Play Dead
Play Dead book cover

Play Dead

Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 2004

by
Price
$7.82
Publisher
Onyx
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0451411372
Dimensions
4.36 x 1.06 x 6.7 inches
Weight
6.4 ounces

Description

From Publishers Weekly Frasier ( Sleep Tight , etc.) has perfected the art of making a reader's skin crawl, which is evident from this book's very first scene, in which a medical examiner discovers in the midst of an autopsy that the cadaver he's working on is really a live person. Set in Savannah, Ga., this exceptional thriller follows the hunt for the deranged person who's drugging people so that their minds remain wide awake even as their bodies resemble death. The creepiness factor increases when Frasier introduces homicide detective Elise Sandburg, who was abandoned in a cemetery as a baby and who knows Gullah spells and culture. Elise's partner, anti-social David Gould, is equally strange; his past holds secrets so dark he should be under psychiatric care. Formerly with the FBI, Gould currently lives in a rundown, foul-smelling apartment and sleeps with a prostitute who works for a voodoo priestess. As the two detectives follow leads to the priestess and the former college professor who researched the drug, they forge a tentative bond and come to terms with their own troubled pasts. Frasier's characters are not only fully realized, but fascinating to boot, and she evokes the dark, mystical side of Savannah with precision and skill. Appropriately, this unsettling tale closes with a grim children's rhyme and a spell for "Elise's Follow-Me-Boy Mojo." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORUSA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHORRITA AWARD AUTHOR~~Anne Frasier is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Heraward-winning books span the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller,romantic suspense, paranormal, and memoir. She won a RITA for romanticsuspense, and the Daphne du Maurier Award for paranormal romance. Herthrillers have hit the USA Today list and have been featured in MysteryGuild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. Her memoir, TheOrchard, was an O, The Oprah Magazine Fall Pick; a One Book, OneCommunity read; a B+ review in Entertainment Weekly; and a Librarians'Best Books of 2011. She divides her time between the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and her writing studio in rural Wisconsin.

Features & Highlights

  • Homicide detective Elise Sandburg is forced to confront her past and her connection to Gullah culture when a serial killer, who uses a mysterious substance that forces its victims into a death-like sleep, terrorizes the city of Savannah, Georgia. Original.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(3.2K)
★★★★
25%
(2.7K)
★★★
15%
(1.6K)
★★
7%
(747)
★
23%
(2.5K)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Hang on by Your Fingernails

SUMMARY: Savannah police detective Elise Sandburg has enough to deal with: a house that's falling apart, a difficult teenage daughter, and an annoying yet mysterious new partner. Suddenly, young male prostitutes start turning up dead....or somewhat dead. The tradition of voodoo in the Deep South get a new slant as freshly buried serial victims claw their way out of their final resting places. To catch the killer, Elise will have to delve deep into a past she relinquished a lifetime ago.

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: Frasier has a gift for immediately involving you in a story. She writes top-notch suspense that is engrossing and addictive. Characterizations are complete; truly surprising plot twists abound. Frasier is a must-have addition to any mystery/suspense lover's personal library.

WHY YOU WON'T: If prostitution and/or voodoo turn you off, get over it and read this anyway.

BOTTOM LINE: Best of genre. Frasier just keeps getting better.
203 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

The most compelling book I've read all year

Once I started reading PLAY DEAD, I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed HUSH and SLEEP TIGHT very much, but this is the best. Anne Frasier has a way of getting into the skin of her characters that makes every book unforgettable. Her characters are so unusual and so bent, yet by the end of the book they're part of you. I finished reading the book yesterday, but I've been thinking about it ever since.
86 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

This was just a terrific piece of work

Every now and then a book comes along that just grabs you from page one and does not let you down for the entire experience. They are few in number, but his is one of them. This book had great characters, worthy of a sequel. David was well thought out and had demons to deal with. Elise was a terrific heroine with her own shadowy past and messed up relationships to deal with, but never let her personal life get in the way of her professional life as a detective. Elise was extremely capable and did not have to have a clue bite her in the butt to see it. Here were some characters you could really relate to put into very scary situations and they handled them the way a real person might actually handle them. I don't give out many 5 star ratings to books but this one deserves it. The third work I've read by Anne Frasier. All were very good...This was the best, at least I think so.
35 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

EXCELLENT SUSPENSE NOVEL

I have enjoyed Anne Frasier's suspense novels and this one was no different. I found the characters compelling, the plot was interesting. This book was GREAT in that you had two very interesting leads with very interesting backgrounds and baggage. I was especially intrigued by ex-FBI agent, David Gould. Talk about a wounded soul. He was the big draw for me and the main reason why I loved this book so much. Elise Sandburg was just as interesting. Plot was good, great atmosphere with the vodoo and the black magic and spells. Loved that. I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend this book to suspense fans. Other authors that I enjoy and recommend: Karin Slaughter, Steve Hamilton, Julia Spencer Fleming and Michael Connelly.
10 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Walking Dead

This is my second time reading Anne Frasier's work. She tends to specialize in the macabre & really creepy crime thrillers. This is no exception bringing in a drug that mimics death & characters who practise voodoo magic to keep readers glued to the plot.

I think its the potent power of the mimic death drug on victims that is the main draw here, you get the creeps on how it entraps victims with paralysis but with their minds remaining active.

Somehow all the talk about Strata Luna's or the voodoo priestess power and the aura she creates fell rather flat as you don't see the effects of it fall on anyone in the plotline. Its just talk about this & that type of spells that you can put a curse on people. In short, it all kind of ended up like folklore rather than adding to the mystery factor.

The detectives are the usual types with the dysfunctional personalities. Elise Sandberg, the female detective, who eagerly seeks to know her past lineage and her sidekick David Gould who reluctantly needs to confront his past.
8 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Hexes and Hoo-Doo

I like books set in New Orleans or close to it. This one was different. As someone pointed out it is set in Savannah,Ga however, the ambiance was very similiar.

After being abandoned in a cemetery as a baby, our heroine is now a grown woman, a cop on the SPD. When a series of murders starts her on a search for her roots, she finds herself caught up in the Voo-Doo underground of the city.

Young prostitutes male and female are dying and coming back to life before they die again. This is upsetting the coroner and his assistants.

The trail leads to an escort service headed by Savannah's most famous voo-doo priestess. The deaths go back two years and don't seem connected at first.

This really is a well written story, and while I personally don't believe in curses, there was alot of suspense and thrills.
All in all a very enjoyable read.
7 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

I'm impressed.

Wow. What a great book. This is the first Anne Frasier book I've read, and won't be the last. Highly recommended. You won't be disappointed.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Edge-of-your-seat, Hold onto your Voodoo!

Play Dead is a fast-paced, thrill-filled read that will keep you turning pages faster than your brain can keep up. The characters are both chilling and real. I became fascinated with the reality of the protagonists and how quickly I sympathized with their plights, both career and personal.

The twists, which are so important to this genre, are well-measured and believable. The story is strong, the themes developed. Overall, the novel appears seamless.

Strong with story and character, Play Dead is never a dull read. I will certainly be lining my shelves with more from Anne Frasier.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Creepy

As a horror/mystery/thriller lover how could I not be pulled in when it opens with a coroner doing an autopsy on a patient who is really alive! Yes, you heard me, alive. That starts the whirlwind of murder and action that never lets up. Throw in the daughter of a 'root doctor' who was abandoned in a cemetery at birth and who is not a police officer who is paired up with a former FBI agent whose wife is in prison for murdering their son and you are in for one hell of a good spooky ride.

The book is set in Savannah but I could not help but imagine New Orleans while I was reading. Probaby because I have been to New Orleans and was immersed in all the voodoo history and even toured the cemetery where Marie Laveau is buried. I never realized that Savannah had such a history.

I will admit that it was fairly predictable but that in no way took away from the story. I thought I had it all figured out until the surprising end. The only disappointment for me was the ending only because I would have loved to have seen where the relationship between Elise and David went if anywhere. Honestly, I really enjoyed the characters and was not ready to leave them.

Play Dead is a quick, fun, creepy read with a real mystery.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Suspend your beliefs and enjoy the thrill ride

A really good mystery with supernatural or metaphysical overtones is hard to find. Most are silly or so completely unbelievable. NOT THIS ONE. I happened upon a used copy, and boy am I glad. This was my first by this author, but it won't be my last. The characters are well formed, complex, and believable. There were twists and turns and exciting events. Not too gory and not dull or boring. It was so descriptive at one point that I thought it might be too much. A few pages are told from the view of the killer, which gives me the creeps. It just added to the suspense and the thrill.

Elise Sandburg is a believable detective with an intriguing partner and an interesting historical and current family storyline. Her partner is a sympathetic character who jumps off the page. The mystery has subplots that hold your interest. If you like your mysteries a bit on the odd side, this might be for you. The story is set in Savannah, but I kept thinking New Orleans.

From the book jacket: No understands the dark side of Savannah better than detective Elise Sandburg. As an infant, she was thought to be the daughter of a famous root doctor...now there's a twisted killer on the loose and the city is gripped by terror. Someone is using a substance that leaves its victims in a state that mimics death. As their bodies slip into paralysis, their minds remain fully, shockingly awake."

A great read. I finished it in a few days. I couldn't put it down. Doesn't happen to me very often. You have to find it used, but worth it.
2 people found this helpful

Related Books