Playing Dead

April 18, 2016
Faced with a six-figure student loan debt, Greenwood was discussing her options with a friend when he blurted out, “You could fake your own death.” What began as a joke turned into something of an obsession as Greenwood embarked on a curious quest to find out just how feasible it is to disappear in the information age. Greenwood takes readers on a strange journey as she navigates the mysteries of disappearance, enlisting the expertise of people such as Frank Ahearn, author of How to Disappear, and Snooky and Dong, two Filipino fixers who help those with the financial wherewithal to fake their own death. Asides on some notorious cases, such as 9/11 fraudsters; John Darwin, known as the “Canoe Man” in the U.K. who famously faked his disappearance to collect insurance money; and the strange cult of those who fervently believe that Michael Jackson is alive, add color to her entertaining investigation. Agent: Dan Kirschen, International Creative Management.

June 15, 2016
An investigation of the world of death fraud.The fantasy of faking one's death or simply disappearing has sparked writers' imaginations for centuries, from Shakespeare to Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn to the creators of TV shows such as Mad Men. Surprisingly, however, there hasn't been much written on the actual nuts and bolts of planning such an event. Given the demands of our present era, Greenwood (Creative Writing/Columbia Univ.) believes the subject is more compelling now than ever. "Today disappearing seems virtually impossible," she writes. "This, I think, is what accounts for our renewed fascination with it. We are burdened with our search histories and purchase histories and data stats that constitute our profile, to then be lumped and farmed out and sold to the highest bidder. Disappearing means disconnecting--unimaginable yet totally captivating. Precisely because it has become unfeasible, that deep urge to be anonymous, or even to be someone else, exists evermore powerfully within us." In her research, the author consulted with experts such as Frank Ahearn, bestselling author of How to Disappear, and private investigator Steve Rambam. Greenwood interviewed individuals who have attempted to fake their deaths--e.g., John Darwin, who, after staging his own drowning, successfully disappeared for more than six years before becoming a local celebrity in England. The author also befriended a woman who has become the public face of the "Believers," a committed group of fans who are certain that Michael Jackson is still alive. Ultimately, Greenwood traveled to the Philippines, a country with notoriously high incidents of death fraud, and endeavored to stage her own "pseudocide." The author, perhaps inspired by writers such as Mary Roach or Susan Orlean, attempts a lighthearted approach to her material, interweaving personal experiences and insights, but the humor is a mixed bag. Though earnestly researched, the narrative feels disjointed, and the book is never quite as engrossing as the potential for the intriguing content would suggest.

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June 15, 2016

Greenwood (creative writing, Columbia Univ.) brings readers along as she indulges her fascination with "pseudocide" (faking one's death), interviewing various stakeholders to determine whether it is a workable solution to her own student loan debt problem. Her exploration of one more-or-less successful death fraudster--he turned himself in after five years--adroitly reflects the folk heroism of a criminal who beat the system. Greenwood's focus falters halfway through with a tangential trip to the world of Michael Jackson conspiracy theorists: the tension built up around the challenges faced by real-life pseudocides is diluted by what many readers would agree was really just a tragedy (a pseudopseudocide?). Following chapters on those left behind and Greenwood's own partial pseudocide are fair and natural extensions. VERDICT There may be better books on disappearing and death fraud--Greenwood is led to two of her interviewees by their accounts--but this one is directed more at readers who, like the author, fantasize their problems are daunting enough, and their ability to resolve them lacking enough, that they find merely flirting with the idea invigorating.--Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2016
Greenwood keeps her death certificate in a file cabinet. It says she died in July 2013 after a car accident in the Philippines. She was in the Philippines at that time but left alive and well, her fraudulent death certificate in tow. That particular escapade capped five years that Greenwood spent exploring the murky world of death fraud, leading to this entertaining and enlightening book. She first became interested in just what it would take to fake your own death while facing her seemingly insurmountable six-figure student-loan debt. As Greenwood discovers from talking with investigators, family members, and some would-be death fakers, making a fresh start through pseudocide can be a complex yet surprisingly mundane process. Along the way, she picks up some tips for an effective escape (always use your real first name and avoid using a car), receives a few possible postmortem phone calls from someone suspiciously similar to Michael Jackson, and reviews the cases of those who died and lived to tell the tale. Death, it seems, is just the beginning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)