Death Message. Mark Billingham

There are strong similarities to Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series but that is ok, Mark Billingham's character of Tom Thorne is different enough from Rebus to be his own person. This book deals with what happens when a man who is just about to leave prison and return to his wife and child find that they have been murdered. He then goes on a killing spree but to add a twist to the tale, he takes a photo or video of the victims. Thorne goes out on a limb in this book and it is well worth reading. Is it as good as Ian Rankin? Probably not, but still better than most.

As much as I enjoyed IN THE DARK, Mark Billingham's previous effort, at the end of the day I found myself wishing that it had come shrink-wrapped with a new Tom Thorne book. DEATH MESSAGE, Billingham's newest work, answers the prayer for more Thorne --- and then some. Thorne is a complex character, one of those introverted people who fakes being personable quite well and, as his love life demonstrates, the type of man who drives the woman he happens to be involved with at any particular point insane. Thorne, as much as any character you'll find in contemporary mystery fiction, has mastered the art of compartmentalization. His job as a London detective investigator is over in one very big corner, with his friends --- all of whom are in law enforcement --- in an adjacent box, and his girlfriend, also a cop, somewhere nearby. When someone tries to get too close to Thorne or too emotionally attached to him, he pulls out (not a figure of speech, as Thorne demonstrates at one point in DEATH MESSAGE). The one element in Thorne's life that causes him to stay focused to the point of obsession is his job. So when someone begins sending Thorne pictures of murder victims on his cell phone, the professional and the personal intersect in a grisly manner. Thorne is able to sort out fairly quickly who is doing this: a convicted murderer named Brooks, who, on the eve of his early release from prison, lost his wife and son to a hit-and-run driver in an apparent act of revenge against him. The issue of why the pictures are being sent to Thorne is resolved fairly quickly and involves a degree of revenge, though the revenge belongs not to Brooks but to someone from Thorne's past. However, the fact remains that the police cannot seem to catch Brooks, who shows no sign of ending his killing spree. At the same time, Thorne is lassoed into assisting with the investigation of the murder of a Turkish gangster, who seems to have reached a dead end until an unexpected revelation occurs, which, against all probability, intersects with the Brooks case. Almost immediately, Thorne receives another photograph on his cell phone indicating, inexplicably, that Brooks's next victim is someone very close to Thorne. Billingham strikes the perfect balance between plot complexity and character development, using the urban backdrop of London's historical thoroughfares and seedier alleyways to create a work that is part character study, puzzle and guided tour. But the star element of DEATH MESSAGE is Billingham's pacing, which moves smartly throughout the book. While it is a compelling read, watch out for the last third of the novel; you will not be able to finish it quickly enough. And Thorne? Expect some changes in his life and the lives of those around him. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Billingham's character Tom Thorne is cast in the mold of an original in detective fiction. although his methods are plodding and sometimes crude, he always solve the crime. Billingham writes great detection fiction in the British tradition - the best of the newer breed of British writers.

London Detective Inspector Tom Thorne looks carefully at the blurry photo that has been sent to him over his cellphone. The person looks dead though he cannot be sure. He has no idea who sent the picture, who the victim is, and who the killer is assuming it is not the transmitter. Soon afterward, a second photo of a corpse arrives. More pictures of apparently dead people keep coming to Thorne on his cell. Thorne and his unit struggle with the lack of motive but begin to identify the psychopath; yet the deadly predator remains elusive sending more pictures of the recently deceased. Fans of the Thorne police procedurals will welcome this strong entry as the DI struggles with a case in which the culprit mocks him with the Death Message. The key to this fast-paced investigative thriller is as always the support cast, mostly the cops working with Thorne, who make what could have been another taunting serial killer story line into a deep look at the personal side of the police working a tough case. Fans will enjoy Thorne's latest case as the police try to end the reign of terror from a clever Grim Reaper. Harriet Klausner

Okay, okay, admittedly I'm a pushover for British crime novels, but most will be, too, after reading any of Mark Billingham's seven Tom Thorne thrillers. Thorne is a Detective Investigator with savvy and a heart, very human, so we relate to him easily, sprout goose bumps when he's in deep trouble, and once we begin a Thorne title cannot put it down until the end. By now he seems like an old friend, one we know well but still cannot predict what he will say or do next. Billingham brings his latest thriller very much to the present by the important use of a cellphone. Just as Thorne walks into his kitchen to tell Elvis he's sorry for forgetting to feed her and to make some tea his cellphone rings. He knew who it would be from - Louise, which made him smile. But then the phone rang again and this message was as far from Louise as possible. "It was a multimedia message, with a photograph attached.....and Tom Thorne knew a dead man when he saw one." As techies scramble to trace the sender another photo arrives, and before long Thorne finds himself faced with an enemy capable of manipulating others into doing his dastardly deeds for him, and it starts to hit Thorne very close to home. In police lingo the phrase "death message" refers to telling someone that they have just lost a loved one. But, in this case, those messages are directed toward Thorne but why and by whom? - Gail Cooke