South of Nowhere

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith

AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER

The New York Times bestselling master of suspense returns to his beloved series, adapted for TV (CBS's Tracker, starring Justin Hartley) as reward seeker Colter Shaw races against the clock to save a flooding town from a full-fledged disaster, where the culprit lurks in the plain sight.

When a levee collapses in Hinowah, a small town in Northern California, Colter Shaw is brought on by his sister, Dorion, a disaster response specialist, to help locate a family swept away by the raging water, with mere hours to survive.

But after a surprise attack along the river obstructs Colter's urgent search, the siblings are forced to consider a new reality: Is the levee at risk of failing from natural causes, or is someone sabotaging it? Colter and Dorion must race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth and save the citizens before the village washes out completely, destroying everything and everyone in its path.

Critic reviews

One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2025
One of New York Post's 30 Must-Read New Thrillers

"Could I put the book down? Not a chance." —Sarah W.,
The New York Times Book Review

"This suspenseful thriller will keep readers off-balance and unsure whom to trust . . . Perfect for a one-sitting read." —Library Journal (starred review)

"An exhilarating action-infused mystery. . . . Jeffrey Deaver does a brilliant job of incorporating suspense along with the harrowing drama of a natural disaster." —BookTrib

"Deaver is a first-class storyteller. . . . he takes an interesting, complex character (Colter comes from a survivalist family) and builds an intricate, unpredictable story around them. Readers familiar with Mr. Shaw will thoroughly enjoy this novel. For those who haven’t met him yet, this is a good time to rectify that." —Booklist

"Riveting . . . Deaver’s pacing is characteristically top-notch, and he ratchets up the suspense . . . This series has plenty of gas in the tank." —Publishers Weekly

Good Read!

This story, despite its length is extremely fast paced!!!! My goodness I flew through this book fast. action packed and a good story

Not what I thought , very slow

Very slow and not a real plot to the story. Not one of his best books . I usually like anything he writes but not this time . Kept reading thinking it would improved but even the ending didn’t make sense

Great read!

The story was written well and enjoyed it. I can't wait for the next book.

Rambling, stumbling and twisty

Rambling story that just seemed to conveniently keep adding twists. Easy to get lost in the tedium of the newest twist.

Weakest of the bunch, by A LOT

I love these novels and the inherent goodness of Colter Shaw. However this book goes off the rails almost immediately. Full of well-rendered characters and a ticking clock motif, it has all the ingredients of another great Deaver novel, but I was unable to get in the groove for this one.
Perhaps I can give it another run, but it really felt to me that it was treading water, and it breaks faith with the reader on a few key occasions. Also, with all due respect to the author, whom I’ve read a lot, there are a handful of passages towards the back end of the book, which make very little sense to me, and I reread those passages more than once. All I could figure was those chapters were either not edited at all, or they were written by a different author, or they were generated through AI. Several phrases were simply nonsensical to my ear, and some of the dialog in those passages was not heightened or unusual, but things people who have American English as their first language (as the characters are meant to) do not say. Relistening did not help me understand what was meant in these passages beyond some rote “sexiness”. Again, that was simply to my understanding of the author and American English, and I’m no expert on AI.
The whole thing felt underbaked, and also overwrought at the same time, which was wearying.
Anyway, if we get another one maybe it will be a course correction.
The narration was very good, even if the subject matter didn’t stack up.