gain insight into how the artist portrays the work written by the writer and what the writer is looking for in that voiceover artist. It's that connection in being able to draw the reader into the story, to make the experience initimate, first hand.

I've read many Tami Hoag novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Each chapter continued t...more
Nancy
Feb 23, 2010 Nancy marked it as to-read
Shelves: crime-drama
California, 1984. Four 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 es...more
Suspense Magazine
In a stunning return to writing, Tami Hoag changes the game by returning her readers to forensics of the past in “Deeper than the Dead”. As fans, we find books cluttering the store shelves where protagonists need only turn on their blackberry to solve the most heinous crimes. It often seems to be a competition—similar to that of our favorite television shows—to offer us storylines that are more and more implausible yet easily solved using state-of-the-art technology.

“Deeper than the Dead” retur...more
Mary
One a day in 1985 in Oak Knoll, Calif., 10 yr old Tommy Crane and his friend, 10 yr old Wendy Morgan, are running from the class bully, 11 yr old Dennis Farman, through a local park when Tommy falls near the head of a dead woman buried up to her neck. Oak Knoll is a quiet community where crime is not a problem, but a serial killer is on the loose who's already murdered and tortured several women. Fifth-grade teacher Anne Navarre, who tries to comfort Tommy and Wendy, is soon at the center of the...more
Robyn
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Amy
In Deeper Than Dead, a serial killer is at work in a small town in the 1980s. Teacher Anne Navarre and FBI profiler Vince Leone must work together to find the killer. The 1980s setting makes the chase extra-interesting since forensic science and profiling were in their infancy at the time. In today's society, we are all accustomed to "the CSI effect", and it's easy to take such scientific advances for granted. Hoag does an excellent job with red herrings when it comes to the identity of the kill...more
Alisha
When it comes to mysteries, I like the ones I read to fall heavily on the psychologically disturbing spectrum. Unless, of course, they're cozy mysteries because those are supposed to be light and airy. Deeper Than Dead wasn't a cozy mystery and it wasn't all light and airy. However, it wasn't as dark as I usually like my mysteries and it wasn't much when it came to probing the mind of the cruel serial killer. This was surprising considering that Hoag makes this huge deal about Vince, this awesom...more
Elizabeth
Let me start this review by saying that I have been on an 80's kick for the last month or so, and that may have influenced my decision to read Deeper Than the Dead right now. I also want to say that in 1985, my parents had only been married for two years and that I wasn't even born yet (1986, baby!).

Deeper Than the Dead is very different from most books that I read in that it takes place in a time that isn't "historical" (i.e. before the invention of most modern conveniences) it also isn't conte...more
Cheryle
Nice twisted little story, but a little extreme for me. It went from being a sleepy town to a town with a multitude of murders some by different killers. I understand that changes in a persons life can cause things to happen that will push them over the edge, but to have so many in one little area seemed to be pushing the limits a bit.

I did enjoy the fact that the story was in the past just as profiling was coming into its infancy. Also loved the fact that we were still in the infancy of the ele...more
Book Him Danno
Wow that was a suspense filled book that kept me on the edge of my seat...who is the killer and will he or she kill again? Wow that was a good book I really need to give it 4 1/2 stars. If you enjoy murder mysteries with a bit of romance you would enjoy this book. Wow it was scary I was shaking at the end with wonder if the murder would be caught. Read this book. Wow


A murder mystery that I didn’t want to put down. Tami wove a story that kept you turning the page wanting answers to the questions...more
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Tami Hoag 8 80 Feb 16, 2013 05:59pm  
Deeper than the Dead (Paperback)
Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll #1)
Deeper than the Dead (ebook)
Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll, #1)
Deeper Than the Dead (Audio CD)

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Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of thirty books. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times bestseller list with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. She lives in Southern California and Florida.
More about Tami Hoag...
Ashes to Ashes (Kovac/Liska, #1) Secrets to the Grave (Oak Knoll, #2) Guilty as Sin  (Deer Lake #2) Prior Bad Acts (Kovac/Liska, #3) Dust to Dust (Kovac/Liska, #2)

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