Bloodline [Paperback]

Mark Billingham (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Sphere (March 18, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751539945
• ISBN-13: 978-0751539943
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.3 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "It's not knowing where the next one's coming from that terrifies people.", December 31, 2010

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bloodline (Tom Thorne Novels) (Paperback)

Serial killers. The gift that keeps on giving. Fifteen years earlier London had been horrified by a string of gruesome murders perpetrated by Raymond Garvey. Three years ago Garvey dies in prison from a massive brain tumor. Now X-ray fragments found clutched in the hands of a new series of victims suggests someone is targeting the children of Garvey's victims. As Tom Thorne applies his particular talent for solving unusual murders to the new cases, it is apparent why Billingham is such a popular crime writer in England. Unsettled by a recent turn in his relationship with Louise Porter, a detective in another department, Thorne is frequently distracted by the tragedy the couple has faced, both parties still tentative with one another. At the same time, his instincts are critical in understanding this murderer's bizarre scenario, the crooked paths of this killer's mind. Thorne wants to get inside the brain of the murderer- but only deep enough to catch him. A bit standoffish to other detectives, Thorne is nevertheless thorough and well-respected. That his interior conflicts are revealed only humanizes this protagonist, making him a sympathetic character with an apt name.

Serial killers fascinate scientists, baffle law enforcement and terrify the public, but generate a lot of press, civic paranoia rising with each new murder, as well as pressure on the authorities to catch the killer. Billingham balances all these aspects in a tight plot with the odd bit of black humor to relieve the tension. The quirky Thorne is drawn to the hunt, the murderer's mind set haunting his thoughts on and off the job: "It's dark beats, the twisted melody of it. Like the first song you hear on the radio every morning that stays in your head all day." Familiar territory to this detective, never a disappointment to fans who expect a riveting denouement. Luan Gaines/2011.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Billingham's BLOODLINE, March 28, 2010

By 

Josephine A. Walters (Monterey, Ca) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bloodline (Tom Thorne Novels) (Paperback)

As a devoted fan of Mr Billingham's Tom Thorne series, I was disappointed that I could not find this newest novel in the series--that is until I went to Amazon and bought it from an individual. Fast shipping, book in brand new shape. Thank you a million times over that I did not have to wait until it was released in the U.S. I will do business with this person again. This is a thriller, police procedural with lots of suspense and plot twists throughout. I love this author and read anything and everything he writes. The Tom Thorne detective series is one of my favorites.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars engaging British police procedural, July 12, 2011

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bloodline (Hardcover)

In Whittington Hospital, police Detective Inspector Tom Thorne struggles with his girlfriend Detective Inspector Louise Porter's miscarriage. Thus when his superior DCI Brigstocke informs him of a homicide, he welcomes a new case to take his mind off the tragedy.

In her home in Finchley, someone battered Emily Walker before suffocating her with plastic. Thorne looks at the murder scene, which is clearly that of domestic violence. However, he learns that a twenty-something nurse was murdered in the same manner three weeks ago in Leicester City. Further inquiry into the pasts of two dead females links them when both their mothers and five other women were murdered fifteen years ago by the late serial killer Raymond Garvey. As more offspring of Garvey's victims are murdered, a copycat psychopath is on the loose.

The latest Thorne British police procedural (see Death Message) is an engaging suspense filled investigation. The protagonist does not cope well with the miscarriage and though he relishes the case to keep his mind off dark personal thoughts, he also feels a bit guilty for his euphoria over corpses appearing in London. Although the nibbles from the soul of the psychopath never feel adequate as with the Lay's commercial a few chips is not enough (either more or none is needed). Still sub-genre readers will want to join the DI as he investigates the copy cat serial killings.

Harriet Klausner