How to Play Dead

How to Play Dead – AD sent for review

disclosure:  we were sent the item mentioned in exchange for an honest review

There are times when you’re only a few pages into a book and you just know it’s going to be a cracker.  How to Play Dead by Jacqueline Ward, is just such a book.  Published through Corvus on 7th November, it’s one of my favourite reads from 2019.

How to Play Dead

In How to Play Dead we meet Ria Taylor, the manager of a women’s refuge, who is also a wife and mother.  She clearly had a difficult time at home and has a strained relationship with her mother.  Her racist father disowned her when she introduced him to her future husband, Danny.

We also meet Tanya, a woman who is clearly living in an abusive and controlling relationship with Alan.

The story is told in turn by each of the women and at the start, you can’t see how they are connected.

Ria’s husband is working in Dubai, trying to save some money to get his family out of debt and to give them the chance to buy their own home.  She’s fighting to keep the refuge open amidst funding cuts and then one day she finds a strange mobile in her bag and a message that will leave her looking over her shoulder in the days ahead.

Who is stalking her?

How to Play Dead really sucks you in, you become invested in the lives of the abused women and their families and in Ria’s struggle to face her past and save her future.  Then there is Tanya, who is obviously in serious danger.

I don’t want to write anything else about the plot, as I don’t want to spoil it, but this is such a good read, I can thoroughly recommend it.  I’ve included my Amazon Affiliate link below in case you fancy adding it to your own bookshelf.  (I do earn from qualifying purchases).

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