Deeper Than the Dead
by Tami Hoag

List Price: $9.99
Pages: 560
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780451230539
Publisher: Signet

California, 1984. Four children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence. What she doesn’t yet realize is that this will mark the end of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the wake of a serial killer’s escalating activity.

Vince Leone, a pioneering FBI investigator called in from Washington to consult on the case, is charged with interpreting those now-revealed secrets. He’s using a new technique, profiling, to develop a theory of the murders, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own.

As new victims are found and the media scrutiny of the investigation bears down on them, both Vince and Anne are unsure if those who suffer most are the victims themselves --- or the family and friends of the killer, blissfully unaware that someone very close to them is a brutal, calculating psychopath.

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1. Why do you think Tami Hoag set the novel in 1985? What challenges does that present? How would the story have been different if set today?

2. How do the four children --- Tommy Crane, Wendy Morgan, Dennis Farman, and Cody Roache --- react to finding the body in the woods? What does that say about the personality of each child?

3. What child do you find most compelling? Which do you find most sympathetic?

4. Discuss Anne Navarre as a character. What qualities does she possess? Is she likable? How does her personal life and professional life intersect? Discuss her relationships with her students, her father, and Vince Leone.

5. How does Anne react to the children finding the body in the woods? Do you agree or disagree with how she handles the situation with her students and their parents?

6. Early on, did you suspect the real murderer? How did your suspicions change throughout the novel? What, if anything, made you think the killer was someone different?

7. How did this case demonstrate some of the first criminal profiling?

8. Who was your favorite character and why? Which was more important, the characters or the plot? What events stood out as memorable to you?

9. Do you think the killer wanted to be caught? Why or why not?

10. Do you think it is feasible that a person’s family could live with and not suspect a serial killer? Do you think they do? What do you think of how the murderer’s family deals with the revelation? How do you think they will deal with being related to such a person on the future?

11. What do you envision the future will be like for the rest of the characters? How will the experiences that took place change them forever?

12. Are you satisfied with how the book ends? Would you have preferred another ending? How would you characterize Tami Hoag’s writing style?

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"The chilling premise and exciting twists make Hoag’s latest a thriller in every sense of the word. Guaranteed to be in high demand."

— Booklist

"[A] nail-biting thriller… Once again, bestselling Hoag plots craftily and creates characters readers root for."

— Kirkus Reviews

Tami Hoag is "one of the most intense suspense writers around."

— Chicago Tribune