Read by Kirsten Potter.Summary: Hoag returns once more to Oak Knoll for the third installment of this bestselling series. Through Leone's pioneering, science-based investigatory skills, Hoag explores the early days of forensic police work.
Deeper Than the Dead introduced Tami Hoag's millions of fans to Oak Knoll, a small California town that, in the mid-eighties, seemed as idyllic as any ... until the See-No-Evil killer shattered that notion. It took FBI agent Vince Leone and a new technique called "profiling" to put an end to the trauma.Secrets to the Grave brought Leone's teacher-turned-child- advocate wife, Anne, into a central role. Together with Vince and local sheriff 's deputy Tony Mendez, she solved an Oak Knoll murder with a particularly challenging mystery: The victim never existed. And now Hoag returns once more to Oak Knoll for the third installment of this bestselling series. Through Leone's pioneering, science-based investigatory skills, Hoag explores the early days of forensic police work. And through the chilling case at the heart of Down the Darkest Road, she hooks ever more readers into the meticulously crafted, all-too-terrifying world of Oak Knoll, where the scariest secrets of all can be found ... Down the Darkest Road.
Compact disc.
Unabridged.
Read by Kirsten Potter.
Hoag returns once more to Oak Knoll for the third installment of this bestselling series. Through Leone's pioneering, science-based investigatory skills, Hoag explores the early days of forensic police work.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Hoag's third series entry (after Deeper Than the Dead and Secrets to the Grave) returns to the small California town of Oak Knoll. With her daughter Leah, Lauren Lawton has retreated there to escape the pain and heartbreak of her eldest daughter's abduction four years earlier and the subsequent death of her husband. But peace is far from Lauren's grasp as she spots the suspected abductor, Roland Ballencoa, in town. So begins a terrifying turn of events. Series characters Det. Tony Mendez and retired FBI profiler Vince Leone and his wife, Anne, enter the picture as Lauren seeks to discover her missing daughter's fate. Her obsession develops into near vigilantism and the reckless stalking of Ballencoa. Verdict Fans of Lisa Gardner and Iris Johansen will be glued to their seats by Hoag's chilling cliffhanger scenes and psychological puzzles. This taut novel of suspense is a true nail-biter.-Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
Bestseller Hoag's so-so third thriller set in the small California community of Oak Knoll (after 2010's Secrets to the Grave) focuses on 42-year-old Lauren Lawton, who arrives in Oak Knoll in 1990 with her nearly 16-year-old daughter, Leah. Four years earlier, Lauren's other daughter, Leslie, disappeared at age 16 in Santa Barbara, where the police never managed to find a shred of tangible evidence against the obvious suspect in the abduction, creepy photographer Roland Ballencoa. The trauma of Leslie's unknown fate and her father's subsequent suicide left Lauren emotionally shattered and barely able to function. But Oak Knoll proves no refuge. Within months, she's horrified to spot Ballencoa in town. Despite Lauren's best efforts to shield Leah from further terror, history repeats itself. The major plot twist won't surprise many readers, and neither the characters nor the cliche-hobbled story line are among Hoag's best work. Author tour. Agent: Andrea Cirillo. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Before her daughter, Leslie, then 16, was abducted four years ago, Lauren Lawton had been a lovely woman. But with no assailant or body ever recovered, she has devoted all her energy to trying to keep Leslie's case in the headlines while simultaneously not neglecting her younger daughter, Leah, now nearly 16 herself. In an apparent attempt to make a clean start, Lauren and Leah leave Santa Barbara and head to the fictional Oak Knoll, a high-end pastoral retreat in the foothills. How is it, though, that Ronald Ballencoa, the monster whom Lauren is convinced took and probably murdered her daughter, also now resides in Oak Knoll? Lauren's obsession with Ballencoa is well known to and mostly disregarded by law enforcement in many local jurisdictions, but new-on-the-scene Deputy Mendez doesn't dismiss Lauren's pleas and hopes to be the one to finally bring some closure to the fractured family. Mendez, a protege of legendary profiler Vince Leone (star of many Hoag thrillers), teams up with the feisty Danni Tanner, the original detective on the case (sparks fly between these two). Hoag takes obvious pleasure in keeping her setting circa 1990, before DNA technology had advanced to where it is today and before mobile communications rendered many otherwise tense situations easy-breezy. The setting and her consummate skill as a plotter add to plenty of old-school thrills that pack a punch and will leave fans breathless. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hoag is on a remarkable streak: since 1995, she has written 30 books, and all 30 have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. Her publisher will be doing everything in their marketing power to ensure that the streak hits 31.--Wilkens, Mary Frances Copyright 2010 Booklist
SoundPublication details: [Westminster, Md.] : Books on Tape, p2012.Description: 9 sound discs (11 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 inISBN: