Mark Billingham

"Lazy Bones"
Publisher: Time Warner
Paperback
2004

Mark Billingham biography by Chris High

With this the third outing for Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, author Mark Billingham has continued to cement a reputation of becoming one of Britain's finest Crime novelists.

Someone, presumably a woman, is writing to convicted rapists in prison as a friend and confidant, before brutally killing them upon their release and leaving a macabre calling card. Thorne must discover why the killer is committing the murders and is forced to delve deep in discovering the truth.

An original, often dark thriller Lazy Bones has a plot that is incredibly well thought out and researched, though never so complicated as to lose the reader in the midst of jargon. In Tom Thorne and Dave Holland, Billingham has created two lead characters that demand attention as their methods become ever more compelling, drawing the reader into a conclusion that is wonderful in its intensity.

Overall, Lazy Bones sits very comfortably alongside anything in the genre and in Mark Billingham, British Crime writing has an author in which it can be justly proud.

www.markbillingham.com       www.linghamsbookshop.co.uk