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The Blurb On The Back:

She says she’s an ordinary mother.
He knows a liar when he sees one.

Sarah thinks of herself as a normal single mum. It’s what she wants others to think of her. But the truth is, she needs something new, something thrilling.

Meanwhile, DI Tom Thorne is investigating a woman’s suicide, convinced she was driven to do it by a man who preys on vulnerable women.

A man who is about to change Sarah’s life.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The 16th in Mark Billingham’s DI TOM THORNE SERIES has a bit of a treading water feel to it as Thorne and DI Nicola Tanner deal with the fallout from THE KILLING HABIT and Thorne deals with the breakup of his relationship with Helen. Unfortunately I didn’t believe what happened between Sarah and Conrad or what it is about Conrad that makes him so irresistible to women so while I did keep turning the pages, this isn’t really vintage Thorne.

THEIR LITTLE SECRET was released in the United Kingdom on 2nd May 2019. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

The deal.

Tom Thorne is back in charge – but there’s a terrifying price to pay. Stuart Nicklin, the most dangerous psychopath he has ever put behind bars, promises to reveal the whereabouts of a body he buried twenty-five years before. But only if Thorne agrees to escort him.

The danger.

Unable to refuse, Thorne gathers a team and travels to a remote Welsh island, at the mercy of the weather and cut off from the mainland. Thorne is determine to get the job done and return home before Nicklin can outwit them.

The deaths.

But Nicklin knows this island well and has had time to plan ahead. Soon, new bodies are added to the old, and Thorne finds himself facing the toughest decision he has ever had to make …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The twelfth in Mark Billingham’s excellent TOM THORNE SERIES is a well-constructed psychological thriller that sees Nicklin and Thorne resume the game of cat and mouse that began with SCAREDY CAT. The mystery here all lies in trying to work out what Nicklin’s game is as he takes Thorne and his crew to Bardsey Island, off the Welsh coast. Although we learn more of Nicklin’s early life – his time spent in an experimental youth offender home and his friendship with a naïve young man called Simon – I did think those scenes slowed down the otherwise nail biting plot. Nicklin’s always been a creepy and ruthless enemy and he’s really allowed to enjoy himself here – his exchanges with Thorne ramp up the tension, especially because Thorne’s hamstrung in his ability to respond and Nicklin knows that. Also interesting is a possible romantic temptation for Tom in his team, which I wish had been explored further and hope will come up in future books. Where the book is weakest is in some of the detail with regard to how Nicklin set up his plans – as the different strands came together it felt a little too convenient at times and I’d have liked a bit more jeopardy and less inevitability. Given the open ending, this may be something that Billingham comes back to in future books, but to be honest I needed to see it here just so that I could fully buy into the plot. That said, the emotional fall out of Nicklin’s plan is credible and promises to have a continuing effect in the books to come, which I shall definitely be checking out.

The Blurb On The Back:

The hostage.

Police officer Helen Weeks walks into her local newsagent’s on her way to work. It’s the last place she expects to be met with violence, but she is about to come face to face with a gunman.

The demand.

The hostage-taker is desperate to know what happened to his beloved son, who died a year before in youth custody. By holding Helen at gunpoint, he will force a re-investigation into his son’s death. And one man knows the case better than any other – DI Tom Thorne.

The twist.

As the body count rises, Thorne must race against time to bring a killer to justice and save a young mother’s life.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The tenth in Mark Billingham’s TOM THORNE SERIES is another page-turning thriller that shows Thorne once again prepared to break the rules to get the result he knows is right. The problem is that the conspiracy element to the story never convinced me because it’s so dependent on a contrived set of events that didn’t ring true. This is a shame because I really enjoyed the return of Helen Weeks who’s struggling to keep her head in a stressful situation and whose conversations with Javed really bring out the pain and loss that comes when the justice system acts unfairly. I also enjoyed the way Thorne continues to develop here now that his relationship with Louise is over and the way in which he is looking to reorder his life to make a new start and yet cannot escape his old habits. Ultimately, this was entertaining enough to keep me reading but it wasn’t the best in the series – although I will definitely check out the next book.

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?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

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.

The Blurb On The Back:

The Bloodstained X-Ray

It seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman’s fist – and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary.

The Infamous Killer

Thorne discovers that the victim’s mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead.

The Chilling Legacy

When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey’s victims ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The latest in the Tom Thorne series has a good emotional core to it that skirts cliché, but the twist was (to me) a little obvious, robbing the final third of tension.

The Blurb On The Back:

A missing boy.

Teenager Luke Mullen was last seen getting into a car with an older woman. No one can understand why he has disappeared. His father - a former police officer - knows all too well that the longer he is missing, the more likely he is to turn up dead.

A terrifying video.

Then Luke's parents receive an anonymous video. It shows their son, eyes wide with terror, as a man advances towards him holding a syringe.

A race against time.

DI Tom Thorne recognises a psychopath when he sees one. And the scene on the tape chills him to the bone - he knows that a child's life hangs in the balance, and that every minute counts ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Plodding and dull - I think the series has lost his way and Tom Thorne feels like every other policeman cliche, albeit with Dead Dad visions and back trouble. Billingham doesn't seem to care about his story, which means that I definitely didn't, if it wasn't for Billingham's gift for pacing, it would have been very tedious to read. I might keep in touch with the series if they're available at the library or from a charity shop, but I certainly won't be buying them again.

The Blurb On The Back:

X marks the spot - and when that spot is a corpse's naked back and the X is carved in blood, DR Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious contract killer. This is turf warfare between North London gangs. Organised-crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else's patch, and that someone is not best pleased. For Thorne, a tenuous link between two cases becomes two pieces of the same puzzle; past and present fuse together to form a new and very nasty riddle.

And when an X is carved on Thorne's front door, he knows that the smouldering embers of a long-dead case are about to erupt into flames ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

A little predictable, but still a well-written page-turner. Billingham leaves the book on an open note that makes me interested to see what happens next to Thorne, but if I'm to stay with the series I need a little less contrivance in the plot.