Play Dead by Angela Marsons

Play Dead by Angela Marsons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 2 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Sphere

Source - The Works

Blurb from Goodreads

The dead don't tell secrets... unless you listen.

The girl's smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess. Westerley research facility is not for the faint-hearted. A 'body farm' investigating human decomposition, its inhabitants are corpses in various states of decay. But when Detective Kim Stone and her team discover the fresh body of a young woman, it seems a killer has discovered the perfect cover to bury their crime.

Then a second girl is attacked and left for dead, her body drugged and mouth filled with soil. It's clear to Stone and the team that a serial killer is at work - but just how many bodies will they uncover? And who is next? As local reporter, Tracy Frost, disappears, the stakes are raised. The past seems to hold the key to the killer's secrets - but can Kim uncover the truth before a twisted, damaged mind claims another victim ...?



My Review

This is book four in the series, you would manage this as a standalone but I would say to read the previous three. You get better insight into the characters, their background and they are just really good books. DI Kim Stone and crew are headed to a body farm, ordered by the boss the team reluctantly go and come across a body that shouldn't be there. When it soon becomes apparent they have a serial on their hands the team is pushed to get to the bottom of it before another life is taken.

The book splits into two, the murders/police investigation and an unknown character (written in italics) we don't hear often from them but as the book progresses we get a bit more clarity of what is the point. Stone has to find out who the victim is, why someone would have so much rage toward them and what the motivation could possibly be. Whilst dealing with that she also has a journalist under her feet, Tracy Frost, Tracy has a nose for these things and wants the scoop, regardless.

I love Stone and her team dynamics, even snarky encounters she deals with them brilliantly and always the champion for the victim. What I liked about this book (as well as the norm stuff we see from Marsons) was the body farm stuff, what they do, different tests on the subjects, it isn't something you really ever think about. Action packed as per, relationships, police investigation, dead bodies, serial killer what more could you want? 4/5 for me, I have the rest in the series on my shelves, cannot wait to see what is next for Stone and the team.

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