Blade: Playing Dead (edition 2010)

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. ( )

Blade is hiding, he is playing dead because he knows people are looking for him and he doesn’t want to be found. He knows these people aren’t messing about but he can look after himself. Or can he?