Time Of Death by Mark Billingham
Apr. 23rd, 2016 11:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The missing.
Two schoolgirls are abducted in the small, dying Warwickshire town of Polesford, driving a knife into the heart of the community where police officer Helen Weeks grew up. But this is a place where dangerous truths lie buried.
The accused.
When family man Stephen Bates is arrested, Helen and her partner Tom Thorne head to the flooded town to support Bates’ wife – an old school friend of Helen’s – who is living under siege and convinced of her husband’s innocence.
The dead.
As residents and media bay for Bates’ blood, a decomposing body is found. The police believe they have their murderer, but one man believes otherwise. With a girl still missing, Thorne sets himself on a collision course with local police, townsfolk – and a merciless killer.
It’s several months after THE BONES BENEATH. Cleared of his actions in Nicklin’s escape, Thorne and Helen Weeks are due to take some much-needed time off with a Valentine’s Day escape to the country. While they’re away Helen sees a news report on the arrest of Stephen Bates on suspicion of the abduction of two schoolgirls from the small Warwickshire town of Polesford. Helen grew up in Polesford and she’s surprised to see that Bates’ wife is Linda, an old school friend of hers who she hasn’t seen in 20 years. Convinced that she should support her friend, Thorne reluctantly accompanies her to Polesford, a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and which is convinced of Bates’ guilt.
When the decomposing body is found of one of the abductees, it seems that Bates’ guilt is sealed. But Thorne is not convinced and puts himself on a collision course with the local police and townsfolk as he searches for the missing girl and in doing so, puts himself within the sights of a cunning killer …
The 13th in the TOM THORNE SERIES is another gripping crime thriller filled with twists and turns that touches on mob mentality and how it’s stoked by irresponsible tabloid journalism. The best thing about the book is that Thorne and Weeks’ relationship is central to it and I really welcomed Weeks’ character development as we learn more about her family background and childhood, even though it’s built on an idea that I find overdone for female characters in crime fiction. What’s interesting is how little Thorne really knows about Helen, how timid he is at asking her what’s going on and how the age difference between them is perceived by others and I’ll be interested to see what happens between them in the coming books. Although the pacing is great, I found the killer a little unbaked and I found it difficult to believe that Brigstocke did so little to bring Thorne back into line when he’s clearly still under a shadow from the Nicklin affair. I also thought that both Thorne and Weeks were more than a little naïve in their suggestion to a key witness to go to the press and I wanted to see more of the fall out of that. That said, this held my attention from beginning to end and I will definitely check out the next Thorne book.
The Verdict:
The 13th in the TOM THORNE SERIES is another gripping crime thriller filled with twists and turns that touches on mob mentality and how it’s stoked by irresponsible tabloid journalism. The best thing about the book is that Thorne and Weeks’ relationship is central to it and I really welcomed Weeks’ character development as we learn more about her family background and childhood, even though it’s built on an idea that I find overdone for female characters in crime fiction. What’s interesting is how little Thorne really knows about Helen, how timid he is at asking her what’s going on and how the age difference between them is perceived by others and I’ll be interested to see what happens between them in the coming books. Although the pacing is great, I found the killer a little unbaked and I found it difficult to believe that Brigstocke did so little to bring Thorne back into line when he’s clearly still under a shadow from the Nicklin affair. I also thought that both Thorne and Weeks were more than a little naïve in their suggestion to a key witness to go to the press and I wanted to see more of the fall out of that. That said, this held my attention from beginning to end and I will definitely check out the next Thorne book.
Two schoolgirls are abducted in the small, dying Warwickshire town of Polesford, driving a knife into the heart of the community where police officer Helen Weeks grew up. But this is a place where dangerous truths lie buried.
When family man Stephen Bates is arrested, Helen and her partner Tom Thorne head to the flooded town to support Bates’ wife – an old school friend of Helen’s – who is living under siege and convinced of her husband’s innocence.
As residents and media bay for Bates’ blood, a decomposing body is found. The police believe they have their murderer, but one man believes otherwise. With a girl still missing, Thorne sets himself on a collision course with local police, townsfolk – and a merciless killer.
It’s several months after THE BONES BENEATH. Cleared of his actions in Nicklin’s escape, Thorne and Helen Weeks are due to take some much-needed time off with a Valentine’s Day escape to the country. While they’re away Helen sees a news report on the arrest of Stephen Bates on suspicion of the abduction of two schoolgirls from the small Warwickshire town of Polesford. Helen grew up in Polesford and she’s surprised to see that Bates’ wife is Linda, an old school friend of hers who she hasn’t seen in 20 years. Convinced that she should support her friend, Thorne reluctantly accompanies her to Polesford, a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and which is convinced of Bates’ guilt.
When the decomposing body is found of one of the abductees, it seems that Bates’ guilt is sealed. But Thorne is not convinced and puts himself on a collision course with the local police and townsfolk as he searches for the missing girl and in doing so, puts himself within the sights of a cunning killer …
The 13th in the TOM THORNE SERIES is another gripping crime thriller filled with twists and turns that touches on mob mentality and how it’s stoked by irresponsible tabloid journalism. The best thing about the book is that Thorne and Weeks’ relationship is central to it and I really welcomed Weeks’ character development as we learn more about her family background and childhood, even though it’s built on an idea that I find overdone for female characters in crime fiction. What’s interesting is how little Thorne really knows about Helen, how timid he is at asking her what’s going on and how the age difference between them is perceived by others and I’ll be interested to see what happens between them in the coming books. Although the pacing is great, I found the killer a little unbaked and I found it difficult to believe that Brigstocke did so little to bring Thorne back into line when he’s clearly still under a shadow from the Nicklin affair. I also thought that both Thorne and Weeks were more than a little naïve in their suggestion to a key witness to go to the press and I wanted to see more of the fall out of that. That said, this held my attention from beginning to end and I will definitely check out the next Thorne book.
The Verdict:
The 13th in the TOM THORNE SERIES is another gripping crime thriller filled with twists and turns that touches on mob mentality and how it’s stoked by irresponsible tabloid journalism. The best thing about the book is that Thorne and Weeks’ relationship is central to it and I really welcomed Weeks’ character development as we learn more about her family background and childhood, even though it’s built on an idea that I find overdone for female characters in crime fiction. What’s interesting is how little Thorne really knows about Helen, how timid he is at asking her what’s going on and how the age difference between them is perceived by others and I’ll be interested to see what happens between them in the coming books. Although the pacing is great, I found the killer a little unbaked and I found it difficult to believe that Brigstocke did so little to bring Thorne back into line when he’s clearly still under a shadow from the Nicklin affair. I also thought that both Thorne and Weeks were more than a little naïve in their suggestion to a key witness to go to the press and I wanted to see more of the fall out of that. That said, this held my attention from beginning to end and I will definitely check out the next Thorne book.
