Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud

PAPERBACK

15 Aug, 2017

By Elizabeth Greenwood (author)

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'...

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Last updated on 01 Feb, 2026

ISBN-10:

147673934X

ISBN-13:

9781476739342

Publisher

Simon & Schuster

Dimensions

8.20 X 5.40 X 0.80 inches

Language

English

Description

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.

Product Details

ISBN-10

:147673934X

ISBN-13

:9781476739342

Publisher

:Simon & Schuster

Publication date

: 15 Aug, 2017

Category

: True Crime

Format

:PAPERBACK

Language

:English

Reading Level

: All

No. of Units

:1

Dimension

: 8.20 X 5.40 X 0.80 inches

Weight

:227 g

Editorial Reviews

"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

About the Author

Elizabeth Greenwood is the author of Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, VICE, O, the Oprah Magazine, Longreads, GQ, and others.

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