Play Dead by Angela Marsons

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 …?


Angela Marsons has taken the title for my favourite crime thriller author, with each book she releases the storyline just gets more twisted and sinister with each one and her latest release Play Dead is no exception.

Detective Kim Stone is back with another disturbing case to solve. Whilst Kim and her team are at Westerley where the study of the human body after death takes place they never expected to come across a fresh body of a woman whose face has been beaten in and her mouth full of soil. As Kim and her team begin to put the pieces together to work out the identity of the girl it isn’t long before another body is found in the same state as the first other than this one is still alive but can they find the answers they need before any more bodies turn up?

This was completely and utterly gripping and unpredictable. The detail and descriptions used makes this such a vivid and gritty read.

Kim Stone is such a marvellous character and although we see little kinks in her armour from time to time which show us that this flawed but loveable character is human after all she still keeps her strong, focused and passionate persona on show. We meet many new characters in this book all who are well developed and some who were suspicious too but we are also rejoined by some of my favourite characters who have been in the previous books too which I loved.

The amount of research that the author must do for each of her books shine through in her storylines in great detail. I cannot believe that this series of books have not been snapped up for a T.V series yet they are screaming out to grace our screens. The authors storylines are just perfection, everything you could want in a dark, twisted crime thriller. I am sure I sound like a broken record when reviewing Angela Marsons books but they are all flawless and not one have had anything about them that I haven’t enjoyed.

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