Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag: Audio-CD
While running away from the class bully and his toady, 5th graders Tommy Crane & Wendy Morgan stumble literally into a dead body, a half-buried woman, with her eyes and mouth glued shut. Their teacher, Anne Navarre, is also pulled into the series of frightening events as she tries to help her students deal with finding a body, the escalating bullying from Dennis Farman, who happens to be the son of a police officer, the possibility of a serial killer hunting young women in the small town, her relationship with her father and a new romance on the horizon. Tony Mendez, one of the local detectives, calls in FBI agent Vince Leone, a pioneer in profiling which is still a newer technique in 1985.
While running away from the class bully and his toady, 5th graders Tommy Crane & Wendy Morgan stumble literally into a dead body, a half-buried woman, with her eyes and mouth glued shut. Their teacher, Anne Navarre, is also pulled into the series of frightening events as she tries to help her students deal with finding a body, the escalating bullying from Dennis Farman, who happens to be the son of a police officer, the possibility of a serial killer hunting young women in the small town, her relationship with her father and a new romance on the horizon. Tony Mendez, one of the local detectives, calls in FBI agent Vince Leone, a pioneer in profiling which is still a newer technique in 1985.
After another woman goes missing and everyone circles around and around the small group of local suspects, mostly including the parents of the children who discovered the first body. As a thriller, this book really does pull you in. As I listened, I could not decide for sure who the killer was. Red herrings are thrown out every time you decide on a definite suspect. I was intrigued by most of the main characters, with few exceptions, even the suspects are likeable. A few of the characters feel as if they are just there to ‘be there’, but most of them are filled out enough to be believable. One of the most interesting things about this book is the point of view from the children’s eyes, the inner workings of their families from the inside, rather than the public face, the ‘perfect family’.
I often found myself sitting in my car in my driveway, listening to the last bit of chapter, only to find the next part just as exciting and then having to force myself to stop listening. This is not a read for everyone, though. There are some graphic descriptions and foul language. A few of the loose ends are not wrapped up as neatly as I would have liked, but on the plus side, there is a sequel, so perhaps they will be wrapped up there! The next book in this series is Secrets to the Grave.
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