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  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407008837
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 416

Play Dead

(Byrne & Balzano 4)




A serial killer is on the loose. No one is safe. The fourth thriller in the gripping Byrne and Balzano series by the Sunday Times bestseller.

In each soul, a secret ...

Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano's first assignment from the Cold Case files is the brutal murder of a young runaway. The lifeless body of Caitlin O'Riordan was found carefully posed in a glass display case in the desolate Philadelphia Badlands but, as Byrne and Balzano rapidly discover, she was just the first pawn in the killer's twisted game...

A mysterious phone call leads them on a scavenger hunt for a second victim. This time a young girl has been dismembered, her body parts left in three boxes in the basement of a deserted house. More clues lead to other victims and, as the body count rises, it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose, hell-bent on completing the 'performance' of a lifetime.

As more runaways vanish, Byrne and Balzano come to realize that the homicidal mastermind plans to complete seven depraved tricks in his dark and dangerous magic act. With Balzano increasingly obsessed by a case that haunts her, and Byrne struggling with a loss of his own, the stakes are mounting. But this is one game they can't afford to lose...

  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407008837
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 416

About the author

Richard Montanari

Richard Montanari is a Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a freelance writer for many years, during which time he was published in more than two hundred publications - including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, the Seattle Times, and many others. An international bestseller his books have been published in over twenty-five languages. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

To find out more about Richard Montanari visit his website at www.richardmontanari.com

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Praise for Play Dead

[A] tale of mystery, death and good versus evil

Press Association

Montanari's superior thriller...[is] a welcome change from the gore typical of the serial killer subgenre. Likewise, Byrne and Balzano possess a psychological depth all too rare in such fiction

Publishers Weekly