{"product_id":"playing-dead-a-journey-through-the-world-of-death-fraud-9781476739342","title":"Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud","description":"\u003cb\u003eA 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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A delightful read for anyone tantalized by the prospect of disappearing without a trace.\" --Erik Larson, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDead Wake\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Delivers all the lo-fi spy shenanigans and caught-red-handed schadenfreude you're hoping for.\" --NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"A lively romp.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Grim fun.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Brilliant topic, absorbing book.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"The most literally escapist summer read you could hope for.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIs 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGreenwood 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.) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlaying Dead\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth Greenwood is the author of \u003ci\u003ePlaying Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud. \u003c\/i\u003eHer work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVICE\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e O, the Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Longreads\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGQ\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand others.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50644552843538,"sku":"9781476739342","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4e143421-2c6e-4e8d-98bd-8d8452d7dbb8.jpg?v=1733114723","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/playing-dead-a-journey-through-the-world-of-death-fraud-9781476739342","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}