THEIR LITTLE SECRET (Tom Thorne Novels)

Not bad

When a woman commits suicide by falling in front of a train, it is almost ruled out as yet another suicide story. But Tom Thorne has other thoughts. As he begins to learn more about the woman, he discovers that a mystery man has befriended her and looted everything she owned and Thorne believes this is not the first time the mystery con man had done this. And he’s determined to find this man and bring him to justice. But the guy is a ghost who leaves no trace. Nobody knows his name or how he looks. And his DNA isn’t in the system to look upon. Without any of these, Tom is stuck with just his unease and nothing else.Another crime scene where a young man is beaten to death and found naked near the shore. CCTV shows him walking with a woman moments before his death. Who is this woman? What happened next? Who killed him? How’s this death connected to the suicide? Well, well, here comes the twist – ONE of the DNA found on this crime scene matches the DNA of this con man! Et voila. SO, what’s he doing here killing people? He’s supposed to be a con artist, not a murderer.. Right? At least that’s what Thorne thought he was. Until a whole new picture is painted and Thorne and his partner Nicola Tanner are racing against time to find this man and stop whatever is happening.This is the 16th installment in the Tom Thorne and Nicola Turner series of books but can very well be read and enjoyed as a standalone thrilled, like I did! There’s not much you need about Tom or Nicola. They’re both easy-going characters who you can connect with and follow their brilliant investigation. There’s always this race between them, as to who-gets-there-first and it’s so exciting to see this healthy competition. They find answers quickly and it definitely hooks the reader’s attention. There are also developments in Tom and Nicola’s lives that you can follow, even without their history and easily want to know what happens to both of them and the future cases they handle in future!I’ve read several of Mark Billingham’s books and loved this one to the core. There’s action in every single page of the book, and the author leaves cliffhangers in almost every chapter and that’s a tough nut to crack! Some moments with Sara are definitely creepy and boggles with your brain so much that you’d have to re-read the passage once more just to make you’ve read it right! I can’t recommend this book more to my fellow thriller fans.

The book opens in a way which immediately caught my attention, if only because it is highly unusual to see Tom Thorne presiding over the investigation into what is a clear case of suicide. But this is no ordinary case and Thorne's spidey senses are soon tingling, just as mine did as a reader. Thorne wants to know why the woman took her own life, and trusting his instinct leads him to a case which is far more complex than anyone could imagine.Then we are introduced to Sarah, a single mom with an intense love for her son, Jamie. It seems innocuous enough as a storyline - a new figure at the school gates, trying hard to fit in and make the right impression for the sake of her child. Lurking on the edge of the already established group of parents, slowly ingratiating herself yet remaining aloof. It all seems to be going well for Sarah. Until she meets Conrad ...One of best things about this series are the central characters. Tom Thorne, Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks are absolutely brilliant, completely fleshed out characters who you can both identify with and root for. The stories are never just about the case and you get a real sense of the people behind the investigation, the complicated and yet very real lives they lead and the way their job impacts on them. The banter between them is perfect, but so are the tensions. I loved seeing more of Tom and Hendricks together as they are an unconventional and yet perfect pairing, and the sparring between them is always good entertainment, offering a few moments of light humour in an otherwise tense investigation.If you have read the previous book, The Killing Habit, then you will know that the three of them are tied together in a way that perhaps none of them would have expected, or wanted, and it does affect them in this latest offering. It feels very real, very believable, far more so than if life had carried on as normal. And life, especially for Thorne, is far from what he had come to consider as normal. Then again, no-one wants to read about a Detective who has a balanced and stable home life, free from guilt or hassle. Where's the fun in that?Aside from the main team, you are always treated to very nuanced, textured and well developed secondary characters, in this case the characters of Conrad and Sarah. Theirs is a very complex relationship, the two of them seemingly very different and yet undeniably suited to one another. There is a kind of dependancy that develops between them, and the lines between who is manipulating who get crossed so many times that it is hard to decide where the real power lies in the relationship. Mark Billingham has done a brilliant job of delving into the psychology of the characters, examining the instability of particularly fragile minds. How past comes to inform the present - nature verses nurture if you like. He explores the very nature of toxic relationships and how they develop and thrive into manipulation and control. As I read the book my mind was immediately drawn to similar partnerships which have made headlines over the years. One such case is clearly referenced in the book, but it had me thinking of all of the other, very similar relationships that have existed throughout history.Their Little Secret is a combination of both the expected and the unexpected. There are things revealed which will perhaps not surprise readers that much, the signs being very obvious from the start. And yet there are moments that will completely blindside you whilst adding new texture to the story, and as each scene plays out you start to get a clearer picture of what is going on. It is not as fast paced or perhaps even as dark as some of the other books have been. The deaths are all still quite violent in their nature, but the action is kept largely off the page. This is a book that leans far more toward the psychology of the perpetrators, than the act of killing in itself. One that explores not only the complexities of the fatal attraction between Conrad and Sarah, but also the impact of acting against their normal moral code on our main protagonists.Their Little Secret is quite an intoxicating mix, both obvious and yet surprising, relaxed but full of tension. I loved it and can't wait to see what comes next.

While waiting each year for Mr Billingham to write his annual book, I read and review loads of others. I moan about typos, grammar, spelling, Americanisms, punctuation and downright weird expressions. When Mark's book comes out, regardless of how much I like the story, I thoroughly enjoy just reading it. This guy, quite simply, can write.That said, this is one of his better ones and I read it in a couple of days. I've come to the conclusion that, with the exception of the wonderful Christine Treasure who this time, sadly, does not put in an appearance, Mark's talent is writing male police characters. I've never warmed to either Helen nor Tanner and was initially disappointed to see this was actually called 'A Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner novel' on the cover. I soon forgot all that though because Mark's female evil characters are some of his best, up there with Stuart Nicklin.Here we have a con man who teams up with a ....well....a woman who's a bit bonkers and together they become totally toxic in their pursuit of showing their love for each other. All well plotted, of course, with a bit of a surprise (that I did guess - I've read all his books, so am spotting the signs now!) and enough banter with Hendricks over takeaway curry to keep me (nearly) satisfied. Mark seems to have done away with the banter of the incident room in recent books - not sure why as it's what he does best - but I'm being picky because I wait 363 days every year between finishing one book and reading the next, so my expectations are massive!Mark is one of 3 authors I wish I could pretend I'd only just discovered so I could read them all over again (I have anyway) for the first time. If you're new to him I suggest you go back to the start, Sleepyhead, and read them in order. You're in for a treat.Time to write a TV series Mr B! How about it?

I have often thought that Mark Billingham’s protagonist, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, has a lot in common with Sir Ian Rankin’s John Rebus. They are both highly experienced and know their respective patches well, have had a chequered relationship with authority figures and are viewed by their colleagues as very grumpy (or ‘thrawn’ in the case of Rebus). There are, of course, some difference – Thorne prefers the mournful end of the Country and Western spectrum to the vintage rock in which Rebus takes refuge. In recent years, Thorne has also acquired a female work partner, DI Tanner, who offers a counterweight to his occasionally maverick approach to investigation. While their relationship is less charged than that between Rebus and Siobhan Clarke, it does offer a usual pivot for plot twists.This story starts off with Thorne attending the scene of a suicide on the London Underground. While the death seems to be fairly straightforward, Thorne follows up by contacting the dead woman’s family and becomes intrigued about the man with whom she had been involved, and whose actions had driven her to such a desperate act. He initially comes up against a brick wall – the man has disappeared, presumably moving on to search for a new ‘mark’ and there is the added difficulty of developing a sufficiently robust case.That is not the end of the story, however, as the suspect’s DNA is subsequently recovered from the body of a young man found murdered in Marqate. What meagre evidence that is available from local CCTV footage suggests that the killer was not working alone, and that his accomplice may have been a woman. This provokes a challenging investigation that will throw up some unexpected results.Tanner and Thorne, like Rebus and Clarke, are a powerful investigative team, and their respective strengths and weaknesses complement each other effectively. As always, Billingham captures the reader’s attention straight from the start. His characters, no matter how evil, are always highly credible, and his plots are soundly constructed.

A somewhat underwhelming adventure for Thorne and the gang. Bogged down with Thorne's increasingly dull personal life this is perhaps my least favourite Thorne so far. I found the killers a little under developed. There's an attempt at some complex psychology behind their actions but I personally didn't find very satisfying. It also feels a bit like this is the least amount of detective work Thorne has ever had to do to solve a case. Still an easy and enjoyable read. An average Mark Billingham is still better than most.

Their Little Secret, the latest in the Tom Thorne series of crime novels, offers further proof of why author Mark Billingham is probably the best crime writer in Britain today -- and one of our very best writers, full stop. This complicated, deeply human story revolves entirely around an extraordinary woman named Sarah, who at the very start of the book appears as the next victim for a con artist named Conrad, but is actually so much more than that. In parallel with the Sarah and Conrad story is the ongoing struggle of DI Thorne to have a life outside of the Job. His fellow officer, Nicola Tanner, plans a key role in the story and her name now features in the series title. The only thing wrong with this book is that having devoured it in two days, I now have to wait a full year for the next book in the series.