Play Dirty: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

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Key Phrases: younger detective, estate wall, Griff Burkett, Foster Speakman, Manuelo Ruiz (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The seven deadly sins help propel this provocative, sex-fueled thriller from bestseller Brown (Ricochet). Foster Speakman, an eccentric Texas paraplegic millionaire, offers $500,000 to Griff Burkett, a disgraced former NFL quarterback fresh out of prison after serving a five-year sentence for racketeering, to impregnate Foster's wife, Laura. Foster insists the child be conceived naturally (The way God intended). Broke with no prospects, Griff takes the job. Meanwhile, Stanley Rodarte, the crooked detective behind Griff's arrest, is bent on pinning an unsolved murder on him and takes to terrorizing Griff and those close to him in the hopes of nailing him when he self-destructs. After Griff's stint as stud takes a bad turn, the ex-footballer must track down the one man who can secure his freedom. The tension builds as lust, greed, pride, wrath and envy threaten to undo everyone in this tightly told tale of modern temptation. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown is back with a gripping story of obsession and its deadly consequences.

After five long years in federal prison, Griff Burkett is a free man. But the disgraced Cowboys quarterback can never return to life as he knew it before he was caught cheating. In a place where football is practically a religion, Griff committed a cardinal sin, and no one is forgiving.

Foster Speakman, owner and CEO of SunSouth Airlines, and his wife, Laura, are a golden couple. Successful and wealthy, they lived a charmed life before fate cruelly intervened and denied them the one thing they wanted most -- a child. It's said that money can't buy everything. But it can buy a disgraced football player fresh out of prison and out of prospects.

The job Griff agrees to do for the Speakmans demands secrecy. But he soon finds himself once again in the spotlight of suspicion. An unsolved murder comes back to haunt him in the form of his nemesis, Stanley Rodarte, who has made Griff's destruction his life's mission. While safeguarding his new enterprise, Griff must also protect those around him, especially Laura Speakman, from Rodarte's ruthlessness. Griff stands to gain the highest payoff he could ever imagine, but cashing in on it will require him to forfeit his only chance for redemption...and love.

Griff is now playing a high-stakes game, and at the final whistle, one player will be dead.

Play Dirty is Sandra Brown's wildest ride yet, with hairpin turns of plot all along the way. The clock is ticking down on a fallen football star, who lost everything because of the way he played the game. Now his future -- his life -- hinges on one last play.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; Reprint edition (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416523332
• ISBN-13: 978-1416523338
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #442,963 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars CHARACTERS FLAWED, November 22, 2007

By	Kelly "Reviewer for The Sinfully Sensuous" (Littleton, Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Play Dirty: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Sandra Brown for years. Her writing style is always brilliant and amazes me. The stories she creates are so intense and deeply detailed, I am always surprised.

While I don't fault the writing, I just didn't' find myself liking the characters of Griff and Laura. Griff Burkett was a star of the Dallas Cowboys who tossed it all away by getting caught up in gambling and wound up loosing not just his job and reputation but went to prison for five years. Laura Speakman is devoted to her husband Foster, and was driving when they were in a horrific auto accident. She basically runs the company and has given up everything else in order to care for him. He has lost feeling from the waist down. Foster wants an heir. To avoid negative publicity he has convinced Laura to have a baby his way. He wants her to conceive the natural way with his a chosen substitute - Griff. The fact that Griff agreed to this made his character more appalling, and the fact that Laura also agreed, made her character equally not likeable.

I didn't feel any chemistry or real emotion between Griff and Laura. It felt very forced.

I hope her next book is better.

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Characters were not very likable, August 18, 2007

By	Elaine C McTyer "avid reader" (Dawson, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Play Dirty: A Novel (Hardcover)

First let me say I was not sure I liked Griff Burkett at the begining of the book but by the end I understood him alot better. Griff was a shinning light of the Dallas Cowboys who got caught up in gambling and wound up loosing not just his job and reputation but five years of his life to prison. Now when he gets out he has nothing, his lawyer loans him a car and some money to rent an apartment. Griff has to find a job and nobody wants to have anything to do with him.

Foster Speakman the owner and CEO of Sunsouth airlines has invited Griff to his home, possibly to offer him a job. Foster is a paraplegic, he and his wife were in a car wreck and he is wheelchair bound. His wife is a beautiful career minded woman who worked for him before they married.

Laura Speakman was driving when they were hit by a truck and she has shouldered alot of the responsibilities that were Foster's. She is devoted to her husband and has given up all her interests in order to care for him and take care of those things important to him. She can not help but feel guilt for his physical problems. He is unable to feel anything from the waist down.

In the two years since his accident he has been upset over not having an heir. He has finally convinced Laura to have a baby. But he is determined to have it his way. He wants her to concieve and deliver a baby, in the natural way with a chosen surrogate. Griff is offered 100 thousand dollars now and 500 thousand when the baby is born. Then one million each year of the child's life.

Although I found it hard to like a man who would accept money for such a thing, we later find that Griff is not without some sympathy and compassion. I found the story interesting and read it at one sitting. It was a bit hard to get into and if I had it to do over I probably would wait for the paperback. None of the characters were very likable.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings, August 29, 2007

By	A. Ryan "AJRyan" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Play Dirty: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm a big Sandra Brown fan, but lately, she's been really "hit-and-miss" for me. This one was mostly a miss.

I have to agree with those who are saying the main characters are very unlikeable. I have the feeling that Brown wanted us to really feel that Griff was just a misunderstood guy, and maybe create some kind of tension because we were never sure if he was really a good guy or a bad guy, and that's fine, but I guess I need my heroes very clearly defined as good guys from the beginning.

I also had a hard time feeling anything for Laura. She seemed very detached from everything. I kept hearing about how she really loved her husband, but that attraction and love was never really well defined. I never felt that they had that very close relationship. When it was explained how they got together, I got more a feeling that the situation between them was comfortable, so they got married. They kept telling each other they loved each other, but I wasn't feeling it. Certainly not enough from her to think she'd go along with his plan involving Griff. I didn't even feel enough sympathy from her for her husband to warrant her wanting to go through with the plan. I basically felt nothing from her. I was not ever in any way emotionally engaged with her or her "plight."

Given that, I didn't really see why she and Griff had such an emotional bond, if that's how Brown was trying to portray it. He was unlike-able, she was unemotional and detached. The only thing they had to form that bond was that both of them had been celibate or too long. Not a really good basis for any kind of a love story. So, again, I ended up not feeling it. If they'd have had some kind of an emotional spark when they first met....I might have felt better about their relationship. I wanted to get the feeling they felt for each other from the first moment they met, and were fighting that despite the circumstances, but I never did. Again....it was all very oddly unemotional.

Perhaps Brown was trying to convey that emotional connection between Laura and Griff, and I just missed it. Personally, I think it's Brown who missed it.

It's really a shame, too, because I found the other aspects of the book good, and the storyline very suspenseful, which is why I didn't give this a worse rating.

But, overall, a bit of a disappointment.