To his friends, his foes and even to himself it looks as though Tom Thorne's career is on the skids. On his last case he had seriously over-stepped the mark, and now gardening leave has been suggested and all he has to tend is a window box. So when it appears someone is targeting London's homeless community it seems pefectly natural for Thorne to take a step nearer to the gutter and go undercover amongst them. He blends into the sometimes invisble community easily — too easily perhaps — but the information he gleans quickly proves that this is no random killer, it is someone with a very distinct purpose and a very specific list of victims, only the team supporting Thorne from the outside don't have the key to motive or identity. Then somehow the fact that a policeman is working under cover becomes public knowledge ... With acute observation of character and place, combined with his acknowledged mastery of plotting, LIFELESS raises the Thorne series to an even higher level.
Lifeless (Tom Thorne Novels)
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From Publishers Weekly
When a serial killer targets London street people in British author Billingham's gritty fifth police procedural to feature detective Tom Thorne (after 2005's Burning Girl), Thorne, a psychological wreck following his father's death, convinces his bosses to let him go undercover. The detective manages to integrate himself into the community of the down-and-outers, even as a leak threatens to expose his ploy and place him in harm's way. An unusual tattoo on one of the victims leads the police to a squad of soldiers who may have been involved in atrocities during the first Gulf War-and to a possible motive for the killings. While most readers will be several jumps ahead of the police in identifying the murderer, the author's convincing depiction of the streets and his well-developed characters more than compensate.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
The fifth Tom Thorne mystery takes a timely turn in focusing on the aftermath of a wartime atrocity, even though Billingham began working on the book in the fall of 2003, "eight months before the publication of certain photographs . . and the scandal surrounding the treatment of Iraqi prisoners." Grim serendipity aside, Lifeless represents a return to form for the author after the mildly disappointing The Burning Girl (2005). Only a few months after his father's death in a suspicious fire, Thorne is living on the London streets. The detective inspector isn't actually homeless, but his career is in real jeopardy as he tracks a man who's kicking "rough sleepers" to death. While Thorne struggles through grief and departmental politics, he befriends a junkie and plumbs the depths of a life untethered. Back at the office, his Serious Crime Group colleagues seek the surviving members of a British tank squadron that murdered Iraqis during the first Gulf War. The gripping plot and a larger-than-normal role for Thorne's best mate, medical examiner Phil Hendricks, turn this procedural into a moody, brooding treat. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars
17 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
May 11 2008
By Helen Simpson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Not as good as his first three novels featuring DI Tom Thorne; Sleepy Head, Scaredy Cat and Lazybones. Although the potential was there with the very believable Gulf War storyline it never quite hit the spot. Yes there were murders but really it could have just been an account of what it's like to live on the streets of London - which I have to add, was sensitively and well conveyed.
DI Thorne, who is such a likeable maverick, really holds the story together, liasing between the homeless world and the police. Even so, I still found my attention wandering and needed to re-read paragraphs. It wouldn't put me off reading another of Billinghams books though because I know he's capable of better stuff.
DI Thorne, who is such a likeable maverick, really holds the story together, liasing between the homeless world and the police. Even so, I still found my attention wandering and needed to re-read paragraphs. It wouldn't put me off reading another of Billinghams books though because I know he's capable of better stuff.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark humor by a master storyteller
Sep 25 2007
By Armchair Interviews
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Fans of the various BBC Mystery programs will find much to interest them in Billingham's series featuring Detective Inspector (DI) Tom Thorne and the other officers of the London Metropolitan Police Service.
The recent death of DI Thorne's father, combined with publicly overstepping the bounds on his last case, has made him persona non grata around the station house and he's been asked to take "gardening leave."
Unable to sit on his hands and do nothing, DI Thorne requests a job deep undercover posing as a member of the homeless community in order to catch a serial killer. The bodies of three men have been discovered with a banknote pinned to their chests--each one kicked to death. Are these random killings? Or have these men been targeted? The homeless feel ignored by society on a good day, now they have much more to fear than unkind looks and cold shoulders.
DI Thorne must walk a fine line to avoid total integration. He is a man in crisis and the smallest nudge could push him over the edge into really becoming what he is only pretending.
Not just a crime novel, Lifeless is also a look inside a community with its own rules and moral codes. The homeless community is given a voice and a presence in this story, its characters are very real and their stories are heart wrenching.
Armchair Interviews says: With skilled use of dark humor and gut-wrenching tension, Billingham confirms his place as a master storyteller.
The recent death of DI Thorne's father, combined with publicly overstepping the bounds on his last case, has made him persona non grata around the station house and he's been asked to take "gardening leave."
Unable to sit on his hands and do nothing, DI Thorne requests a job deep undercover posing as a member of the homeless community in order to catch a serial killer. The bodies of three men have been discovered with a banknote pinned to their chests--each one kicked to death. Are these random killings? Or have these men been targeted? The homeless feel ignored by society on a good day, now they have much more to fear than unkind looks and cold shoulders.
DI Thorne must walk a fine line to avoid total integration. He is a man in crisis and the smallest nudge could push him over the edge into really becoming what he is only pretending.
Not just a crime novel, Lifeless is also a look inside a community with its own rules and moral codes. The homeless community is given a voice and a presence in this story, its characters are very real and their stories are heart wrenching.
Armchair Interviews says: With skilled use of dark humor and gut-wrenching tension, Billingham confirms his place as a master storyteller.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Stuff
Nov 9 2007
By J. Chippindale
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. Having worked for some years as an actor and more recently as a TV writer and stand-up comedian his first crime novel was published in 2001.
Though still occasionally working as a stand-up comic, Mark now concentrates on writing the series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.
For any new readers who have not read any of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne books, you are missing a real treat. Start reading them now, I am sure you will not be disappointed.
It would seem, even those who know him best, that Thorne's career has reached it's peak and is now on the long steep slide to disaster. He has always flirted with trouble with his superiors but on his last case he overstepped the mark and someone up in that ivory tower has suggested he take a break to take stock of both himself and his career.
Someone appears to be making a target of London's homeless, so with time on his hands Thorne decides to go undercover amongst them, after all if things carry on the way they are, he may be one of them shortly.
Thorne soon finds out that these are no random killings, they are being perpetrated by someone with a very specific purpose. Then all of a sudden it becomes common knowledge that a copper is working amongst them, not good news for Thorne . . .
Though still occasionally working as a stand-up comic, Mark now concentrates on writing the series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.
For any new readers who have not read any of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne books, you are missing a real treat. Start reading them now, I am sure you will not be disappointed.
It would seem, even those who know him best, that Thorne's career has reached it's peak and is now on the long steep slide to disaster. He has always flirted with trouble with his superiors but on his last case he overstepped the mark and someone up in that ivory tower has suggested he take a break to take stock of both himself and his career.
Someone appears to be making a target of London's homeless, so with time on his hands Thorne decides to go undercover amongst them, after all if things carry on the way they are, he may be one of them shortly.
Thorne soon finds out that these are no random killings, they are being perpetrated by someone with a very specific purpose. Then all of a sudden it becomes common knowledge that a copper is working amongst them, not good news for Thorne . . .
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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