Book Review: Play Dead by David Rosenfelt

Play Dead by David Rosenfelt
Warner Books
308 Pages
Copyright 2007

Andy Carpenter is a defense attorney... when he wants to be. Ever since he inherited 22 million dollars from his father, however, he rarely wants to be. He instead spends his time watching games on TV, visiting his girlfriend, spending time with his beloved Golden Retriever, Tara, and running his dog rescue operation, The Tara Foundation. It isn’t a bad life, overall.

Things become complicated when, while rescuing dogs from the Passaic County Animal Shelter, he finds another Golden Retrieve scheduled to be destroyed for biting his owner. A neighbor boy, however, reported that the dog’s ‘owner’ was constantly kicking and beating the dog. That and the dog’s gentle disposition immediately sets Andy off on a crusade to save the dog’s life.

Once the dog has been saved, another complication arrives in the form of Karen Evans, an exuberant young woman who says the dog’s real name is Reggie... and he supposedly drown five years earlier when her brother murdered his fiancee while out on his boat, threw the dog overboard, and then took enough pills to kill himself. Unfortunately for Richard Evans, the Coast Guard saves his life and he was quickly convicted of murder in the death of the fiancee.

Using the fact that Reggie didn’t drown, Andy is able to win a new trial for Richard but quickly realizes that all he knows about the case is the simple fact that he knows nothing about the case. Strange things begin to happen almost immediately, including the fact that two men try to kill Andy – one of whom supposedly died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan while in the military. The government seems overly interested in the case, going to the extreme by bugging Andy’s home. After it becomes apparent that the fiancee, Stacy Harriman, wasn’t who she claimed to be, Andy knows the answer lies in sorting her mysterious past out. But, can he do it before anyone else dies, especially someone he cares about?

Play Dead is the sixth book in the Andy Carpenter series. Andy is a rather obnoxious, overly sarcastic character that can, at times, be hard to take. Rosenfelt’s stories, on the other hand, are interesting, complex, and easy to read. His repeat characters are also interesting, but again, can be over-blown at times, but not to the point of spoiling the story. He’s got the hard-nosed cop, the gruff newspaper guy, the dumb-but-tough bodyguard and the fiercely loyal girlfriend, along with a handful of others; all of whom are worth getting to know.

As an aside – I discovered this book in my TBR pile where I’d forgotten all about it. So, that’s one of about 140 down...

Recommendation: It’s a good series and the mysteries have always been intriguing. Rosenfelt, however, writes in the first person, present tense, which may be a bit difficult to adjust to but I barely noticed it in this book. Play Dead is an excellent addition to the list.