Book Review: Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoad

Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tami Hoag once again crafted a mystery that keeps the reader engaged from the opening when four elementary school children find a dead body in the woods until the last page.

The carefully posed body, half buried, head resting on a stone, with eyes and mouth glued shut, terrifies the children and their teacher. Their safe world in a nearly crime-free town in California is safe no more. The loss of innocence of both the children and the teacher extends into the town itself.

To help the police solve the crime, an FBI investigator who has helped pioneer a new profiling technique volunteers his time. Nearly crippled by the remnants of a bullet in his brain, he is not officially on the job because his doctor hasn't cleared him to work. But he is needed and so he travels from Quantico to California.

Clues pile up as to the identity of the killer, leading to a wild ride filled with red herrings and all the men in the novel falling under suspicion of being the killer.

Hoag offers a blend of a serial killer with a twist, a host of possible suspects, a teacher desperately trying to preserve her students' innocence and an FBI agent who needs to feel vital again. The blend works on all levels.

I listened to this on a long driving trip. I recommend it for long car rides or cuddling up on a dark winter night with a cup of cocoa and the lights on.

The Sociopath Next Door: Book Review

Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door explains in common language why you think that creepy guy who lives next door may be a sociopath.

We use the terms sociopath and psychopath interchangeably, although Dr. Stout does point out an ongoing medical community discussion about one being the product of upbringing (sociopath) and the other being the product of heredity (nature). She doesn't dwell on the differences but asks the reader to use sociopath as the term for both. She is quick to point out that not all sociopaths are serial killers. In fact, her statistics of one in twenty-five Americans is a sociopath leads to that conclusion, since one in twenty-five Americans is not a serial killer.

She points out that many, if not most, sociopaths are "ice people," those who have no emotion. That is not to say these people do not display emotions, but they are not true. They are faked to make people feel sorry for them, trust them and want to help them. She cites behavior from a highly successful businessman who had no qualms about stealing from his friends and family, all in the guise of helping them. Think Bernard Madoff. Madoff wasn't upset that he'd run a Ponzi scheme that bilked his friends out of their life savings. He was upset about getting caught and losing everything.

Dr. Stout writes that sociopaths lack a conscience. No matter how they look like they care, they care about themselves and no one else. They will lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and, occasionally, murder those who get in their way. Some have extremely high IQs; others have normal intelligence. Some manipulate others to get something they want; others do so to control their subjects. By identifying characteristics of those who lack a conscience, Dr. Stout guides the reader in how to protect herself from these predators.

We probably all have met sociopaths in our lives. They don't "sit right" with us. They don't treat us as we want to be treated, but they can be so charming that we have difficulty breaking their hold on us. They aren't all sexual predators or child molesters, or other type of abhorrent criminal. We work for them. We live next door to them. If we learn who they are and why they behave as they do, we can keep them at length. Rhett Butler aside, the last thing any of us wants to do is get involved with someone who doesn't give a damn.

Worth a careful read if you want to know more about people whose behavior "creeps you out."