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A serial killer is once again stalking the streets of London and once again, DI Tom Thorne must try to track him down. At first, the murders seem commonplace, until scraps of X-ray film are found clutched in the victims' dead hands. As the bodies mount up and more film is retrieved, it becomes horrifyingly clear that the picture emerging is that of the brain of a serial killer, Raymond Garvey, long dead of a brain tumour, and the dead are the now-grown children of his victims. Thorne has his own problems as well. His partner, Louise, has just been delivered of their "not viable" child and Thorne is far from able to sort out his own feelings, let alone be of real comfort to Louise. In some ways, the pursuit of the killer seems an almost welcome distraction, but Thorne is, to his credit, too humane a man to use the investigation as an excuse. But it does appear that he has for once met his match, as the corpses continue to appear and Thorne and his squad appear almost helpless to prevent further mayhem. According to the book jacket, this is "the most gripping Tom Thorne novel yet." It isn't. The most gripping was the first, SLEEPYHEAD, and while Billingham continues to produce creditable, involving, and suspenseful police procedurals, nothing has quite matched his first effort. Still, Billingham is by no means your ordinary labourer in the weed-strewn serial killer fields. He can and does construct a plot that is likely to mislead all but the sharpest of readers and his killer, while somewhat short of motive, is not so over the top that he can be dismissed as a simple plot convenience. Billingham's real strength, however, especially in a sub-genre in which characterization tends to take second place to ingenuity, is in his ability to make his readers engage with the characters, even those who are but briefly on the scene and especially in his (and Thorne's) awareness that not only the murdered are victims, but so too are those they leave behind. The theme of parents and children is relevant to any reader and Billingham's refusal to go for the easy ending will leave most readers moved.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, November 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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