Read by Madeleine Lambert

"Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?" The perfume-scented letter that turns Tommie McCloud's world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father's death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter-and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago. Tommie wants to believe it's all a hoax, but suddenly the girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself inextricably linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished-and the very real threats that still remain. "Impressive…her debut's most striking feature is Tommie's narrative voice, which is so winning and vivacious." "Tommie McCloud is the kind of character that every female reader ends up wanting as a sister of best friend-a friend of passionate loyalties, a no-nonsense woman who doesn't possess the insincerity gene, a not-too-girly Texas spitfire…feverishly compelling…Heaberlin tells the story with whip-smart dialogue, an insistent pace and keen wit; it's irresistible enough that I sped through all three hundred-plus pages in one sitting." "Tommie is a smart, sassy, loving, and doggedly persistent narrator in this fast-moving mystery that occasionally tugs at the heartstrings. A promising debut." " Playing Dead combines Texas and noir in unexpectedly wonderful ways, with a refreshingly real heroine and a plot that moves and twists with the unpredictability of a rodeo bull." "As Heaberlin leads the reader through several complex threads, her fast-paced narrative rarely flags." "Heroine Tommie McCloud is scrappy, sassy, and has a heart as big as her home state of Texas." "I loved Playing Dead…Best fiction I've read in a very, very long time."

Mode of access: World Wide Web