Where the Bodies Are

The mystery begins with a body in the trash. But more bodies will soon appear, while cops search for the murderer and wait for their only witness to awake from her coma. Meanwhile a stranger stalks the streets and just might be more than he seems. Where the bodies are hidden becomes a seriously important clue in L. V. Gaudet’s mystery novel. It’s a terrifying story that takes itself and its material very seriously, and introduces an everyman (or everywoman) element to all its characters. A victim shares “the similarity so many young women of the same age seem to have with each other...” inviting the reader to read themselves and their loved ones into the scene. Swift changes of tense add immediacy, though for me they sometimes distract from the tension. And descriptions, weighty with author observation and social commentary, give a sense of watching a movie with a friend, as danger draws ever more clear. Old fashioned chapter headings are a very nice touch in a story that’s thoroughly modern and scary, where readers are invited into the tortured mind of killer and victims, and left with an unsettling sense of more bodies waiting for burial. With twists, turns and surprises, some easy to spot, and others thoroughly disguised, the story offers a plot that’s well drawn, and a conclusion that’s intriguingly dark – a blend of police procedural and horror, in the guise of everyday life. Disclosure: I found it when it was free, and I offer my honest review.