Playing Dead, Julia Heaberlin
Playing Dead, Julia Heaberlin
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Playing Dead
A Novel of Suspense

Author: Julia Heaberlin

Narrator: Madeleine Lambert

Unabridged: 10 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2012

Synopsis

“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.

About Julia Heaberlin

Julia Heaberlin is a novelist and an award-winning journalist who has worked at the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, Detroit News, and the Dallas Morning News. Her book Black-Eyed Susans was a London Sunday Times Top Five bestseller.

About Madeleine Lambert

Madeleine Lambert received her MFA in acting from Brown University and Trinity Rep. Her performances at Trinity Repertory Company include Shelby in Steel Magnolias and Belle in A Christmas Carol. Madeleine graduated with honors from Duke University with majors in theater studies and English and a minor in French. She attended the School at Steppenwolf in Chicago.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sherry

For a bright girl, Tommie McCloud is pretty dense. When a letter arrives from a stranger after her father's death claiming that Tommie is her kidnapped daughter, she really should have put the pieces together a lot more quickly. Apparently she slept through her Ph.D. program in Psychology--worn out,......more

Goodreads review by Joanne

I've just read some reviews of this book on here & i'm astounded that some people gave it 5 stars .... FIVE !! WTF !! This book is a walking Texas cliche right down to the faded red boots & the ten gallon hats .... Surprise, surprise the men are mean & moody and the women are split right down the mi......more

Goodreads review by Laura

Overall a very good page turner. The plot is a little complicated, but she tyes everything up nicely in the end. The author should have done a little more research on rodeos. The main character was injured when an "eight hundred pound steer stomped on my wrist 14 years ago in a rodeo arena in Lubboc......more

Quotes

“Impressive…her debut’s most striking feature is Tommie’s narrative voice, which is so winning and vivacious.” Sunday Times (London)

“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.” Dallas Morning News

“Tommie is a smart, sassy, loving, and doggedly persistent narrator in this fast-moving mystery that occasionally tugs at the heartstrings. A promising debut.” Booklist

“ 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.” Susanna Kearsley, New York Times bestselling author

“As Heaberlin leads the reader through several complex threads, her fast-paced narrative rarely flags.” Detroit News

“Heroine Tommie McCloud is scrappy, sassy, and has a heart as big as her home state of Texas.” Heather Gudenkauf, USA Today bestselling author

“I loved Playing Dead…Best fiction I’ve read in a very, very long time.” Taylor Stevens, New York Times bestselling author

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