Englischsprachige Literatur

Heaberlin Julia

Playing Dead

Ballantine/Random House, New York 2012

Galbraith3

Another first novel by an aspiring journalist, this time from Ponder, a small town in Texas, from where she sets out to conquer the world of crime fiction.

Maybe she should first research the spelling of her own probably Swiss family name, before she sends her heroine Tommie on a similar quest. Tommie is the non-conformist daughter of rich landowners.

Her father dies and her mother disappears into dementia, she only has her sister Sadie and her niece Maddie to stand by her, when she receives a mysterious letter, saying she is the daughter of a mafia boss, presently serving time in a high security prison.

Heaberlin´s rather breathless narrative reminds me a bit of Evanovic, with Hudson, an ex-soldier and security man lurking in the background, whenever the situation gets too dangerous for Tommie to handle. The story twists and turns and asks for a lot of believing, as nobody is what they seem, but in the end Tommie can rush into Hudson´s arms and all the secrets are solved. A good read!