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Play Dead (Unabridged)
 
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Play Dead (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by Harlan Coben (Author), Robert Slade (Narrator)
2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
List Price: £35.70
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Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 16 hours and 22 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks
  • Audible Release Date: 21 Oct 2010
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0049HUPEQ
  • Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)

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Product Description

When basketball player David Baskin disappears on honeymoon and a mutilated body, assumed to be his, is discovered, his ex-model wife, Laura, is plagued by questions and doubts. Then a total unknown startles the basketball world with a style of play exactly like Baskin's. As Laura begins to uncover a conspiracy, she risks her life and those around her to uncover the truth before it destroys everyone involved.

A comment from the author:"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.

If you're still here, please know that I haven't read Play Dead in at least twenty years. I didn't want to rewrite it and pass it off as a new book. I hate when authors do that. So this is, for better or worse, the exact book I wrote and published when I was in my twenties, just a naïve lad working in the travel industry and wondering if I should follow my father and brother and go to (shudder) law school.

I'm hard on it, but aren't we all hard on our early stuff? Remember that essay you wrote when you were in school, the one that got you an A-plus, the one your teacher called 'inspired' - and one day you're going through your drawer and you find it and you read it and your heart sinks and you say, 'Man, what was I thinking?' That's how it is with early novels sometimes.

Over the years, I've borrowed a bit from this book - names, places, even a character or two. Close readers may recognize that and will hopefully smile.

Finally, flawed and all, I love this book. There is an energy and risk-taking in Play Dead that I wonder if I still have. Youth, as they say, is wasted on the young. I'm not this guy anymore, but that's okay. None of us are stagnant with our passion and our work. That's a good thing."

©1990 Harlan Coben; (P)2010 WF Howes Ltd
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Obvious drivel 19 Aug 2010
Format:Paperback
I'll keep it brief, which is what I wish the book had been because I've wasted enough time on it already. It is a hopeless plot with flaws a million. Has anyone else noticed how everyone in a hurry 'sprinted' around, (even in a hospital).
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38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Do not buy this book 23 Aug 2010
By Andy Edwards TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I thought I had read everything Harlan Coben had written, having enjoyed most of his output, although it is fair to say that the more recent novels had become more predictable, with obvious plot repeats from earlier novels, and few new ideas. Still, they were usually worth reading, until this.

This is the first book ever written by Coben, and it might just have been his last had he not improved - this is simply dreadful. Hackneyed phrasing, predictable, slow, laughable characterisation, and so many holes in the plot that I stopped noticing them. This is simply one of the worst books I have ever attempted to read - I lost patience about 200 pages in and skimmed the rest just to see if it improved - it didn't.

Had I not been on holiday and been a fan of some of Coben's books I wouldn't have bothered - do not waste your hard earned money on this cynical cash in.

I was so incensed at the way Coben was exploiting his fans by issuing this that I emailed him (from his website) asking why he had allowed this to be published. To his credit he responded, (by quoting 2 positive emails he had received) but completely ignored the point about cashing in on his status. Coben is now up there (down there??) with James Patterson as authors I avoid due to their disregard for their fans and their grubby pursuit of a quick buck
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Truly awful 19 Jan 2011
By Stevo
Format:Kindle Edition
My wife bought me this as a present because I have read quite a few of his other novels. Having not bought it myself I didn't see any reviews so just got stuck straight into it. From the very beginning it was a struggle. It reads like it was written by a 13 year old girl. Amateurish prose, simplistic dialogue, totally unbelieveable characterisation. The reviews under the cover cannot be for this book - I just don't believe it and that is really disappointing. I am aware this is the first novel he wrote and he has put it out there in original form - my question is why?
He claims he hates writers who re-hash old stuff and put it out as new material - isn't that better than producing this drivel though? If the idea was to really air this work in it's original form as a fun kind of look back at how bad writing can be then fine - give the book away as a freebie on Kindle.
If you haven't bought this yet then my advice is don't. If you are really determined to put yourself through it then it will be on the shelves of all your local charity shops and you can pick it up for next to nothing, but seriously you should give it a miss.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Don't be too hard on this book!!!!!
The author himself puts a caveat on this book, clearly stating that it was his first attempt, as a young man in his early 20's, to see if he could write. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Avid reader
Well, I enjoyed it!
Having read a couple of HC's Books and finding it hard to put them down, I sought out reviews of his others to help make my next choice of read. Read more
Published 16 days ago by M. Kersey
Verbose but good story
There's a telling remark from Harlan Coben at the beginning of this novel that says read another book! That's because it's his first and he feels he's written better. Read more
Published 2 months ago by freedomrulesok
my first
this was my first harlen corben book given to me on holiday i found it hard to put down despite having read other reviews of this author some not so good i was enthralled from... Read more
Published 3 months ago by cabbie
The art of cashing in.
The only positive to this book is the intro by the author explaining this was a first novel and should be viewed as such. However this begs the question why publish it at all? Read more
Published 4 months ago by apeonaut
Poor - early, bad work
As other reviewers have said, this is released in appearance like the more modern, better novels but is early and poor. Read more
Published 6 months ago by thegoodbook
GEAT FIRST NOVEL
My attention was drawn to this author after reading all of Michael Connolly's books (The Drop being his most recent and one of his best)

Like with MC I decided to tackle... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Richmond designer
please do not buy this book if you like Harlan Coben
This is such awful rubbish, did his mom read Cartland books to him when he was a baby ?
He should be ashamed to release this under his own name. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sally Jane Cronin
Sooo boring !
This is by far the worst book i have read this year. I should have taken the authors advice in the preface and not read it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. P. Murphy
Pretty poor, but not as awful as you'd think
I think I've read nearly all of his other novels; I picked this up second-hand, and after reading the author's preface ["Okay, if this is the first book of mine you're going to... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mark audio tech
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