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Play Dead |
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 Play Dead byLeo Atkins Berkley Prime Crime 272 pages, 2000 ISBN 0425173623 Reviewed by Diane Gotfryd Ten pages into this book and you’ll be checking the cover to make sure it’s not by Carl Hiaasen. In PLAY DEAD, his second book in the series, Atkins has mastered the sarcastic, gritty, fast-paced style and dialogue that make Hiaasen’s earliest books so enjoyable. Atkins’ protagonist, a former CIA agent, is the strong, silent type nursing a painful separation from his only child. Connor Gibbs fills in the empty hours by putting himself out for hire as a chivalrous private investigator, except he doesn’t always get paid. The detestable villains are readily identifiable; there are no last minute revelations that change the harmless guy next door into a monster. Children are written as reasoning adults able to make decisions, and a potential love interest is described as gaunt. These hard edges are typical of the author’s style. At home in North Carolina, Gibbs is approached by Leontine Chevalier, who has an unusual request he doesn’t quite believe. She wants him to prevent her from killing a local gangster who idolizes vicious dogs. Two of his dogs recently put her young son in the hospital. Although she took care of the beasts herself in a refreshing manner, the owner has acquired another nasty pair. Gibbs falls in with Leontine’s plan to live in her trailer as a preventive measure. The gangster, hearing he is being protected from a mere female, puts a contract out on Leontine and Gibbs just to avoid being made an object of ridicule by his underworld pals. Atkins spends a lot of time on his characters and we believe this plot. Where’s the mystery, you ask? Atkins doesn’t have one, and we really don’t care. Like watching a movie, we just enjoy letting the action roll before our eyes. I’d rate foul language, political incorrectness and violence as typical for this tough-guy genre. The body count is high. I read one chapter with an eye half-closed for fear something really nasty was about to be described. Nothing affected my lunch, however. Sex? Hardly any - and it is more innuendo than act. The book is a fast read and hard to put down. I could quibble that, at the end, nobody mourns a person we wish hadn’t died; and the too-numerous kids seem cloned. This is a great vacation book for both sexes except that you might miss the sights with your nose stuck in the book. Bring it along if you’re a fast reader. Skip it if you’re a sissy. |
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