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The Bodies Left Behind
by
Jeffery Deaver (Goodreads Author)
The master of the "thrill ride between covers" ("Los Angeles Times") delivers a suspenseful cat-and-mouse tale that unfolds in real-time and gives a harrowing look at the consequences of heartless evil.
When a 911 call from a secluded Wisconsin vacation house is cut short, off-duty deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves her husband and son at the dinner table and
...morePaperback, 544 pages
Published
November 11th 2008
by Pocket Star
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I read this to familiarize myself with another popular fiction author. Not nearly as insulting as the Stuart Wood's thriller that I read, but still a pandering, quasi-intellectual thriller that annoyed me. It basically consisted of a female deputy stumbling into a crime scene, trying to escape the bad guys who figure out her tricks, who set up new ones to trap her. She figures the traps out, avoids them and sets up a new tricky escape. Wash, rinse, repeat. This happens over and over to the ...more
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Deaver è un mago, un illusionista dei migliori: ne L'uomo scomparso, thriller ambientato nel mondo dell'illusionismo, il lettore intuisce che i trucchi dei prestigiatori sono gli stessi adottati dall'autore. Una situazione di partenza, un suggerimento su ciò che stiamo vedendo, un dettaglio che svia l'attenzione, e la sorpresa finale: nulla è ciò che sembra, i buoni per un attimo diventano cattivi, per poi scoprirli ancora dalla parte del giusto.
Nonostante abbia divorato tutti i romanzi di Deave...more
Nonostante abbia divorato tutti i romanzi di Deave...more
Grabbed from my “2B read” shelf, this Jeffrey Deaver thriller became a sort of déjà vu reading. I didn’t remember the characters or many of the incidental actions. I had a vague inkling about one pivotal point in the plot. It turns out I probably read this book some years ago. Maybe someone inadvertently plunked the volume back on my slush shelf, or perhaps I’ve read too many similar novels, or quite possibly I am becoming senile.
Ostensibly, the plot involves a game of fox and ho...more
Ostensibly, the plot involves a game of fox and ho...more
A very convoluted mystery with alot of twists and surprises. The story is set in Wisconsin but having lived in WI for over 50 years, I felt the author really didn't know the state as the description was very generic. Supposedly set between Eau Claire, Green Bay and Milwaukee, the setting was a very large area of wilderness land with summer homes and a state park where there is a on foot chase sequence happening that lasts all night and takes upward of 400 pages to describe. Thrown into the mix i...more
The novel is cruel, cold blooded and harsh.
If police world, blood, murders, weapons and gangland are not your cup of tea, just put this novel aside.
The novel is twisted, you'll find it hard to anticipate who killed whom in the beginning.
But as the story unravel, you'll find it more harder to picture anger turned into rage.
I had difficulties understanding the logic of the killing, why need 3 killers for just 2 person, who were infact, a non- treathening pair.
But that...more
If police world, blood, murders, weapons and gangland are not your cup of tea, just put this novel aside.
The novel is twisted, you'll find it hard to anticipate who killed whom in the beginning.
But as the story unravel, you'll find it more harder to picture anger turned into rage.
I had difficulties understanding the logic of the killing, why need 3 killers for just 2 person, who were infact, a non- treathening pair.
But that...more
A new author for me, Deaver sets a pace that starts with a bang and never slows down. If the mood strikes for a [very] solid mystery-thriller, then this is the novel for you.
Deputy Brynn McKenzie as the protagonist is an angst-driven, hard-on-herself perfectionist that gets the job done without shirking her duty.
After a dropped 911 call, McKenzie's Sheriff directs her to ascertain a [ potential] problem at an isolated lake residence bordering a state park. It's the end of a ...more
Deputy Brynn McKenzie as the protagonist is an angst-driven, hard-on-herself perfectionist that gets the job done without shirking her duty.
After a dropped 911 call, McKenzie's Sheriff directs her to ascertain a [ potential] problem at an isolated lake residence bordering a state park. It's the end of a ...more
Not as good as anticipated. Great premise but it didn't really pay off. It took me too long to finish this book (6-7 days) and that's not a good sign, as I usually finish a book within 3-4 days. I've read one other Deaver book that I liked a lot more than this one: Praying For Sleep. It being a much older book, probably 17 years old or so, tells a lot about how Deaver's writing style has changed, and not for the better. There's just something about his prose that just doesn't excite or thrill. I...more
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This is a ‘chase’ book–and I love chase books. The premise is that a police officer stumbles upon a double murder way off in the Wisconsin woods. The killers are still around, and she takes off into the dark and treacherous forest. It’s a game of cat and mouse as the killers try to track her and another woman who was in the house through the woods.
The only character who I felt was truly fleshed out was Hart, one of the killers tracking the police officer, Brynn McKenzie, and the house ...more
The only character who I felt was truly fleshed out was Hart, one of the killers tracking the police officer, Brynn McKenzie, and the house ...more
One to be read only if (a) you've nothing much else to read and (b) someone else paid for it and left it on a train....
Amazing research work perhaps, but the story fails on so many levels as soon as you start thinking about it (I know, that's always a dangerous thing to do with authors who churn out so many books in such a short period, but I just can't help it).
Someone else here mentioned the repetitive nature of the chase through the forest - and another person commen...more
Amazing research work perhaps, but the story fails on so many levels as soon as you start thinking about it (I know, that's always a dangerous thing to do with authors who churn out so many books in such a short period, but I just can't help it).
Someone else here mentioned the repetitive nature of the chase through the forest - and another person commen...more
Jeffery Deaver- The Bodies Left Behind (Pocket Star Books 2008) 3.75 Stars
Brynn McKenzie is an off-duty deputy, who has just been sent to check out a 911 call at a vacation home by Lake Mondac. When she arrives she finds a horrifying scene. A couple has been murdered and the murderers are still there. Forced to run or die, she takes off into the woods and finds a survivor of the attack. Being hunted down she must try to keep both herself and the survivor alive.
At first I ...more
Brynn McKenzie is an off-duty deputy, who has just been sent to check out a 911 call at a vacation home by Lake Mondac. When she arrives she finds a horrifying scene. A couple has been murdered and the murderers are still there. Forced to run or die, she takes off into the woods and finds a survivor of the attack. Being hunted down she must try to keep both herself and the survivor alive.
At first I ...more
> A great story about a deputy sheriff who heads out to check out a 911 call from a lakeside cabin… The narrative has credibility, tension, character development, nice descriptive phrasing, plot twists and, gives attention to detail. What’s not to love? Well, for one thing, what appeared to be interesting and maybe even useful “bushman lore” needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I started researching compasses and discovered that compass (and map) reading is a skill that you need to learn. ...more
3.0 out of 5 stars So-so stand alone..., April 21, 2011
I have read all of Jeffery Deaver's previous books but this stand alone cat-and-mouse tale doesn't hold up to the high octane suspense thriller that I'm used to reading when I open one of his novels.
Deputy Brynn McKenzie is dispatched to Lake Mondac to investigate an aborted 911 call from a cell phone that appears to have originated from a secluded lake house there. When she arrives and enters the house, she discover...more
Deaver's The Bodies Left Behind is just as thrilling and full of plot twists as his other novels, and I loved it! I couldn't put the book down and it took me just two days to read it.
Because of how clever Deaver is with setting up his mysteries, I have gotten in the habit of taking notes along the way to figure out who the true killer is, and what the main underlying crime is. Deaver offered lots of red herrings, and without giving away any spoilers, I am pleased to say I figured mos...more
Because of how clever Deaver is with setting up his mysteries, I have gotten in the habit of taking notes along the way to figure out who the true killer is, and what the main underlying crime is. Deaver offered lots of red herrings, and without giving away any spoilers, I am pleased to say I figured mos...more
Although Deaver isn't one of my favorite authors I always enjoy his books. Funny I say he's not a fav when Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are one of my favorite couples. (It's been several days since I finished The Bodies Left Behind and with it being the holidays, there's been so much going on that I'm not sure I will be able to give much of a review.) This one, about Brynn McKenzie, seems to read as part of an ongoing series.......at least there were several references to her life that hinted ...more
I really like the Lincoln Rhyme series--which I like, but find a little bit too evil and too edgy to completely enjoy despite the fact that they are well written. And some of the same holds for this series, but the flaws in the protagonist are a little bit more like the common man (it is so hard to know how one would be as a quadriplegic, but Brynne McKenzie is a little easier to get close to psychologically. The plot is sufficiently complicated, includes a real problem for rural communities (...more
This was my mystery book club selection this month and I have to say I am very disappointed. Most of the book was spent having killers chase our protagonist through the woods and then only the last fourth of the book was really spent on solving the mystery of why the murders had happened. Deaver used a lot of tricks and really didn't play fair at all, making it impossible to figure out what really happened. I like to have some opportunity to see if I can figured out what is going on, which is wh...more
This was the first Jeffery Deaver book that I have read, and it will definitely not be the last. I found myself engrossed in this book from the beginning, and I did not want to put it down. I enjoyed the suspenseful storyline, and was surprised by a couple of unexpected plot twists. Brynn McKenzie was a great heroine, a strong, resilient sheriff's deputy whose intrepid acts in her professional environment do not carry over into her personal life. I also enjoyed the character of Brynn's husban...more
I liked this one from Deaver. I am finding that I tend to like his story that are not "Lincoln Rymes" better than not.
This story is a great survival tale about two women who are on the run in the forest from two hired killers. One, a police officer, is using her training to try to evade the men. What I am a little bit annoyed with (rolling of eyes moments) is Deavers insistence of letting his bad guys get the benefit of the guess every time. Come on! How many times is he go...more
This story is a great survival tale about two women who are on the run in the forest from two hired killers. One, a police officer, is using her training to try to evade the men. What I am a little bit annoyed with (rolling of eyes moments) is Deavers insistence of letting his bad guys get the benefit of the guess every time. Come on! How many times is he go...more
It seems that reading the modern novel is an exercise in sniffing out a plot while trying not to skip anything important. We live in an unfortunate age where large portions are seen as intrinsically good, the three hour movie and 500-1000+ page novels the entertainment industrie's response to all-you-can-eat buffets. ‘The Bodies Left Behind’, in spite of being another 500 page door stop kept me engaged enough to keep skipping to a minimum. It was a fun story, somewhat complex, with reasonably en...more
che carino non me lo aspettavo così questo libro *-*
prima di tutto dato che non avevo letto la trama non so perchè ma credevo si narrasse tipo di un serial killer o qualcosa del genere.. almeno il titolo mi dava quest'idea ma invece no... cioè ci sono dei killer su commissione però il libro è praticamente tutto un lunghissimo inseguimento, di certo non annoia *-*
e poi oltre ai colpi di scena c'è questa sorta di guerra psicologica a chi sia il più furbo.. certo per quanto riguardava brynn si trat...more
prima di tutto dato che non avevo letto la trama non so perchè ma credevo si narrasse tipo di un serial killer o qualcosa del genere.. almeno il titolo mi dava quest'idea ma invece no... cioè ci sono dei killer su commissione però il libro è praticamente tutto un lunghissimo inseguimento, di certo non annoia *-*
e poi oltre ai colpi di scena c'è questa sorta di guerra psicologica a chi sia il più furbo.. certo per quanto riguardava brynn si trat...more
The isolation in this story mkes this a good read, the simple way the protagonist, deputy Brynn McKenzie, needs to think on her feet in order to stay alive. Responding to a 911 call at a remote house near a lake, McKenzie stumbles across a murder scene and soon finds out that the killers are still there. Now, running for her life, she befriends a woman named Michelle in the hope they can help each other get out of the woods alive. This turns out to be a bad move, and soon McKenzie doesn't know w...more
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...more
The Bodies Left Behind, by Jeffrey Deaver, A. narrated by Holter Graham, produced by Simon and Schuster Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
Brynn is a deputy sheriff of a county in rural Wisconsin. She is a workaholic, tied totally to her job. She has a son whom she spoils out of guilt for spending so much time at work, and a husband who she doesn’t pay enough attention to. One day, Brynn is sent to a house where someone had tried to send a 911 call. As she pulled up to the house...more
Brynn is a deputy sheriff of a county in rural Wisconsin. She is a workaholic, tied totally to her job. She has a son whom she spoils out of guilt for spending so much time at work, and a husband who she doesn’t pay enough attention to. One day, Brynn is sent to a house where someone had tried to send a 911 call. As she pulled up to the house...more
A very solid thriller with a nicely done protagonist -- Brynn McKenzie, a deputy sheriff in Kennesahw County, Wisconsin. Most of this story involves McKenzie being hunted by a pair of gunmen in a mostly empty state park. She has one or two civilians with her and of course both of them greatly complicate her efforts to evade her pursuers.
Deaver does a very good job making the park and other nearby Wisconsin locals very concrete. Deputy McKenzie uses both standard police skills and ...more
Deaver does a very good job making the park and other nearby Wisconsin locals very concrete. Deputy McKenzie uses both standard police skills and ...more
A book that keeps you guessing step by step. Basically in two parts -- the night of a murder and the aftermath. Arriving at a deserted lake house to investigate an aborted call to police, Deputy Anna McCafferty walks into the middle of a terrible murder. Without backup and loss of car, phone and weapon she is forced to flee with a twenty-five-year-old visitor of the murdered couple into a deep park woods with the killers behind. A cat and mouse game begins as each group tries to outwit the ot...more
This is a pretty good thriller that manages to stretch out to great lengths a pretty simple story of a deputy trying to evade hired killers in a Wisconsin state park in the middle of the night off-season, while toting along a city-princess who was a witness to the killings the killers did earlier in the evening. One twist leads to another in a fairly enjoyable read, but the author's propensity to use contractions to indicate "normal, everyday speech" gets annoying really fast "Wil...more
Although I liked the book, I still prefer his Lincoln Rhymes books.
It took me a while to get into this book and almost 2/3 through to like the main character Brynn McKenzie. Brynn is a police officer sent to investigate a 911 call at a secluded vacation home, she finds the owners shot to death and then she evades the killers accompanied by Michelle the couples week-end guest. The first 2/3 of the book have Brynn and Michelle and the killers play cat and mouse through the forest. I rath...more
It took me a while to get into this book and almost 2/3 through to like the main character Brynn McKenzie. Brynn is a police officer sent to investigate a 911 call at a secluded vacation home, she finds the owners shot to death and then she evades the killers accompanied by Michelle the couples week-end guest. The first 2/3 of the book have Brynn and Michelle and the killers play cat and mouse through the forest. I rath...more
A couple is murdered in a remote lake house in Wisconsin, obviously by professionals. A female Deputy Sheriff answering an aborted 911 call comes across the crime shortly after the killings. She evades two of the culprits by going into the forest where she finds a woman that witnessed the killings. Her cat and mouse game with the villains, some Meth manufacturers, a Union Boss, the FBI and the State Police coupled with her marital confusion all make for great reading. The story is almost all...more
Ein abgebrochener Notruf führt die Polizistin Brynn McKenzie an den Lake Mondac. Dort findet sie in einem Ferienhaus zwei Leichen und seitdem ist sie selbst in Gefahr. Denn die Täter sind noch auf dem Gelände …
Überdies trifft Brynn auf dem Grundstück auf eine Augenzeugin. Gemeinsam mit ihr schlägt sie sich durch das Naturschutzgebiet des naheliegenden Parks.
Und so beginnt eine Hetzjagd, oder eine Flucht, je nachdem, aus wessen Sicht dem Leser die Ereignisse geschildert werden, durch ...more
Überdies trifft Brynn auf dem Grundstück auf eine Augenzeugin. Gemeinsam mit ihr schlägt sie sich durch das Naturschutzgebiet des naheliegenden Parks.
Und so beginnt eine Hetzjagd, oder eine Flucht, je nachdem, aus wessen Sicht dem Leser die Ereignisse geschildert werden, durch ...more
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Jeffery Deaver was born outside of Chicago in 1950. His father was an advertising copywriter and his mother was a homemaker. Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. In 1990 he started to write full time. Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards fro...more
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“She was reflecting back on a truth she had learned over the years: that people heard what they wanted to hear, saw what they wanted, believed what they wanted.”
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