What do you think?
Rate this book
Playtime
Playtime is a novel of suspense and romance.
What would you do if you got a second chance at life? Would you change what you are doing right now? Blaine Hadrock is one of the few to get that opportunity. It could be said that his eyes have been opened. It's summer in Galveston, and just like every other year, for thousands of people it's playtime. The beaches are packed, and the island is rocking. But for a few, the summer isn't about having fun. It's about surviving. And the way things are going for Blaine and his girlfriend Renee, a second chance might not be enough.
What would you do if you got a second chance at life? Would you change what you are doing right now? Blaine Hadrock is one of the few to get that opportunity. It could be said that his eyes have been opened. It's summer in Galveston, and just like every other year, for thousands of people it's playtime. The beaches are packed, and the island is rocking. But for a few, the summer isn't about having fun. It's about surviving. And the way things are going for Blaine and his girlfriend Renee, a second chance might not be enough.
213 pages, Paperback
First published January 12, 2014
52 people are currently reading
682 people want to read
About the author
Bart Hopkins Jr.
16 books32 followersBart Hopkins Jr. is an ex-surfer, avid hiker and occasional rock climber, chess enthusiast and motorcyclist. He is interested in brain and mind topics and linguistics. Has 2 wonderful grown children and 3 grandchildren. Lives in Texas with his wife Kat. His latest of 9 novels include the story of an anthropologist's stay in a psych ward, One Came Crashing In, and the FBI thriller, Living By The Gun. Give them a read!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 1, 2014
Playtime is an interesting book. It is complex yet pretty simple all at the same time.
Blaine is the main character. He has a near-death experience at the beginning of the book, except well . . . he does die. BUT HE COMES BACK.
Obviously when a character beats death, there must be a reason for his existence, and in typical novel fashion, he is very important to the story.
Blaine’s near- death/actual death experience comes when he is hit by a car while riding his motorcycle. The woman that hit him originally claims that she does not have insurance because her coverage had expired, but Blaine’s brother examines her insurance plan and finds a loophole stating she has a grace period.
After settling that issue, Blaine is met with devastating news. His ex-girlfriend who he was rekindling his relationship with is reported dead. Two investigators visit him at his house to bring him the news. His whole world comes crashing down around him. What I like about this scene, Bart writes it really well. You can feel the emotion coming from Blaine, and it really sucks you in.
He had seen her just the night before at the bar she works at. A man had been harassing her a bit, and Blaine is convinced he is the one who harmed his girl.
He goes on the hunt to find this man who he has no name for. He tried working with the police department, but he feels as though they are not doing their jobs efficiently enough. He goes against their warnings of taking this into his own hands, and he goes after the man anyways.
This book does not fail in the action department, it is sure full of it. All at the right times as well. It does not feel like forced action. Rather, it is fully justifiable due to the emotions that Blaine is feeling.
The characters were all written pretty well. Blaine obviously had the most attention paid to detail as he is the main character. I would expect nothing less. Blaine’s brother did seem to be a pretty irrelevant character other than the one scene at “Sketch’s” house, though. I am not really sure what his role in the story was.
Blaine coming back from the dead seemed to be a back-burner story line. I thought it was going to have a much bigger role in the plot. I was thinking that maybe he had something to do with his girlfriend’s disappearance and couldn’t remember due to his brain injury, then he would have to try to work through his memories to get her back – I was wrong. It happens from time to time ;)
The story is pretty easy to follow do to the simplicity of it. There is only one really big twist, though I was expecting a few more that never came.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book. I basically read it all at one time. It was really hard to put down, sort of addicting in a way. It really keeps you guessing as to what is next which makes you not want to put it down until it is finished.
4.5/5 stars
Blaine is the main character. He has a near-death experience at the beginning of the book, except well . . . he does die. BUT HE COMES BACK.
Obviously when a character beats death, there must be a reason for his existence, and in typical novel fashion, he is very important to the story.
Blaine’s near- death/actual death experience comes when he is hit by a car while riding his motorcycle. The woman that hit him originally claims that she does not have insurance because her coverage had expired, but Blaine’s brother examines her insurance plan and finds a loophole stating she has a grace period.
After settling that issue, Blaine is met with devastating news. His ex-girlfriend who he was rekindling his relationship with is reported dead. Two investigators visit him at his house to bring him the news. His whole world comes crashing down around him. What I like about this scene, Bart writes it really well. You can feel the emotion coming from Blaine, and it really sucks you in.
He had seen her just the night before at the bar she works at. A man had been harassing her a bit, and Blaine is convinced he is the one who harmed his girl.
He goes on the hunt to find this man who he has no name for. He tried working with the police department, but he feels as though they are not doing their jobs efficiently enough. He goes against their warnings of taking this into his own hands, and he goes after the man anyways.
This book does not fail in the action department, it is sure full of it. All at the right times as well. It does not feel like forced action. Rather, it is fully justifiable due to the emotions that Blaine is feeling.
The characters were all written pretty well. Blaine obviously had the most attention paid to detail as he is the main character. I would expect nothing less. Blaine’s brother did seem to be a pretty irrelevant character other than the one scene at “Sketch’s” house, though. I am not really sure what his role in the story was.
Blaine coming back from the dead seemed to be a back-burner story line. I thought it was going to have a much bigger role in the plot. I was thinking that maybe he had something to do with his girlfriend’s disappearance and couldn’t remember due to his brain injury, then he would have to try to work through his memories to get her back – I was wrong. It happens from time to time ;)
The story is pretty easy to follow do to the simplicity of it. There is only one really big twist, though I was expecting a few more that never came.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book. I basically read it all at one time. It was really hard to put down, sort of addicting in a way. It really keeps you guessing as to what is next which makes you not want to put it down until it is finished.
4.5/5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2014
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
When I first started this book I wasn't sure it was going to be one that I would like. After reading the first couple chapters I was hooked. I wasn't expecting alot of what happened in the book to happen, which made it interesting and kept me guessing what was going to happen next. Kind of leary about reading a book about somebody that has essentially died and then comes back to life, but it is apparent that there was a reason why this happened to Blaine. It was good to see that in the end both Blaine and his girl, Renee, survive through the ordeal. Blaine's theory into what Sketch was capable of helped to lead him to Renee.
When I first started this book I wasn't sure it was going to be one that I would like. After reading the first couple chapters I was hooked. I wasn't expecting alot of what happened in the book to happen, which made it interesting and kept me guessing what was going to happen next. Kind of leary about reading a book about somebody that has essentially died and then comes back to life, but it is apparent that there was a reason why this happened to Blaine. It was good to see that in the end both Blaine and his girl, Renee, survive through the ordeal. Blaine's theory into what Sketch was capable of helped to lead him to Renee.
February 25, 2014
4 of 5 stars
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
When I first began reading this book, I wasn't sure it would be something I would like.
This book begins with a man who gets hit while riding his motorcycle, dying and coming back...pretty freaky. As I read the story, you would think that he was able to relook at his life and take advantage of everything that life has to offer. Something that this accident does bring back to him is the love of his life, Renee.
One day, during a bar fight, Blaine makes some enemies. What happens when suddenly their short relived happiness is suddenly in jeopardy? What will Blaine do? Will he let his second opportunity at happiness get away?
Read more and find out.....
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
When I first began reading this book, I wasn't sure it would be something I would like.
This book begins with a man who gets hit while riding his motorcycle, dying and coming back...pretty freaky. As I read the story, you would think that he was able to relook at his life and take advantage of everything that life has to offer. Something that this accident does bring back to him is the love of his life, Renee.
One day, during a bar fight, Blaine makes some enemies. What happens when suddenly their short relived happiness is suddenly in jeopardy? What will Blaine do? Will he let his second opportunity at happiness get away?
Read more and find out.....
Want to read
February 8, 2014Free on Amazon through 02-09-14
(Romantic suspense)
(Romantic suspense)
February 26, 2014
An easy read that keeps you wanting more.
December 2, 2019
This book is definitely outstanding.
May 8, 2023
Boring, nothing interesting is happening.
March 19, 2014
Individual private citizens taking police matters into their own hands can produce some pretty exciting ideas for books, and that is certainly the case in Playtime. When his girlfriend is reported murdered, Blaine Hadrock is devastated. He is unsatisfied with how the police are handling the case, and decides to find the man he believes is responsible. Along the way, he discovers a few surprising bits of information, and ultimately puts himself in both physical and legal jeopardy as he attempts to do the job he believes the police are not doing.
I liked the story here, but thought the pacing was a bit uneven. It started out with an amazing event, then dragged until almost halfway through, picked up a little towards the end, then the climactic scene seemed very rushed. Most of the characters were pretty believable, and well drawn. I think that if the pacing issues had been smoothed out, I would have given this at least 4 stars.
I liked the story here, but thought the pacing was a bit uneven. It started out with an amazing event, then dragged until almost halfway through, picked up a little towards the end, then the climactic scene seemed very rushed. Most of the characters were pretty believable, and well drawn. I think that if the pacing issues had been smoothed out, I would have given this at least 4 stars.
February 20, 2014
This was a pretty forgettable story with no plot twists or turns. The bad guy is identified right from the start and it doesn't take you on much of a ride. The editing could use a little work. Miss-used words and tense shifts tend to break the flow of reading and there were quite a few. The characters were poorly developed and a few were thrown in like filler material to give the story more volume, though they didn't really have any depth or purpose.
February 14, 2014
Blah
Blah
This guy can't write. This story just goes on and on with details that have nothing to do with the story line. Simply because I insist on finishing what I start,I read the whole thing. But I will tell you that I only read three sentences per page. Save your time, and choose another book/author.
Blah
This guy can't write. This story just goes on and on with details that have nothing to do with the story line. Simply because I insist on finishing what I start,I read the whole thing. But I will tell you that I only read three sentences per page. Save your time, and choose another book/author.
February 22, 2014
Won this from a giveaway though. The story caught me because it's about second chances, although the paragraphs were not very well structured, all in all I enjoyed reading it, and i'm planning to read the two more novels Bart Hopkins jr. wrote as a sign of thank you for the giveaway.
Read
February 20, 2014I can't even rate this book 1 star and I had to abandon the book and move on. Just couldn't get into the story, whatever it was.
February 24, 2014
Lots of unexpected twists and turns in this book. However, it was a little slow to read for me. It was a free book on Amazon! :)
March 23, 2014
This was a weird book. I found it entertaining and the characters interesting, but at the end I couldn't put my finger in the purpose of the story.
August 28, 2016
Hopkins writes an intriguing story that's part romance, part mystery, and part thriller. But the whole plot is just so readable!
May 18, 2014
Odd at the beginning and not at all what I expected but turned into a good story.
August 3, 2014
Pretty good a very fast read book.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews