Playing Dead

A Memoir of Terror and Survival

By: Monique Faison Ross, Gary M. Krebs

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Monique, the daughter of San Diego Chargers football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris was shaky from the start, but turned tumultuous as he became verbally and physically abusive. When she could no longer put up with the abuse, she left him with their children. That was when the stalking and genuine threats began. Nothing stopped him - not protection injunctions, police warnings, or even arrests. One fateful Monday morning, Chris kidnapped Monique in front of her children and drove off on a nightmarish car ride that involved car crashes and rape. He mercilessly beat her on the head with a shovel and abandoned her brutalized body in the woods in the rain. He left, presuming she was dead . . . but was she?

©2019 Monique Faison Ross (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

God Kept Her Through it All

OMG as I listened to my cousin’s story, I became furious and angry at ALL she endured at the hands of her first love, the father of her children. God had a plan for Monique’s life because through it all, He kept her. Thank You, Jesus! I will never know why God takes us through tragedies such as this but I do know that there’s a lesson to be learned; and her testimony will be used to help those who struggle as she did. Her survival is a blessing!!!

too much religion

I'm not a believer in religion and believe it creates most problems in the world.

Well Told and Captivating

I applaud those who can tell their stories of Domestic Violence. This book is open, honest and for me helpful to understand just how damaging a narcissist can be.

Wow!

Great writer, important story, terrific narration. The author is genuine, engaging, and transparent. Enjoyed hearing her story.

Excellent

This book kept my attention from beginning to end. It was well read clear and concise. The author was not afraid to state clearly he triumphs or mistakes. I highly recommend this book.

Lived to Tell against all odds!

What an amazing book about this courageous woman. I found it very inspirational as well as informative to help prevent future crimes like this. A true hero.

Maddening

I loved this book, appreciate the honest, open, vulnerability the author shares. More people need to hear her courageous journey.

Sorry but

Completely unbelievable. I stopped listening half way through because nothing at all made sense. Maybe this woman went through something traumatic, I don't know but the constant "financial issues" make this just so unbelievable. This is a military man with a lot of years of service and somehow they can never pay the bills? This is the 80s and 90s and according to her "he keeps getting promoted" yet they can barely survive? Nah, something is just not right here, the whole story simply doesn't add up

Fine read

Great book easy to follow stronge got t fit g free your free ffffff stronger female g. h

Very interesting, holds your attention

This poor family has been through so much, it is true you don't know who you are living with until you marry them. You can live with someone, but it is different once you married them. This story is a heartbreaker, I doubt you can read/listen to it without it reaching deep into your soul. It is shocking what people do to those they say they love. I understand why she did what she did, it is hard when you are trying to do what is best for your children and trying to keep peace.

The author was and is a strong woman to go through what she did and still keep going when most would have given up. We can all say what we would have done but do we really know until it happens to us. It took a lot to pick herself up out of those woods half dead and get help. This is a touch, well written true story of a nightmare and how she got through it.

The narrator did a good job with the character voices, she does show emotion but she pause when she should not, it isn't a smooth listen. Beside that she did a great job, I always knew who was talking and what they were feeling. There are no background noise, no repeating of words, no volume change, he normal voice is very pleasant and easy to listen to.

excellent

I thought this was a very good read, how most times justice will prevail even if it takes years, the truth always comes out, the author is an amazing person to have gone through so much came out the other end, I would recommend

Overly long

A story of courage & survival. What Monique went through doesn't bear thinking about & she was lucky to survive.
It made me shudder a few times, the behaviour of her husband has more than a touch of sadism. I've been on the receiving end of that behaviour (NOT to this extent, thankfully!) so I can understand just how toxic these men can be.

However, I felt that the first half of the book was caught up in way more detail than was really necessary, making it overly long & a little tedious - that’s not to say that what happened to Monique was tedious, just that I don't think we needed to know the full background of her parents & childhood to understand.

I'm so glad she survived her attack & got away from this awful man.

The story is so so so dull and slow

Talk about padding put a story! the title makes you believe it'll be a harrowing story of abuse. it may be.... eventually. To get there though, you have to endure the daily doldrums of a bore.
The narrator talks as if something bad is or has just happened when absolutely zero of any interest whatsoever has..

I'm persevering just because I've paid. There had better be a twist that'll take my breath away as otherwise I'm done.... so crap halfway through....

A tale of survival

This author captures her story with an air of calmness, her story is one that is repeated throughout the land and to those on the outside looking in makes them scream ‘leave him’. The story is compelling and I couldn’t stop listening. A worthy story for the price of a credit.

Couldn’t finish it

It goes without saying that any right thinking person would be very pleased that somebody survived an awful event, but I simply couldn’t get that far in the story, sadly. I made it to chapter 5 then gave up because the life story was unremarkable and frankly a bit boring, and the author’s tone was weirdly self aggrandising in places.
I’m happy her outcome from whatever the traumatic event was was positive and wish her well.

Excellent

very interesting and narrated well. eye opening and hard hitting story. Easy calming listen & well told

Good book

Good narration. It is proven once again that the law and the judicial system are too complicated and justice only comes when disaster strikes.

Playing dead

Enjoyed this . Lady is ever so lucky to be alive. Well written and well narrated