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A review by cornerofmadness
Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag
4.0
Hoag is usually good for an enjoyable, creepy suspense story and this is no different. Even though there are a lot of main players they never seem short-shrifted or cardboard. Someone is killing young women in California. The local police are a little over their heads when the women are turning up with their mouths and eyes superglued shut and their ear drums ruptured in a see/hear/speak no evil riff. It’s 1985 and both criminal profiling and DNA forensics are just getting off the ground.
Sheriff Dixon allows his detective, Mendez to ask for help from Mendez’s friend in the FBI, Vince Leone. Vince, however unknown to everyone, is recovering from a .22 bullet lodged in his brain after a mugging but he flies out to help them. The second body is uncovered by four school children, Wendy and Tommy, friends who are running from Dennis Farman and his hapless sidekick, Cody. Tommy literally trips and lands on the woman who has been buried with her head exposed. Wendy, while horrified, sees herself turning this into a mystery and a movie. Tommy withdraws into himself. Dennis wants to touch the body. Cody runs away and hides.
Anne Navarre, their teacher, gets involved mostly as an advocate for the kids and is one of the main pov characters. It starts out with both Mendez and Vince being drawn to her as they investigate. All the women seem to be from a local battered woman’s shelter that helps the women get back on their feet. The suspect pool is a little small, sucking out a bit of the suspense but not enough to be disappointing. The three main suspects are Wendy’s Dad, a lawyer for the shelter, Tommy’s Dad, a dentist who donates his time to the shelter and Dennis’s father, a wife beating straight as an arrow cop who gets off on dominating women and harassing the women at the shelter.
All in all, it’s a good mystery, creepy without being too salacious. I particularly liked Mendez, Anne and Tommy. The one truly disappointing thing was the romantic subplot. I wasn’t sure it was at all needed and for me, Anne ended up with the wrong detective. I thought maybe it was some of my RL issues that was creeping me out about her sleeping with a man 20 years her senior the day after she meets him but the person who recced this to me had the same reaction. We both thought the romance felt very forced but other than that I’d recommended this one.
Sheriff Dixon allows his detective, Mendez to ask for help from Mendez’s friend in the FBI, Vince Leone. Vince, however unknown to everyone, is recovering from a .22 bullet lodged in his brain after a mugging but he flies out to help them. The second body is uncovered by four school children, Wendy and Tommy, friends who are running from Dennis Farman and his hapless sidekick, Cody. Tommy literally trips and lands on the woman who has been buried with her head exposed. Wendy, while horrified, sees herself turning this into a mystery and a movie. Tommy withdraws into himself. Dennis wants to touch the body. Cody runs away and hides.
Anne Navarre, their teacher, gets involved mostly as an advocate for the kids and is one of the main pov characters. It starts out with both Mendez and Vince being drawn to her as they investigate. All the women seem to be from a local battered woman’s shelter that helps the women get back on their feet. The suspect pool is a little small, sucking out a bit of the suspense but not enough to be disappointing. The three main suspects are Wendy’s Dad, a lawyer for the shelter, Tommy’s Dad, a dentist who donates his time to the shelter and Dennis’s father, a wife beating straight as an arrow cop who gets off on dominating women and harassing the women at the shelter.
All in all, it’s a good mystery, creepy without being too salacious. I particularly liked Mendez, Anne and Tommy. The one truly disappointing thing was the romantic subplot. I wasn’t sure it was at all needed and for me, Anne ended up with the wrong detective. I thought maybe it was some of my RL issues that was creeping me out about her sleeping with a man 20 years her senior the day after she meets him but the person who recced this to me had the same reaction. We both thought the romance felt very forced but other than that I’d recommended this one.