A crime scene, a holidaying couple in a distant lake house are killed. Brynn McKenzie, a woman police officer, deprived of her weapon, car and contact by the killers is out in the dense forest, trying to reach for help. Keeping her company is a woman, who had managed to escape the crime scene. Brynn and Michelle are being pursued by three men. One of them, Hart is the brain behind, who anticipates and reacts to every smart move of the policewoman.
Jeffery Deaver artfully builds up suspense in yet another thriller The Bodies Left Behind. The pursuit is narrated literally foot by foot. Brynn shares some similarities with Deaver’s series cop Kathryn Dance. Both are women police officers, both supported emotionally by their mothers, Dance a widow, Brynn remarried.
Brynn and Michelle run into a man whom they hope is the saviour. But he turns out to be an illegal drug maker. Another round of escaping, this time from two sets of men. There is a girl child rescued from the drug gang. There are the emotive moments when the girl loses her doll and is desperate to retrieve it.
As in Deaver’s other thrillers, the culprit is the person the reader least suspects. Brynn nearly loses her life. A 24-hour suspense plot that would be a good travel read.
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