Where the Dead Lay

By: David Levien

Narrated by: Scott Brick

After the sudden disappearance of two high-priced detectives, former Indianapolis cop Frank Behr - the brooding private investigator introduced in David Levien’s nationally acclaimed novel City of the Sun - is pulled into a case that is harrowing, relentless, and, ultimately, personal.

Early in the dark, Indianapolis morning, Frank Behr’s friend and mentor is murdered - with no motive and no trace of evidence left behind. Behr, a quiet, mountainous former cop, thirsts for answers and retaliation. But before he can make headway in the dead-end investigation, an exclusive private firm approaches him with a delicate proposition: Two of its detectives have gone missing, and the firm wants Behr to find out what happened to them. Prodded to take the case by his old boss - the Indianapolis chief of police who holds the strings to Frank’s possible return to the force - Behr accepts.

The search for the missing detectives takes Behr into the recesses of Indianapolis’s underworld, a place rife with brutality and vice - and a stark contrast to the city’s gentle public image. As Behr calls on old street contacts and his hard-boiled investigative skills, he is led deeper into a twisted society of organized crime and an unknown landscape of “pea-shake” houses - low-rent, transient gambling rings staged in condemned buildings around the city.

Unexpectedly, Behr uncovers a shocking thread connecting the missing detectives to his friend’s brutal murder, and, in the process, Behr is forced to confront an ominous, deadly new breed of crime family.

Introduced in City of the Sun, Frank Behr instantly attracted critical attention and a devoted fan base, and Where the Dead Lay places Behr on a broader, edgier stage. This extraordinary crime novel stands with the best of Michael Connelly and Lee Child, featuring a brilliantly drawn, ruthless criminal family whom listeners will not soon forget, and showcasing the immense talents of David Levien. www.doubleday.com

©2009 David Levien (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Relentless....The story conveys a piercing sense of honesty....The truth of the characters - and the intensity of their pain - is as unbearably real as it gets." (The New York Times Book Review)
"City of the Sun is going to be a finalist for thriller of the year." (Rocky Mountain News)
"One of the toughest, most gut-wrenching, and most believable suspense novels I've ever encountered." (Lincoln Child)

Crooked Cops, dregs of the Underworld & Frank Behr

PLOT: Frank Behr has his friend and mentor die and he is soon roped into a crime wave with crooked cops and the underworld.

Frank Behr is attending the funeral of his close friend. A man who taught him self defense. Now Behr is on the path of finding who killed his friend. Frank is a former police detective and now a private eye. The police approach him to help solve a series of killings. Pea Shake houses a form of LOW END GAMBLING in abandoned builds are having their illegal activities shut down by a family of low life's with a crooked cop connection. As Behr who's personal life again totters on the edge between a pregnant girlfriend and his looking into the dregs of Indianapolis he is loosing what perspective he has left. As Behr discovers the "trash bags" filled with the bodies of the two missing detectives he has been hired to find, he discovers the crooked cop connected with the case. And the crime family who kills other criminals to get "ahead" in the pea shake house monopoly, are also tied into the death of his friend. I give this one 4 STARS~

Outstanding

Foul language but handled well by Dick Hill. Story grabs you and doesn't let you go. Full of twists and turns!!

Very Good Writer

I liked this book and its predecessor .Great characters and a deliberate plot that the writer takes no short cuts with. I hope there is more to come

Tough Guy

I don't understand why this book is being ignored by downloaders??? Author David Levien has created an outstanding lead character in Frank Behr. He is a throw-back to the unrepentant bad-@$$ tough guys of the past, but with a modern edge (I love the Brazilian jiu-jitsu angle). Behr is the kind of dude that we all wish really existed and were on our side. Behr is as complex and interesting as my favorite cop/private eyes (Bosch, Robicheaux, & Cole). This book and its predecessor, City of the Sun, are on par with some of the best crime novels of the last few years. Levien's skills aren't quite yet in the same class as Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, and Robert Crais, but he's on the same campus.

Excellent!

Levien is a great action, suspense writer. Brick is one of my favorite narrators. He is the reason I listened to this book. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys this type of literature.

not quite as good as first one but still

a solid offering with an interesting and complex storyline with one of the same main characters as in the first book (the tough as nails investigator Frank Behr).

Scott Brick is the BEST narrator ever!

I really like the storyline, and surprises throughout the book. I cannot express how well Scott Brick narrates every single book I have ever heard! Thank you audible!

Much better than I expected.

I am glad I listened. I thought the preview was interesting but enjoy Scott Brick an a narrator. This story was well written and kept me interested. Thank you.

Scott Brick

If this book hadn't been narrated by Scott Brick I would have returned it.

A Disappointment in Every Respect

"Where the Dead Lay" is among the very worst of the 183 books I have downloaded from Audible.com as well as hundreds of others on tape or disk from other sources. The plot is exaggerated to the point where one can no longer "suspend disbelief." Development of the characters is just as poorly executed. At no point does the story approach believability. Nor is there the slightest redemption in the performance of the reader, Scott Brick. Although he appears to be a popular reader of audio books, he uses the same, falling inflection on what seems to be about 90 percent of the sentences, adding to the dismal mood of the book and the characters that people it. I frequently check readers reviews, but this is the first I have contributed. I am doing so in the hope of helping others to avoid an unfortunate experience. With this book, the writing and the reading are astound consistent with one another and throughout, but unfortunately they are consistently bad.