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.
