Trigger warning: child sexual abuse.

I was really looking forward to read this as I love a good murder mystery and I love a good series. I knew that this was the 13th in the series and would have liked nothing more than to be completely sucked in, rushing straight out once I’d finished it to get hold of the first 12 in the series.

It didn’t happen. I did enjoy it but it didn’t suck me in in the way I was hoping for with such a successful series, despite some heavy hints of quite a dramatic event in the book before this one. I was intrigued that this story wasn’t that of the main protagonist – Tom Thorne himself. He is very much on the side-lines here with his partner Helen taking the centre stage position and pushing the story forward.

At the start of the novel, Stephen Bates is arrested for the kidnap and murder of two young girls – one whose body has been found and one whose fate has yet to be determined. Stephen is married to Linda – an old school friend of Helen’s – who is absolutely certain that Stephen is innocent. Despite being away for a rare weekend break with Thorne, Helen feels that she must go to be with Linda – a need that doesn’t quite make sense to start with, as we learn that she has a young son left at home and then as we also learn that their friendship had been rocky at best.

The reader knows that one of the missing girls is still alive, as there are chapters interspersed among the main story, showing the experience through her eyes. These chapters are powerful and the reader can’t help but root for her and hope that the ending is a positive one.

The other stroke of genius in this book is the character of Phil Hendricks: ‘…the finest pathologist Thorne had ever worked with, despite an appearance that would frighten people coming out of a Slipknot concert’. I absolutely LOVED this guy – he should absolutely have his own series.

This was a solid read with a satisfying ending and enough unanswered questions to keep me reading. I DID want to know how it was going to end, but it didn’t WOW me in the way I was hoping it would.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Little Brown Book Group for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A huge fan of this author's work, this series is brilliant. I have to say sometimes with long running series you can start to get a little fed up around this mark. Yet here we are book 13 and I'm still loving the series.
It's been a while since I read any of these, so i'm pleased I decided to play a bit of series books catch up.
Mark Billingham has written yet another belter of a book with this one. The series is just going from strength to strength.
When I started to read this, part way through I kept thinking it sounded really familiar and thought maybe I had read it previously. I carried on, then realised it was familiar as it had been on tv and we sat and watched it. Obviously the book is way better, but I did enjoy the Tv version too. It was funny as I seemed to have the images from the tv in my mind as I was reading this, and I think it helped make for great reading.

When Tom and Helen are away for a romantic weekend, they see a news story regarding and abduction. It soon transpires that the case involves someone Helen was friends with at school, and she feels she needs to go and support her. Cutting their break away short they head off to Helen's home town.
​The story is gripping and intense in parts. Really enjoyable and i'm looking forward to getting to read the next one while I play catch up.
Mark Billingham is certainly a damn good story teller.

I missed downloading this book so can't comment on the story