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Play Along: The Play Dead Sequel: A Psychological Horror Novel of Surveillance, Obsession, and Control
Mia Dawson survived the house where she was forced to become someone else. Coming home was supposed to be the end.
Instead, Kate Dawson begins noticing things that should belong only to their the exact width Mia leaves her bedroom door open, private phrases, small routines, and behaviors appearing in places they have never been.
Then another child starts following Mia’s rules.
What Kate believed was one woman’s obsession begins to reveal something much larger. Recovery programs, support accounts, family records, harmless devices, and people whose job is to help all seem connected to the same machinery.
And the children were not the only ones being watched. The system has been studying the parents too.
Which ones comply.
Which ones resist.
Which ones can be corrected.
And which ones might someday be useful.
Kate brought her daughter home once. Now she has to keep Mia’s recovery from becoming the blueprint for someone else’s captivity.
Instead, Kate Dawson begins noticing things that should belong only to their the exact width Mia leaves her bedroom door open, private phrases, small routines, and behaviors appearing in places they have never been.
Then another child starts following Mia’s rules.
What Kate believed was one woman’s obsession begins to reveal something much larger. Recovery programs, support accounts, family records, harmless devices, and people whose job is to help all seem connected to the same machinery.
And the children were not the only ones being watched. The system has been studying the parents too.
Which ones comply.
Which ones resist.
Which ones can be corrected.
And which ones might someday be useful.
Kate brought her daughter home once. Now she has to keep Mia’s recovery from becoming the blueprint for someone else’s captivity.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2026
About the author
M. Boudreaux
10 books27 followersM. Boudreaux is a Louisiana-based author of psychological horror, suspense, dark thrillers, and Southern Gothic fiction. Her stories live in the places where grief, obsession, trauma, memory, fear, and fractured trust start changing what people believe about themselves and each other.
She found her way into horror almost by accident. While writing through years of personal trauma, every attempt at something lighter seemed to turn unsettling, sad, or quietly wrong. Eventually, she stopped trying to pull the stories somewhere safer and started writing the books she actually wanted to read.
Her published work includes The Listener, a psychological horror novel about childhood secrets, grief, and a presence that knows exactly which voice someone would follow into the dark; The Grief Counselor, where a trusted grief counselor's understanding of loss becomes something far more dangerous; The Kettle, a Southern Gothic horror novella built around family history, disappearance, and the things a small town would rather leave buried; and Play Dead, a dark psychological thriller about missing children, online audiences, obsession, and a mother who recognizes something everyone else has overlooked.
Her fiction is especially interested in emotional vulnerability and what happens when it becomes dangerous. Grief can be manipulated. Memory can lie. Love can become leverage. The person offering safety may be the one you should fear most. Even when the horror becomes supernatural, the thing underneath it usually begins somewhere painfully human.
Boudreaux writes across interconnected thrillers, standalone horror, psychological suspense, and darker experimental fiction, which means there is almost never only one manuscript open on her computer. Living with ADHD has made peace with that arrangement considerably easier.
She is also the creator of The Unsettled Shelf, a home for her books, upcoming releases, dark fiction, and the readers who like their stories unsettling enough to follow them after the last page.
M. Boudreaux lives in Louisiana, where she continues writing books about terrible decisions, complicated women, buried secrets, and the uncomfortable possibility that the explanation you were hoping for might be worse than the thing you feared.
Find M. Boudreaux online:
The Unsettled Shelf
Amazon Author Page
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 22, 2026
Play Along is a psychological horror thriller and is the second book in the Play Dead series. You do need to read the first one for context of what is happening in this story. While this story continued where boo 1 left off and sort of took a turn into it's own story, there's still a lot of talk about Mia and what happened in the first book. The story itself is chilling, however, this one just didn't cut it for me. I felt like Mia's character is portrayed way older than she is. I also felt like they were giving Mia, a child, too much power over every single decision. I understand that what she went through was horrible and devastating, but does that mean she should be able to dictate whether or not Kate should help rescue other kids? Every sound, every conversation, every decision has to have an explanation for Mia and how they can work around it for her. What I really wanted to see more of in this story and the thing that has been on my mind since the first one is, what did the children actually go through? How did Nicole train them to be so behaved and still on camera? I wanted more in depth of what their experience was.
With all that being said, I still think the story is pretty enjoyable, it just didn't head in the direction I thought it would have and left me feeling a little unsatisfied. I do enjoy the writing though and will continue to read book say this author, I just think this one didn't do it for me.
With all that being said, I still think the story is pretty enjoyable, it just didn't head in the direction I thought it would have and left me feeling a little unsatisfied. I do enjoy the writing though and will continue to read book say this author, I just think this one didn't do it for me.
Review of advance copy received from Author
To be clear: this is a sequel to the book, Play Dead. If you haven't read that one yet, go read it first or you're going to be lost here.
As with the last book, I greatly enjoyed the author's writing style. It was very easy to get into and very to the point without unnecessary fluff that tends to put me to sleep. It still managed to be descriptive, so please don't think that it wasn't. M. Boudreaux has a wonderful ability to write and tell stories and this book continued that trend.
And BOY, IF YOU THOUGHT THE LAST BOOK WAS STRESSFUL.
I honestly thought with M's presence it would be less stressful than the first one, but no. No. No, no, no. Not at all. I was at the edge of my seat a lot of the time, reminding myself I don't bite my nails anymore and then debating picking the habit back up again. This was a very eerie, creepy book that had you wondering with every new page just what in the world was going on, who was responsible and who was going to win in the end. M. Boudreaux is very good at not only keeping you guessing, but keeping the villains in the lead and thus making you even more worried and uncomfortable.
I will not spoil the ending of this book but I will say that it does leave some room for another in the series. A large web takes a while to unweave, doesn't it? But then again, maybe it can never be undone, maybe it will always just be rebuilt and in that, this book is remarkably tragic. I felt so terrible for Kate, for Mia, for Rachel, for many others. The ways in which people can destroy someone else's life in a matter of seconds is a remarkable, terrible thing to witness. My heart broke often during this story when, y'know, I wasn't too stressed out.
I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster, but an enjoyable one. I might need a nap now. Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes creepy thrillers.
As with the last book, I greatly enjoyed the author's writing style. It was very easy to get into and very to the point without unnecessary fluff that tends to put me to sleep. It still managed to be descriptive, so please don't think that it wasn't. M. Boudreaux has a wonderful ability to write and tell stories and this book continued that trend.
And BOY, IF YOU THOUGHT THE LAST BOOK WAS STRESSFUL.
I honestly thought with M's presence it would be less stressful than the first one, but no. No. No, no, no. Not at all. I was at the edge of my seat a lot of the time, reminding myself I don't bite my nails anymore and then debating picking the habit back up again. This was a very eerie, creepy book that had you wondering with every new page just what in the world was going on, who was responsible and who was going to win in the end. M. Boudreaux is very good at not only keeping you guessing, but keeping the villains in the lead and thus making you even more worried and uncomfortable.
I will not spoil the ending of this book but I will say that it does leave some room for another in the series. A large web takes a while to unweave, doesn't it? But then again, maybe it can never be undone, maybe it will always just be rebuilt and in that, this book is remarkably tragic. I felt so terrible for Kate, for Mia, for Rachel, for many others. The ways in which people can destroy someone else's life in a matter of seconds is a remarkable, terrible thing to witness. My heart broke often during this story when, y'know, I wasn't too stressed out.
I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster, but an enjoyable one. I might need a nap now. Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes creepy thrillers.
October 17, 2026
I received an ARC copy from the author and am choosing to leave an honest review:
I first want to start off by stating that this is book 2 of the series and if you try to start reading this one as a standalone you may get confused rather quickly. Trust me...read the first book!
That being said, as much as I enjoyed book 1, this one fell flat for me. I can appreciate what the author was trying to do and I fully commendable her for it but there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary filler this time around. I got lost a few times as to which child belonged to which parent and things like that. In book one, we have our MFC who is searching for her missing daughter and we follow her through every gut wrenching bit of that whole ordeal and it's pretty intense. In this second book, we begin to learn just what the new normal can look like after the missing child comes home and the PTSD that goes along with it. We also start to delve in deeper as to who else is behind the DAD label we learned about in the first story. We quickly learn that this isn't just a select few individuals who are running the show...it's an entire intricate network! And just when we think all those responsible have been dealt with, we quickly learn how wrong we are. It's still a good story, I just didn't care for it as much as the first one.
I first want to start off by stating that this is book 2 of the series and if you try to start reading this one as a standalone you may get confused rather quickly. Trust me...read the first book!
That being said, as much as I enjoyed book 1, this one fell flat for me. I can appreciate what the author was trying to do and I fully commendable her for it but there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary filler this time around. I got lost a few times as to which child belonged to which parent and things like that. In book one, we have our MFC who is searching for her missing daughter and we follow her through every gut wrenching bit of that whole ordeal and it's pretty intense. In this second book, we begin to learn just what the new normal can look like after the missing child comes home and the PTSD that goes along with it. We also start to delve in deeper as to who else is behind the DAD label we learned about in the first story. We quickly learn that this isn't just a select few individuals who are running the show...it's an entire intricate network! And just when we think all those responsible have been dealt with, we quickly learn how wrong we are. It's still a good story, I just didn't care for it as much as the first one.
October 11, 2026
✨ARC Review✨
⭐️:4/5
When Kate thinks nothing else could go wrong now that Mia is back home. She thought wrong! Mysterious emails and videos that are sent to her and to find out why, from whom.
It’s a must to read Play Dead prior to reading this book. We have Mia home after being taken 18 months ago and her mom never gave up on getting her back. Kate does everything she can while walking on eggshells around her daughter not wanting to push her too much or knowing what to do for her to get past this. I love how the author continues from the first and no a recap at times I don’t tend to like those.
Kate has gotten these weird emails, photos and videos and it’s of others that experience exactly what Mia did. Can she help find them or get them back to their families? Is “Dad” still watching and no one knows? So many questions when I started reading this. I got my answers! I won’t give it away but the ending ugh! I enjoyed it for sure.
The author knows how to write and it is very easy to follow I love her writing style. A little slow at first but just as stressful as the first one and more emotional.
⭐️:4/5
When Kate thinks nothing else could go wrong now that Mia is back home. She thought wrong! Mysterious emails and videos that are sent to her and to find out why, from whom.
It’s a must to read Play Dead prior to reading this book. We have Mia home after being taken 18 months ago and her mom never gave up on getting her back. Kate does everything she can while walking on eggshells around her daughter not wanting to push her too much or knowing what to do for her to get past this. I love how the author continues from the first and no a recap at times I don’t tend to like those.
Kate has gotten these weird emails, photos and videos and it’s of others that experience exactly what Mia did. Can she help find them or get them back to their families? Is “Dad” still watching and no one knows? So many questions when I started reading this. I got my answers! I won’t give it away but the ending ugh! I enjoyed it for sure.
The author knows how to write and it is very easy to follow I love her writing style. A little slow at first but just as stressful as the first one and more emotional.
September 20, 2026
First and foremost, I forgive you for leaving us with THAT cliffhanger at the end of Play Dead! 😂
THIS is what I want! So many authors feel the need to give us 30 chapters of recap, so I’m SOOOO glad you started this right where we left off. I’m also so happy we got more of the emotional and psychological trauma here because WOW. I mean, I feel bad for Mia, OBVIOUSLY, but this really showed just how dark and sinister everything was for her in Play Dead. At first, she was almost starting to creep me out with the way she had her parents walking on eggshells around her, but after actually sitting with it and reflecting, she has every right to act the way she does. What a beautiful way to wrap this up… although something tells me there could be a Book 3 in the works 👀👀
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Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not influenced by receiving an advance copy.
THIS is what I want! So many authors feel the need to give us 30 chapters of recap, so I’m SOOOO glad you started this right where we left off. I’m also so happy we got more of the emotional and psychological trauma here because WOW. I mean, I feel bad for Mia, OBVIOUSLY, but this really showed just how dark and sinister everything was for her in Play Dead. At first, she was almost starting to creep me out with the way she had her parents walking on eggshells around her, but after actually sitting with it and reflecting, she has every right to act the way she does. What a beautiful way to wrap this up… although something tells me there could be a Book 3 in the works 👀👀
.
.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not influenced by receiving an advance copy.
October 16, 2026
Read Play Dead first. You can’t start here, and this one spoils the first book.
Play Along is a horror novel about afterward, the part the rescue footage never shows, and it opens with one of the best images in either book: a child, a door, and a yellow ruler. The family writing is the best of the series. Mia gets a will of her own, her father finally gets a voice (dry and very funny), and the book has the nerve to turn its camera on its own heroine.
It’s held back by the same thing as the first book, only more so. Scenes close on a stated lesson the reader already understood, and the climax plays out on a screen when the quiet domestic material was always the stronger ending. I came close to a star lower; the family is what pulled it back up.
Great stories, both of them, that would be even better if the author slowed down a little and tightened the editing phase. I’ll keep reading her.
Read on my own Kindle Unlimited subscription. Full video review on The Veiled Archive.
Play Along is a horror novel about afterward, the part the rescue footage never shows, and it opens with one of the best images in either book: a child, a door, and a yellow ruler. The family writing is the best of the series. Mia gets a will of her own, her father finally gets a voice (dry and very funny), and the book has the nerve to turn its camera on its own heroine.
It’s held back by the same thing as the first book, only more so. Scenes close on a stated lesson the reader already understood, and the climax plays out on a screen when the quiet domestic material was always the stronger ending. I came close to a star lower; the family is what pulled it back up.
Great stories, both of them, that would be even better if the author slowed down a little and tightened the editing phase. I’ll keep reading her.
Read on my own Kindle Unlimited subscription. Full video review on The Veiled Archive.
October 16, 2026
Play Along is the sequel to Play Dead by M. Boudreaux and she did an amazing job finishing this wild ride. I loved Play Dead and was so excited to get the opportunity to read book 2! The tagline “The Audience never left” gave me chills. Play Along brings us back to the dark and unsettling world from Play Dead. M. Boudreaux writes a crazy terrifying journey and the most disturbing part is how the story blurs the line between reality and psychological manipulation.
If you want a great psychological thriller then pick up Play Dead and Play Along. You won’t regret it 🖤
If you want a great psychological thriller then pick up Play Dead and Play Along. You won’t regret it 🖤
Read
September 16, 2026I received this book for free as an advanced reader copy in exchange for a review. This book is the sequel to Play Dead, in order to understand it you do have to to read the first book, it is not a standalone! I was intrigued with these books, both were finished in a day each. I love the depth of the characters. Kate is the epitome of a loving mother. Even as things change she is there for it. I absolutely recommend!
Review of advance copy received from Author
Mia had made it home. She had been trained by her abductors to behave a certain way and still having issues at home. Kate and Matt were doing their best with Mia. Kate, still involved with the active case, gets weird messages and videos. She was able to help identify places and things still going on. Will she be able to help Noras mother get her home safe? Will they find out who “Dad” is running the show?
My mind never shut off keeping up.
My mind never shut off keeping up.
October 4, 2026
I wasn’t as impressed with this one as I was with Play Dead. I found Mia’s speech to be unusual, not quite the language of a seven-year-old, perhaps more like an older child. Even knowing what she endured for eighteen months, it still felt strange. This book didn’t have the same creepy atmosphere as the last one either. I did appreciate how it concluded the story, but that was about it. I recommend reading both to fully understand the narrative.
October 14, 2026
Play Along is the second book in the Play Dead Sequel. I must tell you, YOU HAVE to read Play Dead before diving into this one to fully understand everything that’s going on.
Play Along, was such an amazing book! It picked up perfectly after book one. Both of these books were amazing!
Huge shout Out to M. Boudreaux for allowing me to read her work!! I am IN LOVE with these books
Play Along, was such an amazing book! It picked up perfectly after book one. Both of these books were amazing!
Huge shout Out to M. Boudreaux for allowing me to read her work!! I am IN LOVE with these books
Review of advance copy received from Author
Play Along is the sequel to Play Dead (and amazing book as well). I loved this book! I was hooked right away. Terrifying and creepy in the best ways! Well written, easy to follow and you can't put it down.
I looked forward to reading more from M. Boudreaux!! Another new favorite author of mine 🩷
I looked forward to reading more from M. Boudreaux!! Another new favorite author of mine 🩷
October 29, 2026
Play Along by M. Boudreaux was such a good read. It picked up right where the first book left off.I was hooked and needed to know how everything was going to play out. I love when a book keeps me invested in the story and leaves me wanting more. Definitely one worth checking out! 📚🔥
Review of advance copy received from Author
Really enjoyed book 2 of this series. I found the book to be very captivating and kept me wanting to keep reading! I highly suggest this series! Start with Play Dead you’ll love it!
Review of advance copy received from Author
Kate found Mia and the other children. Now Kate is getting strange videos and messages. Someone is watching her family. Can Kate find the girl in the videos? Psychological thriller full of twists. Strong characters and a story that pulls you in.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews