by Anne Hatcher

Created on: December 06, 2008

For readers of mysteries and thrillers, it's a familiar formula: take a likeable character (tough, but vulnerable, of course), put him (or her) in a seemingly inescapable situation, throw bad guys at her (or him), and see what happens. Every now and then, a clever writer comes along and reinvents the formula. And occasionally, one of those writers does something even better: he reminds us why it became a formula in the first place.

Jeffery Deaver's superb thriller "The Bodies Left Behind" earns all the praise that will inevitably be thrown its way in press releases and back cover blurbs. It pulls off the kind of grimace-inducing suspense that will have you rearranging your morning schedule to allow for a few more reading minutes at night: "If I skip breakfast tomorrow, I can sleep an extra 20 minutes, which means I can read another chapter..."

It really is that good.

Off-duty deputy Brynn McKenzie is ready to tuck in for some hard-earned family time with her husband and adolescent son. When her boss asks her to check out a 911 call from a remote lakeside vacation home, she grudgingly complies. The routine call turns into a grueling crucible when McKenzie stumbles upon a brutal double murder. She soon finds herself stranded in the woods, unarmed and injured, with no way to call for help. It isn't just herself that she must keep alive: Michelle, a young urbanite who survived the attack that killed her friends, becomes her unlikely partner.

Told in something very close to real time, the book moves along at breakneck speed. Deaver deftly juggles several converging storylines: McKenzie's ordeal in the woods, her family's attempts to find her, her fellow deputies' eventual realization that something has gone very wrong and the villains' chillingly methodical hunt for the women. The characters are smart and sympathetic, and the attention paid to even the smallest details gives the book a remarkable sense of urgency and honesty.

Don't wait for the paperback. If you'd rather not spring for the hardcover, put "The Bodies Left Behind" on your Christmas list, and be very, very good until Santa comes.

You should read it if you like: If you're a fan of James Patterson or Patricia Cornwell, you'll get fresh fixes on Nov. 17 and Dec. 2, respectively. Until then, "The Bodies Left Behind" should sate your appetite for thrills.

If you like it you should read: Try Jonathan Nasaw's "The Girls He Adored," or Val McDermid's "The Torment of Others."

Learn more about this author, Anne Hatcher.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.