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    Death Message
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    Death Message
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    Death Message
    Ebook452 pages6 hours

    Death Message

    By Mark Billingham

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Death Message is the unforgettable new entry in the suspense series featuring Tom Thorne, “the next superstar detective” (Lee Child), from Mark Billingham, one of Britain’s most compelling and talented crime writers. Billingham, the author of In the Dark and Buried, delivers a chilling thriller that begins with a body and a phone line, both of which are dead.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061941542
    Unavailable
    Death Message
    Author

    Mark Billingham

    Mark Billingham is the author of nine novels, including Sleepyhead, Scaredy Cat, Lazybones, The Burning Girl, Lifeless, and Buried—all Times (London) bestsellers—as well as the stand-alone thriller In the Dark. For the creation of the Tom Thorne character, Billingham received the 2003 Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British writer, and he has twice won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. He has previously worked as an actor and stand-up comedian on British television and still writes regularly for the BBC. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

    Read more from Mark Billingham

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    Reviews for Death Message

    3.5/5

    135 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Death Message is easy to read without losing the ability to thrill. The grief of the murderer and the psychological state of DCI Thorne are written with a sensitivity and insight seldom seen in the genre. I was fascinated by the blurring of the line between ethical and corrupt policing, and the portrayal of how easy it is to overstep boundaries, particularly in that grey area where the law does not always equal justice. I will definitely be looking for more work by this author.
    • 2/5
      The book starts when DCI Tom Thorne receives a photograph of a dead body on his mobile phone. He doesn’t know who the body or who has sent the picture and the events that unfold as a result are a complex web of interconnected stories.

      I’ve enjoyed several of the Tom Thorne series but this one was less engaging on a number of levels. For a start I found it difficult to generate much concern for the criminals and crooked cops that made up the victim list. But mainly it was Thorne himself who was particularly annoying in this outing. For virtually the entire book he repeatedly did stupid things, which he admitted were stupid before he did them, and then whined about the consequences of the stupid things he’d done. I grew tired of this adolescent behaviour long before I slogged my way to page XXX (which took me a good several weeks mind you as I continuously put the book down in preference for more appealing offerings).

      In previous books other characters, such as his colleague Dave Holland and friend Phil Hendricks, have been nicely developed and able to offer different perspectives. Here the other characters were much more two-dimensional and took a back seat to the whiney Thorne.

      The writing seemed clumsier this time too. There are dull passages about Thorne’s online poker playing, the intricacies of SMS re-routing and all manner of similar subjects that added little to the story. Normally such interludes would add character depth but here all they added was length. I began to wonder if Billingham was as easily distracted from his main storyline as I was. The last third of the book was actually pretty decent, though only if you are familiar with the earlier novels in the series, and it still left a lot of ho hum reading.

      It's actually a 2.5 star rating on my personal scale
    • 4/5
      I really love the character of Tom Thorne, the tough DI who insists on doing things his own way, and often pays a hefty price. But of course he never learns. This book will reward long-time fans by bringing back a couple of villains from earlier stories. And I’m glad we finally learned what really happened to Tom’s father. I only wish the author had shown a scene between Hendricks and Thorne at the end. The close friendship enjoyed by the two is one of the central threads of the series, and I ended the book worrying that it would remain fractured.
    • 4/5
      This is the latest in the DI Thorne series and in my opinion, probably the best. Thornes character is developed superbly and whether you you like or dislike the awkward sod, its impossible to be neutral. As always, there are plenty of good jokes in the novel, and the grey areas between right and wrong, good and evil, are explored with a nice sense of irony. I cant wait for the next installment!
    • 5/5
      Mark Billingham is one of the very best British crime writers ever -- and not at all in the tradition of Agatha Christie either. Think "Silence of the Lambs" with a sense of humor. I can't walk past the Bengal Lancer restaurant in Kentish Town without expecting to see DI Tom Thorne walking out, carrying his takeaway.
    • 5/5
      Great book, Tom Thorne is receiving pictures of dead bodies (or soon to be dead bodies). It doesn't take long to figure out who is behind it, but the chase is complicated.
    • 4/5
      Now this is a thriller worth losing a bit of sleep over! Where is the line between criminal and victim, cop and crook, justice and revenge?Detective Tom Thorne walks a very taught line, you might say it's more of a thread, in Mark Billingham's Death Message. Thorne, drawn in by a text message with a picture of a dead body attached, soon finds out that his past has reached into the future to forecast murder. Can Thorne beat the murderer to his victims and what will he risk to get there first? And more importantly, which side of the line will he be on after?
    • 4/5
      Another interesting Tom Thorne series book. The basic premise is a bit of a stretch - that one inmate can brainwash another, upon his release, to kill a slate of not-so-innocent victims. Lots of characters, interesting relationship stuff with fellow cop Louise, and office-sharer Yvonne - looks like stage is being set for some major changes in the cop family in the next book or two. Bad-guy characters come back from previous books, cases intermingle. Got to be a bit much toward the end, so this barely escaped a 3 1/2 star. And it all wrapped up unnaturally fast. Maybe this is a 3 1/2.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book! Mark Billingham is an awesome writer and never fails to enthrall! I actually read this one in one sitting one Saturday, I couldn't put it down!
    • 1/5
      police crime murder mystery - did not like, read only first few chapters - too heavy on police scene - main character Detective Tom THorne.
    • 4/5
      Death Message by Mark Billingham is the seventh book in his police procedural series featuring DI Tom Thorne. Set in London, this book deals both with new crimes and old. When Thorne starts receiving picture of dead bodies the pieces are soon put together that the murderer is the recently released from prison Marcus Brooks, seeking revenge on both those who set him up for a murder he didn’t commit and on those who ordered the death of his girlfriend and son. Tom soon discovers that he is receiving these pictures because an old nemesis had befriended Brooks in prison and helped him plan the revenge murders.When Thorne figures out that Marcus Brooks was originally set up, he does bend the rules in order to discover who the two corrupt police officers who assisted in the set-up were. This bending of the rules appears about to backfire on Thorne, but the book offers up one final twist, when Thorne realizes that this nightmare has widespread roots in his own past. Death Message was another exciting read in this superior detective series. The pacing is excellent, the story clever and the characters are engaging. I am looking forward to book number eight.
    • 4/5
      DCI Tom Thorne receives a photograph of a dead body on his mobile phone, he has no idea who or why he has been sent the image, but of course is determined to find the answer. Being a maverick though, Thorne has to do things his way and without authority from his boss. At the same time he's having a relationship with another police officer and finds it difficult to confide in her, creating further tension. All is eventually revealed and involves previous cases in which Thorne was involved as well as police corruption. It doesn't paint a very pleasant picture of life in London.
    • 4/5
      Life is never easy for Detective inspector Tom Thorne. This novel opens with him receiving a picture sent to his mobile phone from a number that he does not recognise. The picture is hazy, but it is soon apparent that it shows the head of someone who has been battered to death. He passes the phone on to the police’s technical experts to see if they can draw any further information from the photo. In the meantime, the body of a second-hand car dealer is found, severely battered. Closer inspection shows that the victim is the person shown in the picture. It transpires that the dead man was also a member of a local biker gang. Thorne receives another photo, and shortly afterwards, another member of the biker gang is killed.This sets the scene for a complex case in which Thorne finds himself under scrutiny. Of course, being Thorne, it is not long before he goes off on a tangent, departing from the rule book as is his norm.That may all sound like standard crime thriller fare. Billingham always rises about that, however. His characters are always well drawn, and very credible. The relationships between the principal police figures is also entirely plausible. Thorne is a difficult and often demanding officer, but his colleagues trust him, and are often prepared to go the extra mile for him. Meanwhile, colleagues from Internal Affairs are hanging around rather more often than is comfortable.Billingham is a master at weaving different narrative threads, and isn’t afraid of leaving the odd loose end. I enjoyed this, and find that nine or ten books in, the series shows no sign of flagging.