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    Play Dead
    Play Dead
    Play Dead
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Play Dead

    Written by Harlan Coben

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Theirs was a marriage made in tabloid heaven, but no sooner had supermodel Laura Ayars and Celtics star David Baskin said “I do” than tragedy struck. While honeymooning on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, David went out for a swim—and never returned.

    Now widowed and grieving, Laura has a thousand questions and no answers. Her search for the truth will draw her into a web of lies and deception that stretches back thirty years—while on the court at the Boston Garden, a rookie phenom makes his spectacular debut….

    “The modern master of the hook-and-twist.” —Dan Brown, Author of The Da Vinci Code

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateSep 28, 2010
    ISBN9781441893482
    Play Dead
    Author

    Harlan Coben

    With more than seventy million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous suspense novels, including Don't Let Go, Home, and Fool Me Once, as well as the multi-award-winning Myron Bolitar series. His books are published in forty-three languages around the globe and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries. He lives in New Jersey.

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    Reviews for Play Dead

    4/5

    103 ratings26 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Basketball player David Baskin fakes his own death. 7 out of 10. Written from a man's point of view sometimes.
    • 5/5
      Okay, so the twists were extremely obvious in certain parts, but the end revealed and unexpected revelation...a honeymoon ruined, the groom presumed dead...deadly secrets from the past unravel...is there such a thing as happily ever after?

    • 1/5
      Having selected this novel from a pile of offerings by this author, I wish I had bothered to read the introduction before checking it out of the library. It begins like this:“Okay, if this is the first book of mine you’re going to try, stop now. Return it. Grab another. It’s okay. I’ll wait.”Coben goes on to explain that he wrote the book 20 years ago and has not edited it since. He states that it is flawed and implies that it is rather poorly written, but reassures the reader that he still loves this book. I hadn’t read anything by him before so I thought that I’d still give this a whirl. Frankly, I wish I’d listened to his advice.The premiseA ridiculously gorgeous and rich model turned supremely successful business woman secretly marries a stupidly handsome and rich pro athlete at the top of his career. While on their secret honeymoon, David disappears and it soon transpires that he has drowned. Or has he? Driven by her grief, Laura is compelled to discover exactly what happened to her new husband, even if it means drawing a killer’s attention to her.My thoughtsThe prologue gave an immediate flavour of the writing style: clichéd and overly dramatic. Set 29 years earlier than the main storyline, it clearly directed my attention to the past as an important element of the plot. Stylistically, it reminded me of the opening sequence of a horror movie (or even a Point Horror story!) as an unidentified woman argues with a man who is then murdered by an unseen hand. It succeeded in inducing some curiosity from me but was very poorly written, as was the whole book.The opening chapter launched me into the world of the rich and famous. Personally, this alienated me a little from the start as I would rather read about ‘real’ people. A top model and a pro athlete just makes it all seem a bit Jackie Collins - especially as the first scene opens on the special couple’s honeymoon with them joking about how worn out they are. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) Oh - and the ex model, who retired at 23, was Businesswoman of the Year. The characters reminded me of a high school novel that focused on the homecoming queen and top jock. Obviously, there are real people who are incredibly talented, but this just felt very one dimensional and I found it difficult to care about these characters.I quickly found the focus on physical beauty and admiration rather tedious, (yes, they’re gorgeous, I understand that, now please stop writing about their glistening skin,) and the clunking sexual puns could be spotted several lines ahead of their wince-inducing dénouement. Early on, David actually uses the cliché 'you've made me the happiest man in the world' followed by 'I couldn't live without you’. I felt like I was reading a Mills and Boon offering. This insistence on physical beauty continues throughout. Take the following example:“When Laura and [close friend] Serita entered the Heritage of Boston Bank together, everyone stopped. Typewriters halted their clacking. Heads turned. Eyes stared. Mouths dropped. Men gawked. Walking alone, Laura and Serita could make a man’s eyes water; looking at them both at the same time could cause a cerebral accident.”It makes me wonder how they made it to the bank without causing traffic accidents. This actually isn’t the whole description, but you get the idea. This is very bad chicklit pretending to be good crime fiction.From the opening it is clear that David’s disappearance is more complicated than the tragic shark death (yes, really) his policeman friend sadly reveals to the grieving widow. Switches in third person perspective make it clear that Laura is right to be suspicious: everyone around her seems to have secrets related to her husband’s disappearance. Why is some of David’s money missing? Who is the new mystery player who has taken David’s spot on the team? And why was Laura’s mother so firmly against her relationship with David?The trouble is, although there are a lot of questions, the answers are disconcertingly obvious to the reader (at least, they were to me, and I deliberately read crime fiction with my brain switched off) and despite Coben’s best efforts at introducing twists and turns into the plot, from about a fifth of the way through I had most of the answers. Furthermore, a fifth of the way through was 100 pages; this book needed a better editor as it would have felt a lot more tightly paced if it was a good 100-150 pages shorter.The characters are firmly one dimensional, which is how Coben justifies his ludicrous conclusion. David is motivated purely by his love of Laura; Laura is driven by her love of David; and everyone else is determined to keep secrets from the past locked away. Motivations are incredibly simplistic and do not feel sufficient, even if you assume that several of the characters are insane. The most interesting character and exception to the rule is Stan, David’s brother and a weasel who tries to better himself. His slips back into being an evil idiot are perhaps inevitable but I found he added some interest to an otherwise bland cast. That said…his romantic and moral path was ultimately rather predictable.Final thoughtsPredictable plotting and one dimensional characterisation do not have to equal a bad novel, but I would struggle to identify a redeeming feature in this instance. The writing style is poor: clunky, clichéd and lacking variety in sentence structure. The book is too long and feels over written. I would probably still try a later Coben work as reviews I have read online suggest that this is not typical of his oeuvre, but I was disappointed with this and won’t be rushing to read another. If you’ve never read anything by him and would like to try, I’d follow his advice: don’t start with this one.
    • 3/5
      Ex fashion model and successful business woman Laura Ayers' perfect world is shattered at a time which should have been the happiest of her life. On her honeymoon, her sports superstar husband goes for a swim - and never returns. (Desc. Amazon.com)This was Coben's first book, newly reprinted. It was a signature Coben thriller, but not up to the quality of his current writing. Still, it's worth reading; there's plenty of suspense and bloodshed right up to the last page.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the last one I have read of his, but enjoyable. As it was his first book, it wasn't bad. Predictable and slightly unbeleivable.
    • 2/5
      Recommended & given to me by my dentist, who said this was Coben's first book & not bad. Coben is a favorite of his. I hope the books got better. The foreshadowing was so bad that I had everything pretty much figured out in the first 50 or so pages. I made it up to about 100 & then started reading a paragraph every 50 pages or so to see if I was missing anything. Nope. It took him over 500 pages to tell the story & I just wasn't that interested in it. While all the characters were believable, I didn't feel connected to any of them. The heroine was OK, but I never really cared enough for her to keep reading. The writing wasn't bad, either. I guess it really wasn't my type of book & with it being so obvious, I just couldn't work up the energy to really read it.
    • 3/5
      Play Dead. Harlan Coben. 1990. Janet insisted that I had not read all of Coben’s books and she was right. This is his very first novel and his favorite according to Coben. A star professional basketball player and his former model/fashion designer girl friend off to Australia to marry. Laura goes to a business meeting and returns to the hotel to find David missing. David apparently drowned, and Laura returns to Boston. Odd things start to happen and Laura begins to think David was murdered. As always Coben leaves you hanging at the end of each chapter. We switch between Laura, her parents, David’s best friend, her sister, and David’s brother. The book is a little long, but a pleasant non-exacting novel to read.
    • 3/5
      Seemed very long and drawn out --- I was listening to the audio version and I almost quit but there was just enough to make me wonder how things were going to work out, so I went to the end....a little too much of lots of things. With a quick HOWEVER, this was his first book and yes, having read one of his more recent ones not long ago, he definitely improved although on the audio he claimed that he still loved this story.
    • 2/5
      This was Harlan Coben’s first published novel, and he freely admits in the introduction that it’s not particularly good. And he’s right! The plot is outlandish and overly complicated, but beneath that and the sometimes cliched writing, you can see the beginnings of what Coben will become.I wish I could discuss the plot without spoiling it, but I’m really not sure how. Basically, there is a step taken that is really extreme and seems pretty unnecessary. Beyond that is a lot of family drama. Coben does a good job of giving us multiple points of view, including the killer’s, and he manages to give us the killer’s point of view without spoiling who it is. That’s not easy to do!So overall, much like Coben himself, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who hasn’t read Coben before. In fact, I’m not sure I would recommend it even to a Coben fan. But if you’re a completist, it’s really not that painful to read.
    • 4/5
      My reading of the Coben library is complete now that I have completed his first published novel. And I have to extend a large thank you to whomever had the brilliance to republish this book as I've been on the hunt for it for at least a year to no avail. Coben is a master at thrillers and plot twists and it's only gotten better over the years. The only hang up I had on this book was that no one would figure out Baskin's secret, but it was a page-turner to the very end.
    • 1/5
      Dreadful. His first novel and it really shows. But also fascinating to see his development as a writer. The dialogue is appalling, which is so interesting because in his later novels his dialogue is terrific. All in all a great read to see how a writer grows.
    • 1/5
      I would disagree with Adpaton's review only in so far as I did think that this book was, at various points laugh-out-loud awful. It is impossible to exaggerate just how dire the writing is. It could very well be used for a "how not to do it" writer's workshop. Approached from that perspective, the book can actually be quite rewarding. (Surely, surely, he won't digress from the action for yet another pointless flashback that adds nothing to the story....oh yes he will.....)I bought the book very cheaply on the Kindle bookstore so the only positive point I can cite is that at least I haven't been responsible for setting loose another physical copy of this book in the wild (it certainly wouldn't have been staying on my bookshelf!).
    • 2/5
      Synopsis/blurb......Ex fashion model and successful business woman Laura Ayars' perfect world is shattered at a time which should have been the happiest of her life. On her honeymoon, her sports superstar husband goes for a swim - and never returns. But what has happened to David - can he really be dead? Whilst struggling to cope with her almost overwhelming grief, Laura is plagued by questions and doubts. Was it an accident? Or suicide? Or is it some terrible, ill-judged hoax? As events begin to unfold, Laura starts to question David's mysterious disappearance. She begins to uncover a conspiracy which reaches deep into the past, and is now slowly beginning to destroy everyone involved. Someone will do anything to keep Laura away from the awful truth - and she has no idea who she can trust . . .I’ve read a few of Coben’s books in the last 6 or 7 months. My wife enjoys his stories and if she reads something I usually follow on a few months later. This was a reprint of Coben’s first book published back around 1990. He does write a forward in which he gently attempts to steer people away from this and in the direction of another of his books first. About halfway through reading this I could sort of guess why......if I had picked this as my first Coben read, I probably wouldn’t come back to him at all.Perfect Laura was an imperfect physical specimen of a child, but having overcome those awkward school years with the help of her sister who sort of looked more perfect than her at this stage, she blossomed through puberty into.....how to say it......a perfect physical specimen who became the world’s greatest superstar fashion model, aided by her perfect feet, perfect legs, perfect butt, perfect hips, perfect waist, perfect breasts, perfect neck, perfect mouth, perfect lips, perfect nose, perfect eyes, perfect ears and beautiful hair.....which was always styled to perfection. I think her perfect posture may have also helped. After retiring from modelling, she decided to become a successful businesswoman. Everyone laughed, everyone mocked, everyone scorned her, but do you know what? She was absolutely perfect at it. Fast forward a bit, she meets David. He’s a world class mega-smega-superstar basketball player, whose pretty perfect.....perfect looks, perfect bank account, and where does he find the time to do all that charity work for the children? They fall in love, they marry.........at this stage I wanted them to quickly pop out a child, because I was kind of curious to see if it would be ....perfect.....but I’m digressing.......The wheels fall off, Laura’s family has secrets, you know dark ones that will come back to haunt you. David disappears, and I was thinking.....wait - perhaps it has something to do with dark secrets from Laura’s past. Without giving too much away, Laura’s world goes all imperfect for a fair few hundred pages or so, and she doesn’t know who to trust, apart from Australian Graham.Still I needn’t have worried as we were safe in Harlan’s hands.Unbelievable plot, unbelievable characters, unbelievable reactions from unbelievable characters to unbelievable situations. If he could have addressed those minor flaws, it would have been perfect.2 from 5, on the basis that I didn’t quite reach the point where I wanted to commit hari-kari with my bookmark whilst reading.My copy was bought last year probably second hand, can’t remember to be truthful. PS, I will no doubt read him again and I'll look forward to it. Generally I've enjoyed his books in the past, this was a stinker though.
    • 5/5
      WOW! I think that's a good word for this book. This is a book that Harlan Coben wrote but never published - I'm not sure what made him to decide to publish it now but I'm glad he did. It was really good. I must say that I thought some of it was a little far fetched but Harlan does a very good job at stringing you along with no clear answers for a long time leaving you guessing the whole time. Definite recommend for anyone who likes a good mystery/suspense.
    • 5/5
      Another great book
      I absolutely love the twist and turns. The narrator is perfect and keeps you hanging on for more
      Thank you
      My winter has been a little easier listening to your books
    • 5/5
      Awesome! I started to read in hospital and could not put it down even though I was in pain after surgery. This is a real page turner.Coben really had fun with the characters making u guess who was the murderer. I won't be giving anything away, but it was a thriller from start to finish!!!
    • 3/5
      enjoyed this, the writing was simple and probably predictble but still worth a red
    • 4/5
      Harlan Coben's first book, PLAY DEAD, had been out of print. It's reissued in paperback now.A gorgeous model marries a Boston Celtics basketball player who disappears and is supposedly found dead. But something's going on that's fishy-fishy.And so the reader is taken for a ride as everyone seems suspect of something. And another basketball player shows up whose moves on the court are mighty suspect.Coben prefaces this book with a plea for readers who haven't read his other, later books: please don't read this one first, he says,So I was all set to dislike PLAY DEAD. But I didn't.I looked for something to be wrong, and here were my problems with it:The awful brotherThe endIf you like Coben's books, you will this one, too. Don't be put off by his preface.
    • 4/5
      This is another one of Harlan Coben's collection of books written at a time when he could not get a publisher to publish his work. Now that he is an acclaimed author, he is publishing these early works. I did enjoy reading this book, however, unlike some of his other works, this one was a little bit predictable, and the title of the book also gave away too much.
    • 3/5
      Considering this novel was his first and written over 20 years ago, it's not bad. It has all the earmarks of a Coben plot, with many twists along the way. But he has so greatly inproved in his writing technique, character and plot development. Now when I pick up one of his books, by the last page, my head is hurting from all the plot twists that you never could figure out until the last page. Here, I saw them coming and had everything worked out before the last page. However, I did enjoy the book, it was still a page turner, and it was interesting to read his first effort, but I am grateful that Coben has grown as an author. Hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
    • 2/5
      Although this was just released (without revisions) in 2010, you can tell it is an early work by Coben. Reads like a soap opera and you could see the ending coming a mile away. I skipped parts just to get through it. So glad his writing has improved.
    • 4/5
      . From great character development to the twists and turns, it will keep you riveted and not let you put this one down. There are a few things that are unbelievable--that one could be reincarnated in the same (basketball) role as before one's suspicious death, that one would actually believe the source that caused the "suicide" in the first place. Yep, first novel...but pretty darned fun!
    • 2/5
      Disappointing but I stuck with it because I hate to give up on a book! Two dimensional characters implausible plot and a twist at the end which was unpredictable only because it was totally unbelievable.
    • 3/5
      I think the other reviewers have it all wrong. Yes, it's not the greatest book. Yes, you can tell it's written by an inexperienced writer. But reading Coben's first book after others of his only makes you appreciate what an amazing writer he is now. What a great way to show his growth as a writer. And I think that's what he was trying to do by reissuing this book. He talks in the introduction about how in the reissue he doesn't rewrite anything and how he wanted to present it as is. For which I applaud him.

      It's a long book and there are times I just yelled out in frustration at the language and superfluous use of words. But in the end I am appreciating it for what it is. Harlan Coben's first novel.
    • 3/5
      It's was a bit predictable and I wasn't really attached to the characters.
    • 3/5
      Honestly? I usually enjoy Harlen's books but this one felt to me like it was written by Danielle Steel. Not up to his usual fiction. Disappointing.