Playing Dead (Prison Break, Book 3)

Lots of characters to keep track of while trying to figure out who's doing all the killing. Fifteen years ago, Tom O'Brien was convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Now he's a fugitive back in Sacramento trying to prove his innocence and reconnect with his grown daughter. FBI agent Mitch Bianchi befriends Claire O'Brien under false pretenses to try to recapture her dad. A law student who was reviewing Tom's original case finds errors in the proceedings and ends up dead. Claire and the FBI try to follow the law student's leads and the twisted plot eventually unravels.

I had never read this author before and won't rush out to buy any more of her books. There are several subplots that the author eventually ties together after jumping around from plot to plot.

Claire O'Brien knows all about liars. Her father, Tom is still lying even after being convicted fifteen years ago of murdering her mom and her mom's lover. Claire is now all grown up. Claire has only one regret and that is testifying against her father. Maybe that's why Claire wants so bad to believe her father is innocent, especially when Claire learns her father has escaped prison but is Claire setting herself up for a big heartache putting faith in her father. FBI agent, Mitch Bianchi has been following the O'Brien case for a long time, so when he sees his chance to get close to Claire he seizes the opportunity.

Unfortunately the more time Mitch spends with Claire, the harder it is for him to keep his secrets from her. All of Claire's digging makes her the prime target for a serial psychopath that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.

Playing Dead is the third and final book in Allison Brennan's Prison Break trilogy. I have enjoyed reading this trilogy, though I have to say not as much as Ms. Brennan's No Evil series. This book started out good and ended on a high note. I was glad to see that Claire was no wall flower, just because she was surrounded by lots of male testosterone. The mystery that FBI agents bring to the table I think really makes them sexy as well as attractive. Mitch definitely had both qualities, which made him a great male lead character in this story. I have been hooked on Ms. Brennan's book since I read her No Evil series and still remain a fan. I can't wait for her next series.

Playing Dead is the final book in the Prison Break Trilogy but in my opinion it is a stand alone book. There are quite a few references to things that occurred in the previous books but not so much that I was lost since I hadn't read the previous books.

Fifteen years ago, Claire O'Brien's mother and her lover were brutally murdered. Claire's father Tom, a police officer, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. During a recent earthquake Tom, along with other fugitives, escaped from San Quentin and now in addition to hunting down and turning in his fellow escapees Tom has to prove his innocence to the one person that matters...his daughter, Claire.

Claire never believed his claim of innocence and she did her best to shut him out of her life. She sees the world as right and wrong and doesn't have any interest in listening to her father's pleas until she learns that the one person who believed Tom was murdered as he got too close to the truth behind the murders.

FBI agent Mitch Bianchi also has a stake in finding out the truth. He's befriended Claire under false pretenses and has fallen in love with her. As Claire starts investigating the crime, Mitch can't share with her who he really is and all he can do is hope to keep her safe while finding out what really happened fifteen years ago.

This was a fast paced read with a lot of twists and turns. I loved the way the truth slowly weaves together all the side characters in the story. The killer's identity was a complete surprise to me which rarely happens with most suspense books I read. I loved the writing style and I definitely want to go back and read books one and two. I highly recommend this to all romantic suspense lovers.

15 years ago, police officer Tom O'Brien was convicted of killing his cheating wife and her lover, shooting them in bed after he comes home from work in the middle of the day and finds them together. Even worse, from his point of view, is the fact that his daughter walks in and see him and the dead bodies and believes that he is guilty of the crime. But, of course, he is not; rather he is the victim of an elaborate frame. Just weeks before his scheduled execution, he escapes from prison during an earthquake. While attempting to elude capture by the FBI, he has two goals; first to follow up on the visit from a law student who claims he has evidence of O'Brien's innocence, and most importantly, to try to convince his now grown and PI investigator daughter that he did not kill her mother. Actually, the two goals will mesh, because, of course, the daughter will want to get involved in the investigation.
A dangerous situation for all..

While on the surface this is the sort of book that is right up my alley, sadly I can't say that I enjoyed it a great deal. The reason comes down mainly to the characters. First, there were two many. As the story unfolds, in what I found a rather confusing way, there were any number of indistinct minor characters that were hard to keep straight, with a number of interconnected subplots that were also hard to keep straight.
But the main problem comes down to the main characters, his daughter Claire and Agent Bianchi. I just never really felt connected to them nor bought into their connection to each other. The evidence to support that just was not there for me and without it, I had a problem staying interested in the outcome.

To my mind, what raises a book from the mediocre to the very good is the twists and turns the author entices us on. We find ourself being led one way...only to discover the path leads, very cleverly, somewhere else altogether. Facts are given, hints dropped, that have us saying when the story reaches the conclusion "But of course! Why didn't I see it...of course, he/she did it!"
Such is not the case in this book. It plods forward and reaches a conclusion that just seemed overly complicated and not 'fair' from what we were told throughout the story. But by that point, I really wasn't all that interested.
Playing Dead....just an Ok book for me.

Claire O'Brien is a successful fraud investigator, assuming that they are all guilty until proven otherwise. After her father went to prison, she wouldn't, and hasn't really, trusted anyone. As she goes out to investigate a suspicious fire, her father surprises her, begging for help. He doesn't care if he ends up back in prison, he doesn't care that in four weeks, he'll walk that stretch of corridor knowing he wouldn't be coming back. What he cares about is that he doesn't go to his grave without Claire knowing the truth ~ that he never killed her mother or her lover. That he was framed.

But the begging fell on deaf ears. Until, that is, when Claire found a letter from her father in her home office. That letter let curiosity out of the bag, and Claire began her own investigation. The more questions she posed, the more questions than answers she got back, and the more runaround the received, the more she believed that her father really was innocent.

Meanwhile, Mitch (FBI agent - we've met him in the first two books in the trilogy) had befriended Claire, hoping to get close to her, truly believing that her father would eventually contact her. What he didn't plan on was falling in love with her. Now the question is - will he be able to keep her alive and prove that her father really is innocent when a psychopath made it clear he wants Claire - dead?

Even though I enjoyed the first two novels in the series, this was the perfect ending to the trilogy. Gripping, chilling, suspenseful, you truly won't be able to put the book down. You'll pick it right back up.

You're sucked into the story and follow along with Claire as she tries to piece together what had happened 15 years ago. What and why. You really feel what Claire and Mitch feel for each other, including their inner battles. Great action, tenseful scenes, an excellent mystery. Plenty of colourful characters, but not too many; just the right amount that you knew exactly who all the players were - except for one.

The more questions Claire poses, the more questions she comes up with that are left unanswered. And the more you twist and turn into the story, the more you think you believe who the psycho is that's after Claire. And I was so sure of myself, so darn sure. And I was off, way off... And I adore it when an author does that to me. If an author leaves me completely clueless until you find out exactly who it is, or all clues point to someone else and you're totally wrong in your assumption, to me... the best romantic suspense thrillers around.

Allison Brennan is definitely an author not to ignore! I can't wait for her next trilogy!