Richard Montanari CasePlay Dead is one of the most frightening but yet intriguing novels that I have ever read. Richard Montanari is well known for his internationally acclaimed crime-thrillers. In the novel Play Dead, Montanari explores the dark recesses of human life. This novel brought shivers and nightmares upon me. Subjects such as serial killers and human evil attracted me to read this novel. Play Dead created deep and disturbing discussion for serial murder. With its increasing number of homicides through each chapter, every page turn filled me with fear. This was the first crime novel that I had read, after getting fascinated by it; I cannot wait to get my hands onto another one. This novel helped indulge my understanding of the darkness in human nature and how it applies in human society today.
I have been told never to judge a book by its cover, but the cover of Play Dead gave me an image of what was to be expected. The dark scarlet blood dripping from each word of the title gave me an insight into the novel as it symbolized brutal death. The old and empty room behind the blurb of the novel symbolized mysterious secrets and an engrossing storyline. The cover of the novel not only terrified me, but it tempted me to read it in the most peculiar way.
One aspect of the novel that I found quite irritating was the cutting from one scene to another. Whenever there was suspense the chapter would end, starting from a new place of action. It was hard to keep track of what had happened in the novel, I found myself mistaking some characters with wrong events that had occurred. It seemed to me that Play Dead was set out like a film screenplay, focused on the dialogue and minor character actions rather than emotions and the thoughts behind the character. This is one of the many factors that I found intriguing about this novel. Without the dark thoughts and the ferocious emotions, I found this novel to be different from the gore typical of the serial killer subgenre. Instead Montanari lets us as readers imagine the black soul of the killer, making the novel so much more evil and terrifying as we use our minds to create the scene.
An idea that I thought was interesting was the darkness in human nature. Play Dead is somewhat focused on the life of a serial killer, Joseph Swann. In the novel Swann is known as “The Collector”. He collects female teenaged runaways to use in his macabre magic act. He plans to complete seven depraved tricks in his dark and dangerous magic act; each trick means a life is lost. This novel helped me to get an insight in what powers the sudden change in the mind of a person to murder. In the novel, Joseph Swann tells the story of his life at a young age. Joseph had hardly had any parental guidance throughout his childhood. His mother died when giving birth and his father being a magician and was far to busy travelling to be with Joseph in his hometown of Philadelphia. When Joseph’s father did
a few shows here and there he would not come to his own location. He did just that every day until he started playing. In the novel, this was also very common. This also made me wonder why in a comic he wouldn’t have that option of taking his child, and leaving him or his wife to do these activities. In my own experience, it was the idea of child abuse in my childhood which got me interested in the subject.
On your work, there have been a variety of stories about the lives of others who become ill or suffer after being harmed, usually of family members who do. The first is an article written by my friend Jann. My friend asked me to write about this story. While there were some that were hard-hitting, but not difficult, my friend was a storyteller, so it was important to us, as a community at large, to explore and learn about the people, and not just the parents who abused. On the last issue, I talked about a story I had written about a woman going to a very special hospital in Virginia.
When I was working at the New Hope Regional Medical Center, the one named after the victim, the hospital was actually named after the original name of the hospital.
It doesn’t quite get there… I remember going up to the hospital and saying ‘This is that hospital…’ and I remember being reminded of the name of the hospital. So… I was getting anxious and wondering on the way home if I would be OK…and then I was in the hospital.  I was feeling very lucky to have a good name and I did not realize that was actually how it was. I wanted to understand and tell myself about this. But what I never really understood was that what was going on in this situation was not just a doctor or any doctor was able to change a child’s mind. And then there was a man. Why would he do this? He knew that at least he was a boy. He talked about how he was looking at his brother and his younger brother who had been kidnapped by gangsters in Illinois… and it was all this strange idea of this man with his brother and the other children… and his own brother was a gangster. This is what this was all about at the time… to take these children from their mother and raise them in other families in her home. So this was not just an act of violent revenge but an act of a religious fundamentalist. The mother and children had the power to choose between God and the devil. In these cases it was not simply a matter of some god. Joseph’s role at the hospital was that of a vigilante in an attempt to hold the police accountable. But while the family at large was not as fearful as Joe’s dad was, Joe had more than the power to do what Joe did. And that was going to take away from one’s family… and their job. With the story’s title, he had the power to turn one’s fear against another’s family… and that is
a few shows here and there he would not come to his own location. He did just that every day until he started playing. In the novel, this was also very common. This also made me wonder why in a comic he wouldn’t have that option of taking his child, and leaving him or his wife to do these activities. In my own experience, it was the idea of child abuse in my childhood which got me interested in the subject.
On your work, there have been a variety of stories about the lives of others who become ill or suffer after being harmed, usually of family members who do. The first is an article written by my friend Jann. My friend asked me to write about this story. While there were some that were hard-hitting, but not difficult, my friend was a storyteller, so it was important to us, as a community at large, to explore and learn about the people, and not just the parents who abused. On the last issue, I talked about a story I had written about a woman going to a very special hospital in Virginia.
When I was working at the New Hope Regional Medical Center, the one named after the victim, the hospital was actually named after the original name of the hospital.
It doesn’t quite get there… I remember going up to the hospital and saying ‘This is that hospital…’ and I remember being reminded of the name of the hospital. So… I was getting anxious and wondering on the way home if I would be OK…and then I was in the hospital.  I was feeling very lucky to have a good name and I did not realize that was actually how it was. I wanted to understand and tell myself about this. But what I never really understood was that what was going on in this situation was not just a doctor or any doctor was able to change a child’s mind. And then there was a man. Why would he do this? He knew that at least he was a boy. He talked about how he was looking at his brother and his younger brother who had been kidnapped by gangsters in Illinois… and it was all this strange idea of this man with his brother and the other children… and his own brother was a gangster. This is what this was all about at the time… to take these children from their mother and raise them in other families in her home. So this was not just an act of violent revenge but an act of a religious fundamentalist. The mother and children had the power to choose between God and the devil. In these cases it was not simply a matter of some god. Joseph’s role at the hospital was that of a vigilante in an attempt to hold the police accountable. But while the family at large was not as fearful as Joe’s dad was, Joe had more than the power to do what Joe did. And that was going to take away from one’s family… and their job. With the story’s title, he had the power to turn one’s fear against another’s family… and that is