Play Dead by Angela Marsons

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

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…?

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When I got the chance last week to listen to an audiobook from Bookouture was this the one I picked. I have read all the previous books and I do have an ARC of it, but I've been trying to listen to audiobooks at work since I will be working all summer long. So, I thought this would be perfect, getting to the latest book in the Kim Stone series and also get a book read/listen to from my NetGalley pile. It's a win-win situation! 

This book actually took me by surprise. I have, to be honest, had a bit of a problem with Kim Stone, her attitude has rubbed me the wrong way many times during the previous three books, but I never had a problem with her listening to this book. I can't figure out of it was the narrator that made me like her more or the story. In this book, well I started to warm up to her. It could be that Jan Cramer, the narrator of the book somehow conveyed Kim in  a way that made me feel less annoyed and more understanding. But, I also think that Kim is starting to, if not breaking down her walls, letting people a bit closer? Or perhaps one could say that Barney, her dog, is the one that has made her more "human". In any way, I came to like her very much and I liked her passion for justice for those that had died in this book. 

Anyway, I will not spoil the story in the book, but I want to say that the book hooked from the first second and then kept my interest all the way through a couple of working days. To be honest, I looked forward to working so that I could listen to more of the book and I was even tempted to skip breakfast with my colleagues to listen more today. The case was tragic and intense to listen to and I can't say that I figure it all out, some things I suspected and I was right, but I was also surprised at the ending of the book.

It was such a thrilling book that I could do nothing but award it with the highest rating. I was never disappointed with the story, oh well one thing and that concern Daniel Bate and Kim. I enjoyed their banter throughout the book so much that I had to try hard to not smile as a fool at work and scare the workers there and I hope that Daniel will be back in future books. I simply adore Daniel and his gorgeous Scottish accent (thank you, Jan Cramer, you did a marvelous job with Daniel) and to have them end it this way, well I would be really disappointed!

Listening to this book was marvelous and I'm right now sad that there are no more Kim Stone books to read/listen to for me and I hope book 5 soon will be released!

I want to thank Bookouture for providing me with a free copy to listen to!