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gruvik's review
4.0
Not read a Mark Billingham book since his very early work, this was a very easy book to read and flowed along at a good pace. Like any crime series, it does help if you are aware of the previous novels.
suggsygirl's review
4.0
I've enjoyed all Mark Billingham's books and this one was no exception. I love the way he writes his 'good' characters so flawed and human while at the same time his 'bad' characters are capable of good things despite their obvious shortcomings. If you want thought-provoking, ground-breaking literature then you're in the wrong place. But if you want an intelligent, entertaining, easy read then this is the book for you.
fieldri1968's review against another edition
5.0
If you are a fan of Billingham's Tom Thorne books then this is another high quality entry in the series. I strongly feel that Billingham has improved as a writer over the course of these books, especially how well he writes the parts of the story where lots happens at once (this was something I felt was sometimes not well managed in the first Thorne book 'Sleepyhead').
The story opens with a violent gangland death, a man handcuffed to the steering wheel of a Jaguar car which is then doused in petrol and torched.
Ten years later Thorne is required to re-examine these events. Soon the body count begins to climb, and both the guilty and the innocent will be in danger.
The crime story is well told, but the personal life of Thorne and his girlfriend has become more perfunctory. I think this helps the story as a whole because, while readers want to know that their protagonists are people with internal lives, the crime and the associated punishment is really what matters. For me, at least.
The story opens with a violent gangland death, a man handcuffed to the steering wheel of a Jaguar car which is then doused in petrol and torched.
Ten years later Thorne is required to re-examine these events. Soon the body count begins to climb, and both the guilty and the innocent will be in danger.
The crime story is well told, but the personal life of Thorne and his girlfriend has become more perfunctory. I think this helps the story as a whole because, while readers want to know that their protagonists are people with internal lives, the crime and the associated punishment is really what matters. For me, at least.
gailinva's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. It's the first one of the series I've read. Nothing like starting in the middle of a series but I didn't have any trouble getting into it. It was a good story, interesting characters. I don't know how likable Tom Thorne is but I liked the other characters so it kept things going. Horrible bad guy is killed by wife's hired killer -- or was he? Who's sending pictures of him to her just after she's released from prison? Where's her daughter? How many others will be killed before this mystery is solved? Read it and find out. See if you can figure it out before it is revealed.
hpnyknits's review
3.0
Once they killed Anna, for no reason but to make Thorne emotionally involved, the book lost credibility.
It achieved nothing else.
The ending had some surprising outcomes.
And I didn’t buy the story of the young woman who disappeared and oops, wasn’t dead but staying with her best friend and no one noticed??? And a man was put on trial for her murder? Nope.
It achieved nothing else.
The ending had some surprising outcomes.
And I didn’t buy the story of the young woman who disappeared and oops, wasn’t dead but staying with her best friend and no one noticed??? And a man was put on trial for her murder? Nope.
joefriday's review
3.0
This is my first book by Mark Billingham, so perhaps if I had gotten to know Thorne from earlier books I might have connected to his character a little better. The story line is good, but I found the book was overly long. I felt that the story moved along too slowly.
audproctor's review
4.0
Thorne takes a jaunt to Spain to get to the bottom of who is killing people associated with a decades old case.
dr_dick's review
4.0
i'm really enjoying this Tom Thorne series. well written, intricately plotted, and all round good storytelling.