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 the kidnapping of a former Detective Chief Superintendent’s son, Thorne is unceremoniously loaned to the kidnap unit. Alongside D.I. Louise Porter, Thorne is sent to discover who is holding sixteen year old Luke Mullen, who was seen getting into a car outside his prestigious North London school.One of the things that I have to admit appeal to me about this series, is that they are set in the part of London where I live and there is much that is familiar. I recognise the London Mark Billingham writes about and the people who populate his books. Of course, the kidnapping case is not going to be easy to solve, especially when things are complicated by Luke’s location being moved. Along the way, there is the case of a previous murder – racially motivated – and the chief suspect being a boy at Mullen’s school. There are also questions as to why the father of the kidnapped boy did not give a very comprehensive list of people who may have had a grudge against him and the reasons he retired at almost the same time as a previous child sex offender vanished from sight…Like all the Thorne books, this is comprehensively plotted and realistic. Thorne is not an action hero – but a disgruntled, weary man, coping with personal problems and a bad back. There are familiar characters that we have come to know, including Dave Holland and Yvonne Kitson, and they help flesh out the storyline. This is certainly a series that I intend to read on with and it has become one of my favourites.
Sixth in the DI Tom Thorne mystery series. The teenage son of a former cop is kidnapped, but oddly enough there's no ransom note and some question as to whether it was a true kidnapping or whether Luke Mullen voluntarily went off. Thorne, still in trouble with his boss and recovering from events in the last book, is seconded to a small team working with the kidnapping squad working on the case. As Thorne investigates and looks into the whereabouts of the list of people with grudges against Tony Mullen, Luke's father, he notices the conspicuous absence of a name mentioned by his old friend who works the cold case squad, and investigation into that person starts touching off some red flags. Why hadn't Mullen included the name on his list, and why hadn't his boss added the name when shown Mullen's list? Thorne thinks something is being covered up and is aiming to find out what.It has been a couple of years at least since I read the previous book in this series, mostly because I'd found Thorne's "bad boy rebel cop" persona to become mildly boring and predictable regardless of what stupid, outrageous things he did. He hasn't changed! LOL The book is well-written, well-plotted with some interesting twists that I didn't see coming at all, and while I actually like some of Thorne's secondary characters, I find Thorne hasn't changed much from his irritating old self. I absolutely loved the first couple of books in this series, but while I liked the rest of them, I think I will have to continue to leave months/years between reading each one.
What do You think about Buried (2007)?
Billingham has written another Tom Thorne novel that draws the reader into Thorne's world. It sometimes seems that Thorne, a lover of American country music, lives a life that could be a country song - except he doesn't have a dog or a pickup truck. Thorne's world continues to be a noire version of a police procedural novel.After Thorne's last outing which ended with him being relegated to a desk job buried in paperwork, Thorne gets seconded to a special unit to work on a kidnapping case. With Thorne involved it ends up being much more than a routine investigation. Billingham brings back the usual cast of Thorne's mates and this is an interesting read that will hold the reader's interest until the last line.
—Kevin
For me, this book was just as much of a page turner as the other in the Tom Thorne series. However, it was a bit like a Law & Order Criminal Intent show, where the initial straightforward case veers wildly off-topic to the point that you forget what the initial plot was about. As the book went on, new threads and subplots were added until you had a bit of a tangle of subplots that were confusing and messy to sort out by the end. But I enjoyed it and stayed up way too late reading it and look forward to tackling the next.
—Mary Bloodworth
Billingham has struck on a winning formula with his popular detective series: something or someone from the past re-emerges or is discovered in the present day and it is down to world-weary DI Tom Thorne to solve things.Billingham does manage again to infuse the plot with plenty of unexpected and dramatic developments despite the tried and tested formula. This story on the surface seems like a routine kidnapping, but it is soon apparent that it is anything but that.I enjoyed revisiting stalwart characters like Hendricks and Holland. It is vital for the ‘human’ element that we feel we know these characters and care about them. If not for them, it would be just another crime novel. The way Thorne interacts with his colleagues and friends gives the novel its meat and its soul. Thorne’s main strength is his ordinariness; he is not a super-cop, but a rough-around-the-edges, seasoned veteran.This thriller is taut, suspenseful, shocking and disturbing. As well as the kidnapping it deals with hate crimes and racist attacks, sex assaults and bullying. Light reading it is not. This is all designed to push the reader’s emotional buttons and to prompt righteous indignation. I can only speak from my own experience and say that it works. I was totally hooked and hoping that the wrong-doers were brought swiftly to justice.This is no wish-fulfilment fantasy, Billingham is again at pains to illustrate police procedure and the work and policies of the various specialist crime units involved. Thorne operates very much in the real contemporary world. Buried is a solid addition to the series and for my money, one of the best. He has really hit his stride and I am certain that the series can continue to provide exciting storylines and problems for Thorne to tackle for many years to come.
—Daniel Cann
