Book Review: Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin

I've started participating in TLC Book Tours, reviewing only books that really interest me. I love a good suspense novel, so I said yes to reviewing Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin. Here's a summary of what the book's about:

“Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?”

The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago. Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana.

Tommie races along a twisting,nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain.

Here are my thoughts on the novel:

This novel kept me riveted, wondering how these random and seemingly unrelated acts were related. Heaberlin did a good job of keeping you guessing down to the end, yet revealing enough along the way to not leave you feeling desperate to find out something. That's the hallmark of a good suspense writer to me. Also, Heaberlin is a good writer. There were some descriptions and observations on life that I had to go back and read again.

If you're looking for a good read this summer and enjoy suspense-filled books, I would recommend this one.