Blade is running from his past but he gives few clues throughout the book to what that past entails. Blade lives in an unnamed British city, he is homeless, and he breaks into houses and apartments just to sleep, shower, eat, and read books, which helps to humanize him. The writing style is reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange with short, choppy sentences, an unusual slang, and the first person narration is directed at someone he calls “Big Eyes.” The short sentences contribute to the excitement and tension that build throughout the book beginning with when he is seven years old and the “porkers” are questioning him about his role in a traffic incident. Time leaps ahead to when Blade is fourteen and the main action takes place. First he is jumped by a vicious girl gang, and then a Good Samaritan rescues him. But then she is murdered by some thugs who Blade thinks he recognizes from his past, but is she really dead? He realizes he has to leave the city and find a new place to live to escape these people from his past, and winds up allowing a teen mother and her daughter to tag alone. This brutal, violent book is a page turner sure to appeal to reluctant readers, but it leaves more questions than it answers which will hopefully be addressed in the planned six additional sequels. ( )

If this book had been longer, I would have DNFed it. And it was going to get two stars until it had an inconclusive and disappointing ending. The first page was intriguing but it went down hill fast. The narrator speaks directly to the reader but makes the reader a character that could potentially interact with the world. I'm all for breaking the fourth wall but not the reality of the book. If I'm the reader, I can't turn on lights. Also, the style was stream-of-consciousness, running narrative of every action and thought and was so tedious. There was a ton of weird British street urchin slang but then when calling the police, the narrator dialed 9-1-1 (The UK emergency line is 9-9-9.) The emotional barometer was very off: a big twist was mentioned casually but then obsessed over and then not true. I couldn't figure out what to feel. Overall, confusing and boring. I regret sticking with this book. ( )

Playing Dead is a very intense and interesting book. The author is Tim Bowler. I loved this book, because I love adventure books. As a matter of fact, I love going on adventures myself. I think the theme of the book is living in the streets, trying to survive when there are people who want to kill you. A life lesson I learned from this book is to always be aware of your surroundings because Blade is always aware and he's always sees something that the other characters wouldn't notice. The main characters are Blade, Mary, Becky, Jaz. At the beginning of the book Blade meets an old lady named Mary, who really helped him out. Then toward the middle Blade meets Becky and Jaz who is Becky's Daughter. The author really made me feel as though the characters in the book were real because of the descriptions he gave. I think this book is great because of the adventure and intensity in the book, although I only recommend this book for anyone over the age of 12 because there are some parts that may not be suitable for a younger audience. Can't wait for the second one. ( )

Blade: Playing Dead is a fast-paced story of a young man on the run in an English city (presumably London) "Blade" is good with a knife and someone is after him but that's all the reader knows. In the course of the story he is beaten severely by a gang of girls ("trolls"), witnesses a murder-too-late, befriends another runaway girl, rescues her young daughter and spends lots of time running, leaping, hiding out, and hiding from unnamed enemies. The pace is breathless and Blade's hyper vigilance borders on paranoia. The English slang might be off-putting for some readers (why no glossary?) and the book's ending is unsatisfactory... a cliffhanger to set up book #2 Out of the Shadows. Still, this would be great pick for the reluctant reader who likes action and suspense. ( )

Blade is a teenager completely on his own in the big city. He survives by paying attention to details: he knows when people have left for the weekend and sleeps & showers in their house, he knows where to lift wallets and how to escape, he knows where other teenagers live so he can steal clothes that they'll never know are missing. After he suffers a humiliating beating at the hands of a tough girl gang, Blade sees one of the girls murdered-- and unwittingly gets involved with Becky, a 16 year old runaway with a 3 year old daughter, Jaz. Author Tim Fowler uses street language (not obscene), and the story is told through Blade's eyes as if he's giving a tour of his life. Blade addresses this person on the tour as "BigEyes" and provides some backstory. However, a great deal of the backstory is never revealed, and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Perhaps the most appealing part of this novel is the fact that there is only one adult character of significance-- Mary, an elderly woman who is murdered early in the book. All major characters are runaway teens or young adults. ( )