Deeper Than the Dead Book

"California, 1985. Four children, running through the woods after 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 pattern of destruction." "Vince Leone, a pioneering FBI investigator called in from Washington to consult on the case, is charged with interpreting that pattern. He's using a brand-new technique - profiling - to develop a theory of the murders, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the four children, and closer to the teacher whose bond with her traumatized students puts her on a collision course with the killer." As new victims are discovered 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 - unaware that someone very close to them is a brutal, calculating psychopath whose reign of terror is only just getting started.