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The Bodies Left Behind  By  cover art

The Bodies Left Behind

By: Jeffery Deaver
Narrated by: Holter Graham
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Publisher's summary

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

The Bodies Left Behind is an epic cat-and-mouse chase, told nearly in real-time, and is filled with Deaver's patented twists and turns, where nothing is what it seems, and death lingers just around the next curve on a deserted path deep in the midnight forest.

©2008 Jeffery Deaver (P)2008 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

  • Winner, 2009 Thriller Award, Best Thriller of the Year

What listeners say about The Bodies Left Behind

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

very disapointing

If you're expecting typical Jeffery Deaver.don't. No Lymcon Ryhme. No Amelia Sax. No walking the grid. This book is really nothing than a run of the mill chase story. I kept waiting for some interesting back story or anything interesting except the characters being chased through the woods. I never got it. I was bored. I wish I could have read a review before I wasted the download. I hope you do.

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Horrible writing and narration!

This was unbearable. The only audible purchase I never finished. The narration was horrific....Holter Graham made every female character sound like a weak caricature. The chase through the state park was drawn out, way over blown, and the trickery was beyond ridiculous. Save your money!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Kept me guessing until the end

Deaver does it again and kept me intrigued all the way! I thought I had it figured out about half-way through. Then things changed and I thought I had it figured out about 3/4 of the way through and then close to the end I thought I had it figured out. But things kept changing and didn't get wrapped up neat and tidy until the end of the book. This one was definitely a good thriller, with lots of twists and turns as has been noted by other reviewers. In the first half nothing much seems to happen but then again nothing much that happens in the first half is as it seems to be so when you look back on the first half things were definitely not as straightforward as they seemed. All in all, this was an enjoyable listen and one of my favorites in the thrillers category.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

A real stinker.

This book is a never ending series of mishaps and implausible vignettes. None are entertaining. The book is at least three times longer that the story justifies. I did not bother to finish it.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

WONDERFUL!!

Jeffery Deaver has written a novel that is so full of suspence that it keeps you on edge until the very end. This is a masterpiece, one of his best books ever. Of course, no book is complete without the voice that brings each and every page to life and make no exception Holter Graham is wonderful too. This is a must and should get an award of some type. Most assured this is worth every penny. A must for all audible who love suspence. Deaver's work is suspence at its finest!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Too many twists

I almost gave this 4 stars, because I did enjoy the story and the characters were, for the most part, well-developed. I did feel that Deaver wasn't happy with simply writing a tense thriller about women fleeing from remorseless killers. Instead, he had to add one twist and then another, until I was sure the heroine would turn out to be a man!
Additionally, a disappointing aspect of this audio book for me was the nasal quality of the narrator's voice. I found it really distracting, particularly when he switched from a male to a female character. It made me feel I would have enjoyed reading this book more than listening to it.
With those caveats, a good page-turner. I certainly won't open a door to a stranger if I'm in an isolated cabin in the woods!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

get it

So you are looking for another book to listen to and are hoping you dont choose a dud again. Well, youre in luck! I stumbled upon this book and can say I was very pleasantly surprised with a pretty good listen. I would buy this title again. Get it, I dont see how you could be disappointed.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Unmercifully Padded

For each word of actual story there are twenty words of aimless description, useless background lecture, and pointless dreary dialog, and all to follow the adventures of two of the most moronic ninnies since Beavis and Butthead. And you can't even use it to address that short leg on the table! Life is too short to waste it listening to this offering.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good read, but a bit drawn out

I read this during the drive to and from NC from DC. It helped pass the time, but there were several times I felt the plot could have come to a logical conclusion without more twists and turns.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Ed
  • 05-08-09

I agree - too many twists

Linda, who reviewed this book right before me, was right on with her comment about this story having too many twists. I don't think Deaver did a good job of setting up sequences of events that allowed the twists to make perfect sense when they were revealed. He developed some complex characters and dispensed balancing qualities that allowed you to alternately feel good about the bad guys and bad about the good guys. Others may think that some of the loose ends left at the book's conclusion let the reader surmise why things happened like they did. Not me. I like more closure. I liked Deaver's earlier Lincoln Rhyme novels but I'm afraid his more recent efforts haven't passed muster. Even with all that said, this book was a pleasant listen.

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4 people found this helpful