Customer Reviews

Bodies Left Behind

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As an avid Jeffery Deaver fan (not just his Rhyme series), I was supremely disappointed in his latest effort. Yes, it was kind of a fast read, but there are too many "are you kidding me?" scenarios - I have to agree with Barry's review on this page. It did start out pretty well - he always has an engaging first chapter. But the majority of the story takes place in the forest of a state park and Deaver writes in the book that there are tens of thousands of acres of dense forest and yet the killers and their prey (three of whom have never even been in this particular state park) know exactly where to go and what traps to set and then one of them knows it's just a set-up (each and every time - no joke). This goes on and on and on ad nauseum. After this played out the fourth or fifth time, I was like "Come on!". Oh, and did I mention that it's the middle of the night without a full moon? Hart and Comp could tell from TWO TO THREE HUNDRED YARDS away in almost total darkness that Michelle was using a pool cue as a crutch?! Totally unbelievable! Anyone familiar with Deaver's previous books knows he has a tendency to set up a scene one way where you think you know what's happened and then a couple of pages later he neatly explains how it actually occurred. I'm okay with that, but in this particular book, it's just too over the top, too far-fetched. The dialogue is wooden and stilted and his usual keen sense of description is seriously lacking. If I didn't see Jeffery Deaver's name on the cover of this book, I don't know if I would have even believed that he wrote it because it doesn't quite sound like his "voice". Pressure from his publishing house to crank out material = subpar work? This book was not scary, suspenseful, or thrilling. Read his early novels if you're looking for that - you will not be disappointed. I've never written a review before, but I was truly excited when I heard this book was coming out and feel very unsatisfied after reading it. It's kind of like when Patricia Cornwell has veered off the Scarpetta books and into a ditch...a waste of time and money. I am a voracious reader and this is probably only the second time in my life where I have come close to not finishing a book. Read at your own risk!

What starts out as another of Jeffrey Deaver's signature murder thrillers quickly transforms into something else entirely, and unfortunately, not very successfully. It appears that Deaver was attempting to perform a riff on the 1924 Richard Connell story "The Most Dangerous Game" or Household's classic "Rogue Male". Think David Morrell's "First Blood" (later transformed into the first "Rambo" movie, Morrell credited "Rogue Male" as his inspiration): one resourceful individual being hunted in the wild by a tenacious and implacable foe.

Problems abound. First and foremost, the setup was for a terrific murder mystery/thriller, and that fell completely by the wayside, almost incidental to what turned out to be the main point of the book: the hunt in the woods.

Unfortunately, that hunt was simply incredible beyond words, to the point that it became almost cartoonish. The heroin tries to trick the villains; the villains figure out it's a trick, and counter her trick with ANOTHER trick; but she anticipates this counter-trick, and counter-counter-tricks, and...... SHEESH!

This was like a Roadrunner cartoon. All that was missing was the "meep meep!" soundtrack.

These people are all tromping around in a wilderness forest in the depths of darkness, no artificial lighting anywhere, only some moonlight; and yet they can see details such as footprints, small lost articles, and even each other at distances of two to three hundred yards... including what types of weapons they're each carrying!

Let me tell you something. When I was in the Army, I participated in night combat operations in the jungle, and you can't see diddley-squat without some kind of night-vision equipment. At best, if the moonlight's strong enough, you can make out ridgeline silhouettes against the lighter sky, but certainly no details. Definitely not with your unaided eyes at those ranges. And what about all those trees? Did they become transparent?

Anyway, when all of this is finally resolved - about ¾ of the way through the book - and we return to the original murder mystery, it is dispatched in the most perfunctory manner imaginable. It was almost an afterthought, as if Deaver was simply fulfilling an obligation to tie up the loose ends.

Too bad; not anywhere near up to his usual par.

April seventeenth is a day that will affect many lives in Kennnesha County, Wisconsin. It begins with Emma and Steven Feldman enjoying a drink in their mini-mansion vacation home on Lake Mondac. They hear noises outside followed by two gunmen barging into their home. Before they shoot Steven, he connects to the Sheriff's Office for a brief moment.

Sheriff Tom Dahl traces the 911 call and sends Deputy Brynn McKenzie to check it out. She finds the Feldman couple dead on their floor and the two killers Terry Hart and Compton Lewis eerily sitting casually nearby. She gets away running into the nearby woods where she meets Michelle, a friend of the Feldmans, who was visiting them. The two hit men chase after the women because they must have no witnesses to the murders. Brynn leads Michelle into a nearby state park while Hart and Lewis follow them. As they flee the thugs, they soon run into meth manufacturers in a place they thought they can call for help. Even if they somehow survive, Brynn's nightmare will not be over as the worst is yet to come.

This is a superb cat and mouse thriller made even more exciting once the reader concludes that Hart and McKenzie are similar personalities in spite of being on opposite sides of the law. With actions scenes that will translate easily into a movie thriller starring females who prefer to live but will do what it takes to Die Hard if at all as they refuse to break. Fans will enjoy this exciting outdoor wintry thriller with two born killers chasing two strong women.

Harriet Klausner

The Bodies Left Behind: A Novel

The Bodies Left Behind
Jeffery Deaver

Has anyone ever just handed you a book to read by an author you never heard of before? You might balk at first because you have your favorites and are true to them, but then, after looking at the title, you might say "what the hey?" and open it to begin reading.

This happened to me the other day and I am so pleased to have been introduced to author Jeffery Deaver. I must admit, however, that I was turned off by some of his sentence structures after about the first ten pages. I thought, "I can't read this stuff. It's too choppy and the grammar needs some serious editing."

I kept reading, though, and boy, am I glad I did! I soon forgot about those irritating grammar booboos and I realized that every writer has their own style. Deaver certainly has his and he knows how to keep his readers turning pages.

This fascinating "whodunit" crime mystery had me hooked before I knew what was happening. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen next, Deaver threw in another mind boggling twist in the next chapter. He was quite subtle with the introductions of these clues, too, which caught me completely off guard.

"Maybe you're looking for the wrong who." Yes, that phrase kept popping up in the story and Deaver played it to the hilt to the very end.

The extensive research he must have done regarding the landscaping alone had me feeling as if I was right there in the thick of the mountainous forest along with Deputy Brynn McKenzie and the entire cast of characters who were involved in this criminal mystery. The descriptions he provided of all the weapons used in this caper also had me feeling like a firearms expert by the time I finished.

The characters in this story were so well-developed by Deaver that I actually felt their pain (and there was a lot of it). He even made me understand the whys and wherefores behind the criminals' minds and why they did what they did. The tension kept mounting as each chapter went by and I found myself not wanting to put the book down until I reached the ending.

The ending was superb, by the way, but why Sears? (~grin~)

Excellent book. If you haven't read Deavers yet, now might be a good time to do so. In fact, I may just browse more of his books to see which one I want to read next.

Reviewed by: Joyce Marie Taylor - Author

I picked this up because it has won the 2009 Thriller Award for Best Novel. Are you kidding me? People keep using the word clever to describe the characters in this book, but I've never encountered a stupider group of good guys and bad guys. Hit woman who hires another hit man who hires ANOTHER hit man, so each can in turn kill the one they hire to cover their tracks. A deputy being persued by aforementioned hit persons, chooses to travel miles through a densely forested state park in the middle of the night to reach a ranger station that may or may not be occupied or have a phone. How about hiding behind a tree until help arrives. The hit persons who persue the deputy through the same dense forest, because she MIGHT have heard their last names. How about splitting post haste before you mess up further? And then when hit man does get away, surprise! knowing his last name is of no help apprehending him. Law enforcement officers letting witnesses and evidence leave the scene of the crime with no more than a fare-thee-well. The reader is expected to buy the incredible sequences of plot twists and coincidences hook, line and sinker. I suspect Deaver was going for a Tarantino-esque "Pulp Fiction" story, but it never rises above dime store pulp fiction.

Read this because I enjoyed a Lincoln Rhyme book. The Rhyme book wasn't that well written, but had a good story. This book was horrid. I skipped through it to get to the end and can't even tell you now what the end was. The characters were either perfect or typical; the story was drawn out and boring.

I thought that Hart was killed by Keith, Brynn's ex-husband. If you remember at the beginning, it was mentioned that the state police sometimes removed a gun from a scene to use it later. When the sheriff mentioned the link to the shooting at the Exxon, he mentioned that the state police handled the investigation and I assumed that Brynn asked her ex to handle the situation, so to speak. Just speculation.

I agree with many of the one and two starred reviews. Totally implausible, not even suspenseful. Aside from problems others have pointed out (dark moonless night in a huge state forest where everyone seems to be able to track everyone else), one of the most glaring inconsistencies is *** spoiler alert *** when Michelle, who we discover has been trying all night to let the pursuers know where she and the deputy are(setting off a car alarm, leaving cracker crumbs, etc), half strangles a 10 year old child to stop her from crying and yelling and - wait for it - giving away their position. Really - contrived from beginning to end.

I was shocked to read negative reviews on this book. But those readers are digging too deep into what is real and what is a novel. I "got it" that they shouldn't be able to see much at night and how do they find each other in the dark. But that's a novel---the author has that right to make his stories against what is real life. And that's what helps to make it exciting.
I thought this book was amazing----I lost a lot of sleep over it. I just couldn't put it down. The twists and turns were awesome----some were those I never saw coming. I doubt that anyone could have figured out the ending ahead of time.
No matter if you are smart enough to know that in real life, none of this could have happened---------if you take this book for what it is---a novel, fiction, made up by the writer-------then you'll love the action, the excitement, the cat and mouse game they play. Just sit back, have a mocha and enjoy.
I also agreed with some others that said it's one of if not THE best book they have read in a very long time.
Kudos to Deaver on this one-------that's my opinion anyway.

I have never written a review about a book, but this book was horrible. I don't want to ruin it for the few people that want to read it, but these characters have been in the woods for a few hours, but it felt like weeks to me.

Oh, and I love it when a hit man, who has no problem just blowing people away and has been hunting down a cop to kill her, finally catches her and decides to have a stupid conversation with her. Hello, you should have just killed her like everyone else.