Deeper Than the Dead, by Tami Hoag

Review by Brenda Seward, Simple Pleasures

In Deeper Than the Dead, Tami Hoag takes us to the quiet, picture perfect town of Oak Knoll, California. A short drive from the bustle and crime of Los Angeles, Oak Knoll is a veritable haven of normalcy, the perfect place to raise a family. Of course, all of that changes when a group of schoolchildren runs into woods beside the town park, and quite literally stumbles over the half-buried body of a murdered young woman. That grisly discovery is the first crack in the veneer of perfection that covers this small and seemingly idyllic community.

Hoag grabs your attention from the very first page when she uses the artful juxtaposition of the killer’s thoughts as he taunts his victim with the innocent musings of a child’s essay on his hero: his father.

Of all the characters involved in this story, the three central characters: the local lead investigator,  Tony Mendez, the teacher of the students that make the discovery- Anne Navarre and Vince Leone, the visiting FBI consultant , propel this story forward toward the thrilling conclusion.  Their interactions with the other characters in Deeper Than the Dead are the axis on which this tale of secrets, dark motivations and hidden acts spins.

By placing the story in the mid 1980’s Tami Hoag is able to use scientific terminology that was new and cutting edge in those days without having to get bogged down in the science, since most of that language has now been incorporated into our everyday vernacular. This quite effectively eliminates the need for lengthy explanations of forensic procedure that sometime cause books of this nature to fall victim to sluggish spots. Hoag also weaves a tidy and believable romance within this thrilling mystery, giving it just the right amount of attention. Enough to make it feel like more than an afterthought, but not enough to take attention away from the larger story.

Deeper Than the Dead was an immensely enjoyable book to read. A truly engrossing mystery with intriguing, multi-layered characters and a well paced storyline.  I highly recommend it.

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Review by Brenda Seward, owner

Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts

www.simplepleasuresbooksandgifts.com

Deeper Than the Dead was released in December 2009 by Dutton, a member of the Penguin Group.