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From The Dead by Mark Billingham
The Blurb On The Back:
THE BODY
A decade ago, Alan Langford’s charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and sentenced to ten years in prison.
THE LETTER
But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being – the man she paid to have murdered – seems very much alive and well.
THE RACE AGAINST TIME
How is It possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why?
10 years ago Donna Langford was found guilty of hiring a hitman to kill her husband, Alan, whose remains were found in a burnt-out car. But just as she’s about to be released from prison, she receives an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband, who seems to be very much alive. Donna engages a seedy PI firm to find out who sent the letter and whether Alan is still alive. Anna Carpenter sees Donna’s case as a way of being more than just a honey trap, but knows that if she’s to get anywhere, she needs the help of Tom Thorne, who originally investigated the case.
Thorne though has problems of his own. His team’s just lost a high-profile case of murder because they couldn’t find the victim’s body. Now the victim, a known sex-offender, is seeking to use the case to attack the police. He’s reluctant to get involved in what was an open-and-shut case but Anna’s convinced that there’s something else going on and her youth, enthusiasm and attractiveness persuade him to take a second look. The deeper they dig however, the more deaths start to mount and soon their own lives are put at risk …
The 9th in Mark Billingham’s Thorne series is a reflective affair. Thorne feels compelled to re-examine an old case at the same time as he’s re-considering his relationship with Louise, which remains shaky following her miscarriage. Always prone to introspection, the relationship re-evaluation was true to Thorne’s character but whereas previously it’s been offset by his banter with Phil Hendricks (still my favourite character) here the humour is more muted and I missed it. At the same time Thorne’s tempted by the vibrant Anna, seeing something in her that he misses in himself. I found her to be too much of an ingénue to be completely believable but she is tenacious and resourceful.
The mystery itself was the most disappointing element. Because the victim and his wife are both unlikeable people, I didn’t care about either of them (notwithstanding the potential miscarriage of justice) and when the action switches to Spain, I found it difficult to remain interested in the events. The B Plot murder case is very much in the background and was, for me, wrapped up too neatly.
Mark Billingham’s Thorne books are always worth a look but this isn’t one of the strongest in the series.
The Verdict:
The 9th in Mark Billingham’s bestselling Tom Thorne crime series is an introspective affair with Thorne forced to re-evaluate both an old case and his current relationship. I didn’t mind the relationship element (although I did think it missed the humour that usually exists between Thorne and Hendricks) but the actual mystery storyline didn’t work for me because I couldn’t root for either the victim or the woman convicted of his murder. The Thorne series is always worth reading, but this one wasn’t as good as some of the others.
A decade ago, Alan Langford’s charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and sentenced to ten years in prison.
But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being – the man she paid to have murdered – seems very much alive and well.
How is It possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why?
10 years ago Donna Langford was found guilty of hiring a hitman to kill her husband, Alan, whose remains were found in a burnt-out car. But just as she’s about to be released from prison, she receives an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband, who seems to be very much alive. Donna engages a seedy PI firm to find out who sent the letter and whether Alan is still alive. Anna Carpenter sees Donna’s case as a way of being more than just a honey trap, but knows that if she’s to get anywhere, she needs the help of Tom Thorne, who originally investigated the case.
Thorne though has problems of his own. His team’s just lost a high-profile case of murder because they couldn’t find the victim’s body. Now the victim, a known sex-offender, is seeking to use the case to attack the police. He’s reluctant to get involved in what was an open-and-shut case but Anna’s convinced that there’s something else going on and her youth, enthusiasm and attractiveness persuade him to take a second look. The deeper they dig however, the more deaths start to mount and soon their own lives are put at risk …
The 9th in Mark Billingham’s Thorne series is a reflective affair. Thorne feels compelled to re-examine an old case at the same time as he’s re-considering his relationship with Louise, which remains shaky following her miscarriage. Always prone to introspection, the relationship re-evaluation was true to Thorne’s character but whereas previously it’s been offset by his banter with Phil Hendricks (still my favourite character) here the humour is more muted and I missed it. At the same time Thorne’s tempted by the vibrant Anna, seeing something in her that he misses in himself. I found her to be too much of an ingénue to be completely believable but she is tenacious and resourceful.
The mystery itself was the most disappointing element. Because the victim and his wife are both unlikeable people, I didn’t care about either of them (notwithstanding the potential miscarriage of justice) and when the action switches to Spain, I found it difficult to remain interested in the events. The B Plot murder case is very much in the background and was, for me, wrapped up too neatly.
Mark Billingham’s Thorne books are always worth a look but this isn’t one of the strongest in the series.
The Verdict:
The 9th in Mark Billingham’s bestselling Tom Thorne crime series is an introspective affair with Thorne forced to re-evaluate both an old case and his current relationship. I didn’t mind the relationship element (although I did think it missed the humour that usually exists between Thorne and Hendricks) but the actual mystery storyline didn’t work for me because I couldn’t root for either the victim or the woman convicted of his murder. The Thorne series is always worth reading, but this one wasn’t as good as some of the others.