Their Little Secret (Tom Thorne Novels Book 16)

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Ah, l’amour…..ain’t it grand. Well, you might want to hold that thought. While many people exchange rings as a symbol of their union, you’re about to meet a couple who are a little…uh…less traditional. I thought Their Little Secret was OK, but no more than that. It’s my first Mark Billingham so it won’t be helped by my not having read the previous books in the series, but even so I had my reservations.

The book grabs your attention from the outset. Tom Thorne is investigating what is a clear case of suicide. But this is no ordinary case and Thorne's senses are soon alert when he thinks there’s more to it. 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. 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. So what's wrong with this offering? Well, what's right with it is a shorter list ... 1. The plot did have legs ... and, that's it for the positives. Billingham is a master at balancing our need for personal information about the characters, their lives and loves, with the professional approach to solving the crime. There are plenty of twists and turns, and a few near misses......

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Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Enter new client Leon: educated, charming, affluent -- and newly bereaved, following the death of his married lover, Michelle. Cristina soon learns that Leon has an ulterior motive for approaching her: Michelle was one of her clients, and Leon is desperate for her insights into the woman he loved.

I thought that I’d heard and read it all but this book pleasantly pointed out that I hadn’t. It shows us exactly how intoxicating and powerful love and money can be for some of the more vulnerable in society. This is a complexly convoluted tale kept interesting by the authors’ use of short chapters and his insights into the more fragile part of the mind. Enter new client Leon: a handsome, charming, affluent photographer with a secret. He was the lover of one of Cristina's recently deceased clients, Michelle, who had come to Cristina for therapy to help her choose between Leon and her husband. Moved by the depth of his feelings, Cristina is drawn to help him through his grief. But as she struggles to ignore her own growing attraction to sophisticated, attentive Leon, her boundaries start to blur and then collapse, and the two embark on their own clandestine love affair. not only can I tell you why my sister jumped in front of that train, I can tell you the name of the man responsible for it’. Sarah thinks of herself as a normal single mum. It’s what she wants others to think of her. But the truth is, she needs something new, something thrilling.Tom Thorne immediately thought the first victim's suicide was strange. Why? What gave him that idea? Nothing much, as far as I could tell. Their Little Secret is a masterpiece of misdirection, suspense and contains as convincing a portrayal of insanity as I have read in many a long year. Tom Thorne is the perfect hero for our troubled times. Emotionally and professionally, he ploughs a lonely furrow, but his honesty and – sometimes clumsy – care for those he loves are deeply moving. Tom Thorne, an inspector in a serious crime unit, is called to an obvious suicide on London’s Underground but feels compelled to look further into the circumstances. (Really?) He is soon on the trail of a murderous couple, whose point of view we also get, intercut with the police narrative. It’s well enough done, but I found the psychologising and supposed parallels with Brady and Hindley a bit thin, as was the obligatory Personal Story of Thorne himself. Somehow, it all just clunked a bit for me so that although Billingham avoids quite a lot of the clichés of the genre and generally writes pretty well, it never quite engaged me.

This is a sad, sad day. I've never given a Billingham novel two stars. I have read all of his novels, apart from #15 which didn't appeal to me as it's about a cat killer, and well ... I have cats. There are some things I just don't want to read about, and animal cruelty and death is right up there on the top spot of #thanksbutnothanks This story is expertly plotted and the tension builds up throughout leaving you with no option but to continue reading. Mark Billingham is a very good author but with this latest addition to the series he raises the bar yet again. An excellent read. In alternate chapters we meet Sarah, a mysterious young woman who spends her mornings bonding with other moms after dropping her son at school. It’s a quiet life but that may be about to change. She recently met a charismatic man who’s obviously interested & begins to wonder if he could be “the one”. THE AUTHOR: 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. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my personal opinions.

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I guarantee you won’t see the ending coming. Thorne is one of the most interesting detectives in contemporary crime fiction. Overall, I found this competent rather than great. It would make a decent beach read, but I won’t be rushing to read another in the series. And then there is Jamie… (You will have to read to learn about Jamie) this character adds a real psychological punch to the narrative and almost has you feeling sorry for his mother, almost. Although 16 in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone, as are all of the books in this series. This is the 16th procedural featuring DI Tom Thorn and his team, who are now responsible for investigating sudden suspicious deaths.