Unfortunately this story wasn't for me. It felt like every possible psychiatric ward cliche was thrown in and i didn't connect with or like the main character.

An incredible read, I love Mark Billingham books and this was one of my top reads by him. A great plot, A really tense and thrilling book.

This book was ok, but I can’t say I was a massive fan.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Little, Brown for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This was ok - not my my favourite though.

I enjoyed this book as a nice thriller being already a fan of the author. Nice twist though a little easy to guess. We’ll written and a good Sunday afternoon read.

Interesting read, never quite knew where the main character was going and if she was bonkers or a very clever woman. a good read.

An enjoyable "unreliable narrator" story. Having worked on similar wards where the book is set I could relate to many of the scenarios described (apart from murder of course!) Interesting themes around mental health and guilt are discussed thoughtfully and overall the book includes a well balanced mix of humour combined with a crime.

I am a Mark Billingham fan, but this left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. I liked the plot, and there were definitely some clever twists. However, overall I felt that it was a practicable mental health narrative, and while is was delivered sympathetically, it failed to challenge stereotypes.

Alice, a police officer is investigating a murder in a psychiatric ward. Which as you can imagine throws up some issues and obstacles. The biggest one been that Alice is a patient. Suffering from PTSD, drug issues and some manic episodes she's not the first person you'd want to be investigating. But she's clever obstinate and relentless. She's determined to find the culprit but she's not sure if there's anyone she can trust...even herself.

So firstly Alice is a fabulous character. We're in her head and its apparent she's a funny, feisty and no holds barred woman. She's enough to carry the book. Which is great because, oddly for a Mark Billingham book the plot is a little bit lacklustre. But it kind of doesn't matter as Alice is just great to read about.

Entertainingly but sensitively written, an easy 4 stars.

(Oops sorry, I thought I’d already left my review for this one!)

Rabbit Hole is a weird one. Literally full of crazy. I enjoyed the setting and likedthe characters but this just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect. I was expecting something different.

Although Rabbit Hole wasn’t my cup of tea that doesn’t mean it won’t be yours! 2/5

I was really interested in the premise of the book but found it lacking, which is a huge surprise for a Billingham novel.

I would miss this one

I have read all of the "Tom Thorne" series & feel the quality of his most recent novels has been hit or miss. (The early stories really were page-turners & original at the time of publication.) Rabbit Hole departs from the Thorne series & sadly disappoints. I just couldn't get into the story & stopped reading after a handful of chapters. The first-person narrative & flippant writing style really jarred for some reason. Sorry, not to my taste.

Alice is suffering a mental breakdown and PTSD, after an traumatic incident. Add to this drug and alcohol abuse. Now she’s residing in a mental ward. When there is a murder, she is convinced, she can solve it.
I was very annoyed with the main character, Alice and being in her world was very difficult. The last twist had me rethinking the whole book though.

A body has been found on Fleet Ward psychiatric unit and everyone is a suspect.
DC Alice Armitage is on the case - a diligent hard working cop that is determined to find out the truth. The only problem is she is one of the patients too.
This a highly entertaining book with a great main character and a brilliant twist of humour throughout.
Mark Billingham continues to write novels that showcase why he’s as good as any writer out there. Rabbit Hole is a marvellous example of his outstanding talent. I highly recommend it.

Alice has been committed to a mental institution following a breakdown resulting in injury to her partner. When one of the residents dies, she uses all her police skills to try to track down the murderer. However, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate fact and fiction, and for Alice to keep her perspective clear as she suffers episodes where she cannot remember what she has done.

The book is not so much a 'whodunnit' as an exploration of the world of psychiatry and the human mind. I didn't particularly enjoy it, as it makes for a very plodding read. I like my books to entertain and offer escape, or to make me think, but this one just depresses the reader. The characters are fairly one-dimensional and we don't really get to understand any of them, apart from Alice, in any depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very thought provoking. Alice suffers with a really bad case of PTSD and is sectioned. She obviously feels she is not a bad as she is. It all started with a trauma with her police partner being killed when they went into a drug addict’s home and all went horribly wrong. While in the psychiatric ward one of her inpatients is murdered and she is on a mission to find the culprit bringing in all her police skills. Something is not right about the way she starts the investigation and sometimes she becomes so obsessed that she even bothers the police officers who are investigating the murder. They are not interested in her help and when reading the book you wonder why which eventually comes into the story. The more she investigates the murder the more she spirals down into her PTSD to the point where she is rude and unpleasant as she feels totally ignored. The inpatients are all different in their needs and there is often drama between them. The food on the camera made me smile. Alice cannot seem to recall the names of the police officers and starts giving them names so she can remember them individually. Two police women are donned with the names French and Saunders for example. As you read on you realise how erratic Alice is, her mind playing tricks on her and you begin to feel life will be difficult for her – she has been medically discharged from the police. To add more drama to Alice’s life another murder is committed and this time it is the person who Alice was convinced murdered Kevin. As the story progresses you wonder whether she was in fact in the police or if not what caused the PTSD. The book continues and the conclusion of the story was finished in a very calm and positive way. Enjoyed it

Wow! I well and truly fell down the rabbit hole. Alice is in long term psychiatric care following major mental health problems. When a fellow patient is found murdered Alice is keen to investigate but who can she trust and who will believe her? An entertaining and sometimes gruelling insight into the alternate world of a psychiatric hospital alongside a murder investigation. A great stand alone story.

I do enjoy a dark twisted crime book like this. It kept me guessing till the very end. At times I was confused by the characters but I felt this was due to the narration style, DC Alice Armitage liked to give the characters nicknames, so at times I was having to work out whos who. . The author has done some brilliant research for this book, at times it felt very real. Having read other books by this author it felt different which was refreshing. I love his other books and will keep reading.

Rabbit Hole is a stand alone story set in a mental hospital. The main character is Al (Alice) who witnessed a brutal attack on a colleague and has been sectioned because she can no longer cope.
Al tells us about the other patients and the staff in the unit. When one of the patients is murdered Al feels that the police investigation is mot progressing quickly enough and, as a ex-police officer, she thinks that she needs to solve the crime.

Mark Billingham's stand alone thriller, 'Rabbit Hole', departs from the novelists usual formula. Instead of following a murder investigation through the eyes of the investigating officer (often Tom Thorne), this book is narrated by Alice Armitage, a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Alice is a witty observer of the ward, and her previous occupation means she has inside knowledge of police processes. However, over the course of the novel, black outs in Alice's memory mean it becomes unclear whether she might have caused a murder to take place, or indeed be the murderer.

I am usually a big fan of Mark Billingham's writing and find his novels acutely observed and the right mix of pace, humour, and tragedy. Whilst 'Rabbit Hole' is a very good read, for me it didn't quite match up to his other work. I think this was partly due to the whole of the novel taking place on the ward (Alice is sectioned in hospital, so can not leave) and therefore the pace felt a little bit off to me. I work in a psychiatric setting, so I also found myself getting distracted by questions regarding whether certain things would happen on the ward, and whether the portrayals of the other patients were too 2D or eccentric.

However, I did enjoy the twists in this novel. I also liked all of the little nods to Billingham's previous books and I wanted to read until the end, without finding this a chore. The acknowledgements highlight this wasn't an easy book for Billingham to write and has some personal significance. To be fair, when a Billingham book isn't as good as expected, its still a very good read!