Playing Dead

A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud

By: Elizabeth Greenwood, Elizabeth Greenwood - introduction

Narrated by: Arden Hammersmith

A darkly comic foray into the world of men and women who fake their own deaths, the consultants who help them disappear, and the private investigators who’ll stop at nothing to bring them back to life.

“A delightful read for anyone tantalized by the prospect of disappearing without a trace.” —Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake
“Delivers all the lo-fi spy shenanigans and caught-red-handed schadenfreude you’re hoping for.” —NPR
“A lively romp.” —The Boston Globe
“Grim fun.” —The New York Times
“Brilliant topic, absorbing book.” —The Seattle Times
“The most literally escapist summer read you could hope for.” —The Paris Review

Is it still possible to fake your own death in the twenty-first century? With six figures of student loan debt, Elizabeth Greenwood was tempted to find out. So off she sets on a darkly comic foray into the world of death fraud, where for $30,000 a consultant can make you disappear—but your suspicious insurance company might hire a private detective to dig up your coffin...only to find it filled with rocks.

Greenwood tracks down a British man who staged a kayaking accident and then returned to live in his own house while all his neighbors thought he was dead. She takes a call from Michael Jackson (no, he’s not dead—or so her new acquaintances would have her believe), stalks message boards for people contemplating pseudocide, and gathers intel on black market morgues in the Philippines, where she may or may not obtain some fraudulent goodies of her own. Along the way, she learns that love is a much less common motive than money, and that making your death look like a drowning virtually guarantees that you’ll be caught. (Disappearing while hiking, however, is a way great to go.)

Playing Dead is a charmingly bizarre investigation in the vein of Jon Ronson and Mary Roach into our all-too-human desire to escape from the lives we lead, and the men and women desperate enough to give up their lives—and their families—to start again.

Critic reviews

"A lively romp."
— The Boston Globe

"Grim fun."
— The New York Times

"A delightful read for anyone tantalized by the prospect of disappearing without a trace."
— Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake

"Exuberant and ironic, witty and compassionate, various and keenly-focused, Playing Dead is eccentric investigative journalism. A terrific subject, where the deadly (excuse the pun) serious and absurdly comic meet and mesh."
— Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland

"Mesmerizing."
— Elle

"Riveting."
— The Huffington Post

"A beguiling foray into the wacky yet somehow ever-fascinating realm of death fraud."
— Maria Konnikova, New York Times bestselling author of The Confidence Game

"Elizabeth Greenwood is as entertaining and gifted an archeologist of subcultures as she is an able explorer of issues like anonymity, the right to privacy, and how much control people can ever exert over their identities. An energetic and insatiable writer, her generous mind infuses every page of this astonishing book."
— Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock

"The most literally escapist summer read you could hope for."
— The Paris Review

"Wonderfully weird."
— Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner's Handbook

"Quirky, engaging, and surprisingly uplifting... Elizabeth Greenwood has written a book about death, faked and real, that teaches us much about life."
— Eric Weiner, New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Genius

"Ghoulishly existential."
— BloombergBusinessweek

"Wildly entertaining."
—Tony Perrottet, author of Napoleon's Privates

"Playing Dead marks the debut of a very talented author. Both the book and the writer are cause for celebration."
— Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author of Manson

"Brilliant topic, absorbing book."
— The Seattle Times

"Delivers all the lo-fi spy shenanigans and caught-red-handed schadenfreude you're hoping for."
— NPR

"Slightly macabre, but ultimately very human; it is a questioning of how we seek satisfaction in life, and when we cut and run. Greenwood's narrative voice is humble and approachable, but as an investigator she is tenacious.... Playing Dead will please those attracted to the eccentric, as well as anyone who has ever fantasized about leaving it all behind."
— Shelf Awareness

"A bizarre exposé of the disappearance industry."
— Entertainment Weekly

"A tragicomic study."
— Bust

“Catnip.”
— The Guardian

Listened to it twice!

I loved Ms. Greenwood's inquiry into the world of death fraud. Her perspective was personally-relevant and thought-provoking.

Loved it

playing Dead is written well. it's clever, funny, surprising, entertaining, and insightful. Elizabeth Greenwood one day had an idea to escape her massive student loan debt: she could fake her own death! this epiphany started a five-year journey into the phenomenon of death fraud. she researched all angles, interviewing people who investigate death fraud, make a living helping people disappear, fake their deaths, or who mourn the loved ones they believe have died. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this quirky subject, written by someone with a great talent for storytelling.

Too Exploratory

This book kept coming up in my recommendations and I finally took the plunge between long reads. There were components of this book I found fascinating, but I didn’t quite expect (or enjoy) the author’s commitment to putting herself in the story. It felt, at times, like a GIRLS-inspired introspective. I appreciate her interest in the topic, but was more interested in the nuance of the subject than her personal saga.

Great Read

This was a very interesting and reflective piece. It was one part journalism, one part personal diary, one part reflection on the meaning of death and one part critique of modern capitalism.

Naive and romantic view of death

What I liked about this book (on Audible): The narrator was very good. The book also looks at the issue from all viewpoints, the people who fake death; those who get caught; the people left behind; and the people who help the fraudsters. It was an interesting look at a subject I had never heard of before.

What I didn't like about this book: The author is a little too naive. She finds the whole idea of faking your own death romantic and actually begins the book by contemplating faking her dead to get out of student debt, because she owes in the 6 figures. I am a former law student. I don't know anyone who doesn't have the kind of debt. You learn to live with it and get on with your life. Throughout the story she seems both surprised and disappointed that her original romantic ideas of death fraud were too childish and fantastic to be what she thought, like meeting her childhood hero and finding he couldn't fly in real life. The book is also more about her growing up finally (at 31 years old), and realizing regular life is good enough, than death fraud. There is way too much of the author in the narrative for my taste.

Leaves one unsatisfied

Interesting, but doesn't live up to hype. WA hoping for something more than a memoir.

The author is just fishing for compliments

All through the book I was surprised how everything came back around to the author’s look-how-hard-my-privileged-life-is message.
The reader is supposed to stroke her hair and tell her it will all be ok and all the girls are just jealous of her. Maybe she was young during the writing? The people are made out to be bumbling cartoons and she presents herself as the insightful rich kid finding the meaning of life. Like she didn’t realize we’d all read fight club and moved passed it already.

Very interesting investigative journalism!

So when I hit in an interesting book, my husband gets my feedback each day, including intriguing facts and stories!
This was one of those books. It read (or rather the narrator read this) like investigative journalism - similar to a 60 minutes or 20/20 in style. Interesting tidbits about some who have gone off the grid only to keep googling themselves and get found out, or confess to staging their deaths after a guilty conscience did them in. It explores how someone could put together a fake death and what tools and tricks experts know. It also looks into insurance fraud and how fraud is investigated, plus explores the believers that various celebrity deaths were faked- Michael Jackson, Andy Kauffman, and Tupac to name a few. I enjoyed this one!

interesting

I was intrigued to read it this book and thought that it turned out to be a great experience

Good read, drags a bit

While the author does a great job of doing the research and telling the story, and finding and talking to some knowledgeable people, the book drags in a few places like the Michael Jackson conspiracy theorists. Nevertheless, the book delivers on its promise and by-and-large is very engaging and convincing.