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Playing Dead (Prison Break, Book 3) |
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $6.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Average Customer Rating:  
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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345502735
ISBN: 0345502736
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: 2008-09-30
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: 2008-09-30
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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DEAD MAN RUNNING
Sentenced to death for crimes he didn’t commit, ex-cop Tom O’Brien is now a hunted fugitive. After fifteen years in prison, he’s determined to prove his innocence–but first he must convince his daughter, whose testimony helped put him behind bars, that he has damning evidence of a plot to frame him.
Claire is no longer the naïve teenager who arrived home to find her mother and her mother’s lover shot dead and her father holding the murder weapon. She’s a successful fraud investigator who assumes everyone lies. Though Claire is convinced of her father’s guilt, curiosity propels her to look into the disappearance of a law student who claimed to have proof of Tom’s innocence. But seeking answers only leads to more questions, reinforcing Claire’s belief that there’s no one left to trust.
Obsessed with the O’Brien case, FBI agent Mitch Bianchi befriends Claire under false pretenses, certain that Tom is not only innocent but in grave danger–and not just from the cops. As the three race toward the truth, a murderous conspiracy tightens its noose–and Claire becomes the target of an ice-cold psychopath who will kill to protect his secrets.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Didn't do it for me
Comment: Sentenced to death for crimes he didn't commit, ex-cop Tom O'Brien is now a hunted fugitive. After fifteen years in prison, he's determined to prove his innocence-but first he must convince his daughter, whose testimony helped put him behind bars, that he has damning evidence of a plot to frame him.
Claire is no longer the naïve teenager who arrived home to find her mother and her mother's lover shot dead and her father holding the murder weapon. She's a successful fraud investigator who assumes everyone lies. Though Claire is convinced of her father's guilt, curiosity propels her to look into the disappearance of a law student who claimed to have proof of Tom's innocence. But seeking answers only leads to more questions, reinforcing Claire's belief that there's no one left to trust.
Obsessed with the O'Brien case, FBI agent Mitch Bianchi befriends Claire under false pretenses, certain that Tom is not only innocent but in grave danger-and not just from the cops. As the three race toward the truth, a murderous conspiracy tightens its noose-and Claire becomes the target of an ice-cold psychopath who will kill to protect his secrets.
Since I'm always eager to discover new authors, especially in the romantic suspense genre, I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, based on Playing Dead I won't be adding Allison Brennan to my "must read" list. I feel that the book has quite a few flaws and that its positive aspects aren't enough to convince me to overlook them.
Let me start with the things I did like. The technical aspects of the story, such as legal issues and forensics, were nicely done. They are precise and fully addressed so that the reader has all the relevant information without being bogged down or distracted from the storyline. I also liked the pace of both the dialog and the story itself. I hate books that have tons of extraneous information or, even worse, conversations that take up so many pages you wonder how the characters have time to do anything else. There are a lot of details and characters in this book so swiftness to take action on all points is critical in keeping track.
My first thought upon finishing this book was "why is this labeled as romantic suspense?" Reading Playing Dead brought to mind authors such as Patricia Cornwell and David Baldacci versus Anne Stuart or Linda Howard. While there is an established relationship between the two lead characters it is a secondary, if not tertiary, element. There is little time or attention devoted to it relative to the whole. As this is my first book by Ms. Brennan I have to wonder if her previous works have strong romantic elements. After all, authors are assigned to genres just as much as individual books are. No matter the case, the story was different than I had expected based on the description.
While it isn't difficult to follow the plot of this book I did have trouble trying to figure out the author's intentions. The way it is written made me unsure of what was intentionally revealed to the reader and what was suppose to be a surprise. For instance, I knew within the first quarter of the book who "the assassin" is, but I have no idea if I should have. The way his identity is revealed at the end makes me think that perhaps I was supposed to be held in suspense, but with the information provided through his point of view it's impossible to stay in the dark that long.
I had problems connecting with the hero and heroine of this book because, while a lot of background is given, neither is fleshed out well. I cared about the resolution of the story but not the characters themselves, making it an intellectual rather than engaging read for me.
But my major problem with this book were the antagonists. In addition to the assassin there are three principal criminals at work. These three have been partners in crime for 30 years and how they managed to avoid arrest for that length of time is the true mystery of this story. These guys were so overzealous about not being caught at they had everyone but the FBI in their pockets. One of them even states this quite clearly to another. I find it impossible to believe that so many people had damaging information and only one of them uttered so much as a peep in three decades. I can't feel any real threat from men who leave a paper trail that practically screams "Hey you, over here! Look at me!" and then when, much to their surprise, someone notices they think the solution to their problem is to just kill off everyone they've ever met. Okay, so that's an obvious exaggeration, but just about how I felt by the end.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, I had high hopes for Playing Dead, and while there are certainly things I liked about it, I'm afraid I can only give it two out of five stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Playing Dead
Comment: excellent book, I didn't want to put it down. Allison Brennan is off to a great career.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reviews by Nan Kilar - This is so-so
Comment: Lots of characters to keep track of while trying to figure out who's doing all the killing. Fifteen years ago, Tom O'Brien was convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Now he's a fugitive back in Sacramento trying to prove his innocence and reconnect with his grown daughter. FBI agent Mitch Bianchi befriends Claire O'Brien under false pretenses to try to recapture her dad. A law student who was reviewing Tom's original case finds errors in the proceedings and ends up dead. Claire and the FBI try to follow the law student's leads and the twisted plot eventually unravels.
I had never read this author before and won't rush out to buy any more of her books. There are several subplots that the author eventually ties together after jumping around from plot to plot.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Review
Comment: Claire O'Brien knows all about liars. Her father, Tom is still lying even after being convicted fifteen years ago of murdering her mom and her mom's lover. Claire is now all grown up. Claire has only one regret and that is testifying against her father. Maybe that's why Claire wants so bad to believe her father is innocent, especially when Claire learns her father has escaped prison but is Claire setting herself up for a big heartache putting faith in her father. FBI agent, Mitch Bianchi has been following the O'Brien case for a long time, so when he sees his chance to get close to Claire he seizes the opportunity.
Unfortunately the more time Mitch spends with Claire, the harder it is for him to keep his secrets from her. All of Claire's digging makes her the prime target for a serial psychopath that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Playing Dead is the third and final book in Allison Brennan's Prison Break trilogy. I have enjoyed reading this trilogy, though I have to say not as much as Ms. Brennan's No Evil series. This book started out good and ended on a high note. I was glad to see that Claire was no wall flower, just because she was surrounded by lots of male testosterone. The mystery that FBI agents bring to the table I think really makes them sexy as well as attractive. Mitch definitely had both qualities, which made him a great male lead character in this story. I have been hooked on Ms. Brennan's book since I read her No Evil series and still remain a fan. I can't wait for her next series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fast paced suspense thriller.
Comment: Playing Dead is the final book in the Prison Break Trilogy but in my opinion it is a stand alone book. There are quite a few references to things that occurred in the previous books but not so much that I was lost since I hadn't read the previous books.
Fifteen years ago, Claire O'Brien's mother and her lover were brutally murdered. Claire's father Tom, a police officer, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. During a recent earthquake Tom, along with other fugitives, escaped from San Quentin and now in addition to hunting down and turning in his fellow escapees Tom has to prove his innocence to the one person that matters...his daughter, Claire.
Claire never believed his claim of innocence and she did her best to shut him out of her life. She sees the world as right and wrong and doesn't have any interest in listening to her father's pleas until she learns that the one person who believed Tom was murdered as he got too close to the truth behind the murders.
FBI agent Mitch Bianchi also has a stake in finding out the truth. He's befriended Claire under false pretenses and has fallen in love with her. As Claire starts investigating the crime, Mitch can't share with her who he really is and all he can do is hope to keep her safe while finding out what really happened fifteen years ago.
This was a fast paced read with a lot of twists and turns. I loved the way the truth slowly weaves together all the side characters in the story. The killer's identity was a complete surprise to me which rarely happens with most suspense books I read. I loved the writing style and I definitely want to go back and read books one and two. I highly recommend this to all romantic suspense lovers.
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