While I definitely found Marsons writing and plot development has gotten stronger and more refined the longer she's gone with this series, the crime itself didn't grip me and enthrall me the way her previous works did. I found it lacking in suspense, despite it's intricacies and cleverness.

You get some Body Farm action, murder and revenge and good ole fashioned police work led by everyone's favourite emotionally stunted detective, Kim Stone. Backed by a familiar cast of characters who bring humanity and support to Stone's gritty determination.

There's a lot of overlapping plot and detail to this novel, something I very much appreciate in mystery wrting. More details of Stone's personal history, characters you perhaps weren't expecting to see again, a couple of twists and off-the-wall revelations to really keep it interesting the whole way through.

I will say I'm starting to get a little worn on Stone's abrasive and asocial personality. It's an interesting jumping off point for book one, no doubt, but there needs be growth. And I feel she's just not moving forward in terms of character development. It's a tad disappointing when there is such great potential for where this woman could go if she would just evolve.

Fans of the series, or genre in general, will no doubt like/love this. I'm just looking for a little more of Stone's future, and less of her past, so 3.5 stars rounded up.

I have read other enthusiastic and glowing reviews of 'Play Dead' by Angela Marsons, the fourth in the DC Kim Stone series, and it was very good with all loose ends tied up neatly at its conclusion; however I have a certain amount of scepticism towards the genre of detective thrillers in general, which I think colours my final rating, as I rate 'Play Dead,' somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. The genre depends heavily on coincidence, and unfortunately, as each 'clue' arises for the typically *amazing* detective team to find I find myself dwelling more on the probability of the events and sequences, than the actual story itself. That said, the setting of Westerley, a secret research facility studying the effects of decomposition on dead bodies is a weirdly fascinating setting for the discovery of three female victims - two brutally murdered and the third left fighting for her life. As intelligent links are made and conclusions drawn, a surprising fourth victim seems inevitable as DC Stone races against the clock to solve the case and trap the killer before he makes his final move.
I have to say that the ending was a complete surprise to me as I had no clue what the final revelation would be, staged as it was in the dark between the open graves of two of the rotting corpses used for research.
To sum, suitably gruesome and well written from the perspectives of the Detective Constable, the murderer and the victims themselves with (unless you're good at solving crime fiction - which I'm not) a surprise revelation at the end.

This is the 4th book in what is fast becoming one of my favourite crime series. Whilst it can be read as a standalone, personally I would recommend reading all the books in order as they are all wonderful. Once again we meet DI Kim Stone and her team who have been sent over to Westerley, a forensic research centre that has been assisting the police in cold cases. This is also known as a body farm (wtf?) where they study decomposing bodies that have been left to medical research (so gross). Once the team arrive and are being shown around the facility they discover the fresh body of a young woman beaten to death. Suddenly a routine site visit becomes the subject of a murder investigation especially when more bodies start appearing. Once again Angela Marson has created some rather twisted killers and a gripping storyline which is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages eager to find out what/who/where! A solid 5 stars from me and can’t wait to read the next book in this series.