Synopsis
#1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag returns with a chillingly realistic new thriller about the hunt for the most frightening kind of serial killer: the one who lives among us, the family man next door. As a ruthlessly driven FBI agent seeks answers, he’ll put the lives of three young children and their schoolteacher at risk to unmask a vicious murderer whose evil knows no bounds, whose secrets lie buried.…
DEEPER THAN THE DEAD
When three children stumble on a shallow grave in 1984, an idyllic California community is rocked to its core. The victim is a young woman, her eyes and lips sealed closed, a blind and silent witness to an unspeakable crime. The third victim in two years’ time, it’s clear that a serial killer has come calling.
As a member of the FBI’s fledgling criminal profiling unit, Special Agent Tony Mendez knows serial killers. He has every intention of adding another closed case to his...
Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Hoag (Kill the Messenger) ventures into serial killer territory with results sure to please her many fans, though unresolved plot threads, both intentional and inadvertent, may put off veteran readers of the genre. One fall day in 1985 in Oak Knoll, Calif., fifth-grader Tommy Crane and his sidekick, Wendy Morgan, are fleeing the class bully, Dennis Farman, through a local park when Tommy stumbles over the head of a dead woman buried up to her neck. Two hours from Los Angeles, Oak Knoll is not the sort of town where major crime is a problem, but a serial killer is on the loose who's already murdered and tortured several women and has another on deck in his secret lair. Fifth-grade teacher Anne Navarre, who counsels Tommy and Wendy, is soon at the center of the investigation being led by a hunky FBI agent, Vince Leone. This is serial killer lite with Hoag's romance roots dictating both the prose style and the unveiling of the killer. 8-city author tour. (Dec.)