The Burning Girl: A Novel

Mark Billingham, The Burning Girl (Morrow, 2004) Billingham's fourth Tom Thorne novel opens with an old, old case that's been haunting folks recently, especially Carol Chamberlain, one of the tangential characters from earlier books; it's a case on which she was the lead back when it happened. It was always considered to be a contract thing, but something always nagged at Chamberlain. Now Thorne and Chamberlain have evidence--spotty evidence, but evidence--that the guy who was originally put away for it, who's spent the last twenty years in prison for setting a high school girl on fire, wasn't the guy who actually lit the match. Worse, that evidence also suggests that the victim may not have actually been the intended target, who is now the ex-wife of the head of a prominent crime family who are engaged in a turf war and are the victims of a nasty serial killer (who may have been hired by the other side), the second case that runs through the book. There's also a third involving the murder of a Turkish video store owner--that may also be linked to organized crime. You may be seeing a pattern here. Billingham's normally a comedy guy, but over the novels previous to this he's shown he knows how to do the mystery/thriller thing pretty darned well, and The Burning Girl is no exception to the rule. Solid mystery, great characters, just a touch of that noir spirit. Mark Billingham is quietly becoming one of the mystery writers working today who consistently delivers. If you don't know his work yet, you should. ****

I enjoyed this breezy and interesting book. It is not heavy on forensics (that is a good thing, in my opinion) but it is based on characters and feelings. Billingham writes about female characters particularly well and every so often will write a paragraph or page that is so striking and thought-provoking that it makes the price of the book. The part of the book that I am so-so about is the actions of the lead character Tom Thorne. Without giving any spoilers, he makes a couple of decisions in the book that are questionable morally and professionally, I am not sure if the author needed to go down this path. As with all of Mark Billingham's books, very readable.

Although I read this some time ago now, just thinking back to it, and the preceeding two novels give me the absolute shivers; and not just because of the unimaginable degree of human depravity that billingham so awe-inspiringly describes. No, this one is all the more sinister for me because a large chunk of it is set on my backdoorstep! Worser still, I remember reading some of the menancing Zarif passages as I sat on my bus to work right OUTSIDE Manor House tube, and looking up in shock and unease at a small Turkish cafe / takeaway on the corner of the opposite side of the road (you'll have to read them to truly understand why that is SO skin-crawlingly creepy!). Also the Camden scenes are set practically next door / round the corner to my old offices, so it REALLY didn't take to much imagination to visualise the bullying brothers notifying EVERYONE of their presence as they stepped out onto the street. I think the storyline is brilliant, and the plot twists are thick and fast as ever, leaving you with the tiniest bit of motion-sickness! I'm a bit behind in the Thorne series so can't wait to catch up with the latest two! AMAZING writing here once again; WELL DONE MARK!

Quietly I have become addicted to Mark Billingham's novels. There haven't been a slew of them --- THE BURNING GIRL, his latest, is only number four --- but that makes it easy to reread the whole lot during the intervening twelve months between books. Billingham has won well-deserved accolades in the field of comedy, so the dark nature of his brilliantly scribed accounts of London Police Detective Tom Thorne comes as a bit of a surprise to those familiar with his other career. Yet his humor shines through, contrasting nicely with the horrors within. Billingham is at his best in THE BURNING GIRL. The Serious Crime Group, of which Thorne is a member, has been paired with SO7 (The Serious and Organized Crime Group --- I think Billingham is having a bit of fun with these names) to investigate a series of murders in which an "X" is carved into the back of each victim. The victims, one and all, have ties to a gangster named Billy Ryan, and it appears that a major turf war had broken out within London's underworld between Ryan and a gang of Turkish smugglers. Thorne already is helping his friend Carol Chamberlain investigate a decades-old case involving the immolation of a schoolgirl. That case was apparently solved, with Gordon Rooker, a well-known hitman, incarcerated for the deed. Rooker, however, is recanting his confession and will supposedly reveal the real perpetrator --- with all of it being tied to Ryan. The cases are slowly intersecting when Thorne performs an act of misguided compassion, which serves as a catalyst for a chain of events that begins with a murder and a funeral (Billingham is at his understated, irreverent best at the graveside) and continues to a quietly shocking climax. Billingham makes some minor demands. The narrative of THE BURNING GIRL, like its predecessors, is peppered with colloquialisms and slang terms that American readers may have some minor difficulty decoding, though things ultimately come clear within the context. And while his plots initially seem a bit tangled in spots, Billingham is an excellent guide, gently leading his readers through the more complex tangles and always providing a reason for it all. It is Billingham's Thorne, however, who really makes these books in general, and THE BURNING GIRL in particular, worth reading and rereading. Thorne is one of the more intriguing protagonists in contemporary crime fiction; one gets the feeling that he is teetering on the brink of a meltdown, only to save himself, time and again, with his droll but hilarious humor and his first-rate taste in music (anyone who loves Johnny Cash and hates Sting is on the right track). It's a small wonder then that for those familiar with the series, a Billingham novel is an annual event to be anticipated and repeatedly savored. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

North London is shook by the brutality of the opening assault by the Turkish Zarif family, who employs a vicious hit man, leaving an X carved on the back of victims, members of the competing Ryan family. As DI Tom Thorne leads the investigation into the vicious murders, he also knows that the Ryan family will retaliate in violent kind once they recognize the adversary who has killed four of their members. Thorne knows that neither family could care less what happens to innocent bystanders because war is hell. As he struggles with the gang war, former DCI Carol Chamberlain asks for his help. Two decades ago someone torched schoolgirl Jessica Clarke believing she was gang boss Kevin Kelly's daughter Alison. Seemingly coincidently, Billy Ryan heads what was the Kelly family. As Gordon Rooker, who confessed to the fiery murder, is up for release, someone has called Carol claiming to have burned her. Reluctantly he agrees to look into the 1984 horror and the present phone calls, not realizing this all tie together with the X marks the spot. Turning from his usual Thorne serial killer plot, Mark Billingham provides an interesting English police procedural that grips the audience with THE BURNING GIRL scenario and the gruesome X calling card. Bordering on an antihero, the DI is at his best as a thorn in the sides of both gangs as he crosses the legal line to insure justice for a little girl is served; he is not as motivated with the homicides of the gangs. Carol is an intriguing secondary character who with her over the hill cold case squad retirees seems perfect for her own tales. Harriet Klausner