This was my first read of Mark Billingham's novels and his character Detective Inspector Tom Thorne. Nearly ten years on now when this debut was launched and I am guilty of not reading many British authors when it comes to crime and thrillers, I have loved John Connolly and his character Charlie ...
I'll say from the get-go that at no point did I think this title was appropriate at all. The phrase "lazy bones" was mentioned once I think and it had nothing to do with anything. It's entirely possible I missed the point, but I thought this was poorly titled.Luckily, this book was excellent in e...
"c2005. I ordered this as the author had given a very favourable blurb on one of the books that I have recently read (I think The Snowman). Not having read previous books with the protagonist, I didn't really get the character at all. Although the writing style could be describe as pithy - I did ...
From Publishers Weekly Billingham's second thriller (after Sleepyhead) featuring London Det. Insp. Tom Thorne offers a twist on the serial killer subgenre. Brooding, melancholy Thorne heads a team of detectives who are alerted to the death of a young mother brutally strangled as her three-year-ol...
This may have been one of my most favourite crime/thriller books I've ever read. This genre is one of my constants throughout the years. I've always enjoyed a good crime thriller and when I stumbled upon Billingham I was delighted to find a good cop series based in Britain that I really enjoyed. ...
The last book in this series ended with a bang - a complete whirlwind of an ending. While this one didn't carry on in exactly the same vein, it did continue the general quality. With this book we see this series start to develop into what could be a great series; Four StarsPlot: Four Stars And th...
This is the sixth Tom Thorne novel and, as always, things are not going well for our country music loving detective. It is six months since Thorne went undercover amongst London’s homeless and he is still being side-lined. However, when pressure is put upon his superior officer to help with th...
‘It all helps, right?’ she had said. A smile, a blush and a palm tracing the sphere of her belly. Now, she trudges back towards the High Street, breathing hard, feeling the sweat gathering on her neck and in the small of her back, in the creases behind her knees. Nylon sti...
Showing remarkable agility for a man who must have been in his sixties, Bernard Morgan hopped from the boat on to the walkway and hurried towards a line of small metal sheds and a larger wooden boathouse on the dockside. As Huw Morgan restarted the engines and backed the boat away, Thorne watched...
That’s all.’ ‘So, what?’ Holland said. ‘I just stroll out, do I?’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Nip down there on my lunch break and pretend I got lost on my way to the canteen?’ ‘You’ll think of something,’ Thorne said. ‘Right.’ ‘Maybe you can say you were visiting a source.’ Thorne waited...
The music was faint in his headphones, and al but drowned out by the noise of the MRI scanner that was slowly putting together a picture of his spine. Of the state of it. The sound, like a pneumatic dril , made it seem as if he were listening to some radical, techno remix of the Man in Black, but...
A fortnight shy of retirement, and his body, like a precision alarm clock, was tel ing him that it was just the right time. The back pain and the talk of retirement cottages abroad had begun on almost exactly the same day... He straightened up, his noisy exhalation echoing around the almost deser...
‘What’s the latest?’ Thorne looked at Helen, but she refused to meet his eye. She just said, ‘We know about as much as you do. Less, probably.’ ‘I don’t believe that for a minute,’ Paula said. She worked as a nurse at a hospital in Nuneaton and had only been home for half an hour or so when Thorn...
"Just two coffees, please," Thorne said. Hol and looked a little disappointed, as if he'd been hoping to put a spot of breakfast on expenses. After the waitress had gone, Hol and scanned the menu: "Some of this stuff sounds nice. You know, the Turkish stuff." Thorne glanced around, caught the eye...
'That's stupid. Surely we should be keeping this out of the press. Knowing that there are two of them is the only advantage we've got...' A smal part of Thorne was relieved that Hol and could stil be so naive. 'There you go again, Hol and, thinking like a policeman. Detective Superintendent Jesmo...
Let’s go blow at the trains.’ Debbie Mitchell tugs at her son’s arm, but he pulls hard in the opposite direction, towards the chocolate Labrador the old woman is struggling to control. ‘Puff-puff,’ Debbie says, blowing out her cheeks. ‘Come on, it’s your favourite . . . ’ Jason pulls away harder,...
The weather, the time, the day of the week, the whatever.The smallest variance in any one of these things, or in the way that each connected to the other at the crucial moment, and nothing would have happened as it did. An inch another way, or a second, or a step and it would have been a very dif...
Several puzzle magazines lay open on the small table next to the sofa, alongside a dictionary, a Daily Express and two paperback thrillers with bookmarks inside. Helen was pleased to see that her father was keeping busy, though part of her suspected he laid it all out on display when he knew she ...