(www.news.com.au, Dec. 19, Paul Syvret)

Jeffery Deaver is one of the most prolific and accomplished thriller writers in America today.

He is best known for his Lincoln Rhyme books – a series about a brilliant (and quadriplegic) forensic criminalist who battles the most formidable of villains from his wheelchair.

Refreshingly with The Bodies Left Behind, Deaver takes us out of Rhyme’s apartment and the streets of New York, and into the backwoods of rural Wisconsin.

A phone call to 911 is cut short, and an off-duty deputy working for a small-town sheriff’s office is diverted from the family dinner to investigate.

Arriving at an isolated holiday cabin, she discovers two dead bodies, and very quickly it becomes clear she could join them unless she takes flight.

The deputy, Brynn McKenzie, is joined by the only other survivor of the murder – a petulant, spoilt little city girl.

As the women flee deeper into the woods – pursued relentlessly by two very determined killers – it becomes apparent they may have no other choice than to fight back.

What starts off as a fairly formulaic – although well-written and fast-paced – backwoods chase novel becomes more complicated as we get deeper into the book and the Wisconsin woods.

Deaver, the master of the ingeniously sinister plot twist, doesn’t disappoint with The Bodies Left Behind.

Just as you think you know where the narrative is headed, our characters’ world is fractured in devilish fashion.

Deaver is never going to win the Nobel Prize for literature, but he is guaranteed to keep millions of bedside lamps burning into the wee small hours.

See all Jeffery Deaver titles at www.vjbooks.com!