In the Dark: A Novel [Hardcover]

Mark Billingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2008

A rainy night in south London. A gun is fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement, killing the person standing at a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life. But the reality is far more sinister...One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger; an ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard? In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible. Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story's final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come. Mark Billingham's first standalone thriller is his most powerful novel yet. Gritty, fierce and moving, it is a must-read for anyone who likes their crime fiction unflinching...and unforgettable.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The line between cop and criminal becomes dangerously blurred in Billingham's excellent stand-alone thriller. Told from multiple points-of-view and full of red herrings, the story begins in the London suburbs with a gang initiation. Hoping to climb the ranks in a local gang and egged on by his friends, 17-year-old Theo Shirley fires a gun into a woman's car on a rainy night. The woman isn't killed, but her car plows into a crowded bus stop, killing Det. Sgt. Paul Hopwood. Paul's pregnant girlfriend, Det. Constable Helen Weeks, also a member of the Metropolitan Police, can't accept that his death was an accident. She retraces his footsteps and discovers unsettling connections between Paul and Frank Linnell, a powerful player in the shadowy London underworld with his own reasons for unraveling Paul's death. Best known for the Det. Insp. Tom Thorne series (Buried, etc.), Billingham does for South London what Richard Price does for Manhattan's Lower East Side in Lush Life. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Fans of Billingham’s Detective Inspector Tom Thorne will find this tale of a pregnant policewoman out to solve the killing of her copper husband thin gruel indeed. Thorne makes a couple of perfunctory cameos, but those appearances underscore what’s lacking here—fully realized characters whom readers will be moved to care about. Too often, protagonist Helen Weeks and the other players make ridiculous choices designed to move the plot forward. And what a plot it is: street-gang initiate shoots at a car, which then plows into Weeks’ husband at a bus stop, prompting his courtly mobster friend to eradicate the young toughs. The shooter, Theo, is a teenage dad from the projects who wouldn’t have started dealing drugs if he’d come from posh circumstances. Though readers know this, it’s astonishing (and not in a good way) when Weeks starts feeling and acting toward the young man in a way that suggests she, too, has been reading the book. Billingham has become a major player in the British crime-fiction world, but this is a definite misstep. Fans will stick with him, and libraries will need to have all the Thorne novels on the shelf. --Frank Sennett

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061432733
• ISBN-13: 978-0061432736
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,552,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pregnant Questions, December 9, 2008

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Dark: A Novel (Hardcover)

While this standalone novel departs from the excellent Tom Thorne series written by Mark Billingham, apparently he couldn't resist including his favorite protagonist in a cameo role. In this story, however, we are introduced to a whole new set of characters including Helen, a very pregnant policewoman, days away from giving birth.

Helen's significant other also is on the job. He is killed while on an apparent drug gang initiation, during which a new member shoots at a car that has flashed its headlights at the one in which he is a passenger. As a result, the victim's auto swerves into a bus stop smashing into Helen's mate and killing him. Helen then begins to look into her partner's recent activities, and to wonder whether he was on the take. Despite her swollen belly, Helen undertakes an investigation of her own, leading to all kinds of ramifications.

The graphic descriptions of drug culture and the kids involved in the operations are matched only by the intricacy of the plotting. There is more than one twist when the story takes another turn. The novel is as well-written as anything the author has done, and highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get ready for a surprise at the end, April 19, 2009

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Dark: A Novel (Hardcover)

Billingham's first stand alone novel begins with five teenagers riding in a car, seemingly looking for a target to shoot in a gang initiation.

A woman sees their car without the lights and flicks hers, not knowing that this is the manner in which victims are chosen. Shots are fired into the car, the car swerves and crashes into a bus stop killing off duty police officer, Paul Hopwood.

Paul's girlfriend, Helen Weeks, is also a police officer. Their child is almost due and Helen decides that the manner in which she can deal with her grief is to find the answers and perpetrators of Paul's killing.

Besides Helen's investigation, the police are seeking the car and driver who killed one of their own. Additionally Frank Linnell,an underworld figure who believes that Paul was a friend, is in persuit of the killers. This group has resources that the police do not.

This is an intelligent story that is told from three points of view, Helen's, Frank's and the guilt ridden teenager who reluctantly did the shooting.

As members of the gang are found and things happen to them, Billingham lets the reader see the social pressures that force teenagers into joining gangs and the reprecussions that can change their lives.

The plot driven story is well done and seems to be headed to a logical conclusion when Billingham pulls a surprise that no one could have forseen.

The writer continues to impress.

Recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorne is better but this is ok., November 25, 2010

By 

Peter (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Dark (Mass Market Paperback)

Mark Billingham is the creator of the likable character Tom Thorne, he has written 9 books featuring Thorne and has developed a strong following of fans who avidly read his work.

In The Dark is his first standalone novel and it is a very good addition to the bookshelves.

Helen is pregnant, due in a fortnight or so, when she finds out that her husband was killed in an accident when a group of young gang members shot at a passing car, causing the driver to swerve into Helen's husband killing him.

Although heavily pregnant, Helen (a police officer) decides to investigate the death. The combination of the crime investigation with the pregnancy is different.

Is the book as good as a Thorne? Probably not but that could be because I am so fond of the Thorne series and it is much easier to get into a book which part of a series than a standalone.

I would recommend this book if it is your first Billingham as you would get the feel for his style of writing but the Thorne series is even better.