Scaredy Cat

I don't usually read fiction or in the "mystery" genre, but I certainly would if all of them were this good. I have read and enjoyed all of Billingham's Tom Thorne novels, but this is my favorite, I think. The depth of the characters across the board is untouched in most other novels. Just fantastic.

This is my first book by author Billingham and I am quite impressed. The plot twists around a pair of serial killers, intertwining the lives of DI Thorne and his crew of investigators. The final unveiling of the killer was quite a surprise, as I had guessed a different character to be the villain. The second half of the book really picks up speed and is hard to put down. You don't want to stop until the killer's identity is uncovered and hopefully he is caught. Intriguing characters, fast moving plot; I highly recommend it.

When two young women are found strangled in London, the police suspect a link. But they seem different in some ways. Eventually Detective Inspector Tom Thorne suspects two killers, linked somehow but operating alone. One of those killers proves to be easy enough to catch, but the other, his current identity a secret, is more challenging indeed. That killer strikes for pleasure, and gains further pleasure from the pain he causes others--including his fellow killer. Thorne and his unit are obsessed with the killer, but have to manage their other responsibilities as well. England may not be the murder kingdom that the U.S. is, but murder, like fast food, has been imported and taken. Meanwhile, the police have to deal with their own issues--sexual tensions among the detectives, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Thorne doesn't have a home life, but he does have an aging father who has begun behaving more and more erratically. Author Mark Billingham delivers a darkly fascinating and exciting suspense novel. Thorne and the killer play a battle of wits that each intends to win. Thorne hates the price he has to pay to capture the killer and the killer savors his kills, but they are alike in their willingness to make any sacrifice to achieve their goals. Fans of Bill James will love SCAREDY CAT and anticipate more books by Billingham.

Mark Billingham is a standup comic. I am unfamiliar with his stage work, and perhaps it's just as well, as I would have come to SCAREDY CAT (and, for that matter, his debut novel SLEEPYHEAD) with some preconceived notion that it would be at least quasi-comedic, that Billingham would possibly be a British Donald Westlake. For all I know, Billingham may be the funniest man on the planet, but you couldn't prove it with SCAREDY CAT.SCAREDY CAT is an almost unrelievedly grim police procedural, though the setting is not a fictionalized New York City but rather modern-day London. The novel focuses on a series of murders being investigated by Team 3 of the unimaginatively named Serious Crime Group (West) of the Met, London Metropolitan Police. Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, introduced in SLEEPYHEAD, is back, and Billingham continues his slow and methodical sketching of Thorne's personality. Thorne may well be one of the most quietly complex characters in modern detective fiction; just when the reader thinks he or she has a handle on him, there is a twist or a turn, and suddenly one's opinion, one's conception, needs revision. Thorne is no genius, and he knows it. This is important; he is able to admit mistakes and to turn, albeit grudgingly, on a dime to correct them, even as he is weighed down by regret.Ah, and the series of murders. Two women are murdered in London, some distance apart, with enough similarities to convince the police that they are, at least initially, the work of the same person. The murders resemble a pair of killings that occurred several months previously in which two other women were killed on the same day, apparently at the same time. Thorne comes to the conclusion that the two pairs of killings are linked, and that there is not one killer, but two, working in tandem with each other. He is horrified to further realize that, every time one body is found, there will be another waiting to be discovered. And while the methods of the murders may be the same, the killers themselves, it seems, are very, very different.As the reader follows Thorne and his team (a group of extremely interesting individuals, to say the least) through their investigation, Billingham describes the intricacies of the investigators, the murderers and the survivors, the relatives of the victims left behind in death's wake. And while the identity of one of the murderers is revealed relatively early, the other is not revealed to either Thorne or the reader until the very end. The result is a novel with such skilled pacing that it is almost excruciatingly painful to read it without finishing it in one sitting. Yet it is simultaneously a novel of such simple craft, such intelligence, that one wants to savor it slowly. The result is an interesting dichotomy that few writers are able to achieve.It is not necessary to read SLEEPYHEAD prior to reading SCAREDY CAT, though a reader introduced to one will inevitably be drawn to the other. Billingham, with only two novels,

Billingham's titles are great; not surprising since he is also a well-respected standup comic. However, even though his books have touches of humor, they are dark, disturbing, but definitely worth reading.This time, our reluctant hero, Tom Thorne, is after a serial killer, who has killed a young woman in front of her little boy. Alas and alack, it appears there are TWO serial killers working together.As we come to know the two villains in flashbacks, Billingham weaves a tightly constructed tale of a warped love, and it's disastrous results.There are some strong supporting characters in Billingham's novels, and they help move the twisting plot along to a heart-stopping climax in a schoolyard. The identity of the real sicko is surprising, and don't be surprised at how Billingham treats his heroes, either!An outstanding book, can't wait for the next one!HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.