Review: PLAY DEAD, Angela Marsons

My Take:

This is the 4th title in the Kim Stone series and probably the most grisly. 

A university professor has set up a body farm, designed to allow forensic scientists to gather data about what happens to a body exposed to the elements after death. The bodies are generally donated by relatives, following the wish of the deceased for their body to be donated to science. He finds a body that he did not plant.

The writing in this series has become more assured with each new title. Kim Stone herself has grown in stature, and she is surrounded by the strongly drawn characters of her team. There are characters that persist from one title to the next, and in this one Kim's media nemesis Tracy Frost plays a very strong role.

The structure of the novel is interesting as there are chapters narrated from three main points of view, and the reader needs to decide who these voices are. 

Marsons has continued with her central theme of criminal damage done to children. There is a little more background to Kim's childhood, explaining why she sometimes crosses the boundaries and becomes personally involved in the investigations.

As you can tell I really enjoyed this one. I really read it in one sitting, actually a very long plane flight across the Pacific, hoping desperately that my Kindle was not going to go flat before I got to the end.

My Rating: 4.9