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Rush of Blood: A Novel by [Mark Billingham]

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Mark Billingham

Rush of Blood: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Mark Billingham (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Perfect strangers. A perfect vacation. The perfect murder. . . . “Hugely effective and entertaining [with] many twists and shocks” (TheTimes, London).

Three British couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on Easter Sunday, the last day of their vacation, tragedy strikes: The fourteen-year-old daughter of an American vacationer goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.
When the shocked couples return home to the United Kingdom, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don’t always like what they find. Buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some unusual kinks and unpleasant vices. Then, a second girl goes missing, in Kent—not far from where the couples live. Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?

Ambitiously plotted and laced with dark humor, Rush of Blood is a “sizzling thriller” by the international bestselling author of the Tom Thorne Novels (The Globe and Mail, Toronto).

Print length

397 pages
Language

English
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Publisher

Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication date

February 7, 2017
File size

6819 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Perfect strangers. A perfect holiday. The perfect murder.

In the standalone novel Rush of Blood, internationally bestselling author Mark Billingham puts a sinister twist on a deceptively innocent topic: the beach vacation.

Three British couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on Easter Sunday, the last day of their vacation, tragedy strikes: the fourteen-year-old daughter of an American vacationer goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves. When the shocked couples return home to the U.K., they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don’t always like what they find. Buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some unusual kinks and unpleasant vices. Then, a second girl goes missing, in Kent—not far from where any of the couples lives. Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?

Ambitiously plotted and laced with dark humor, Rush of Blood is a first-rate suspense novel about the danger of making new friends in seemingly sunny places.

About the Author

Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakstons Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel and also won the Sherlock Award for “Best Detective Created by a British Author.” His books, which include the critically acclaimed Tom Thorne series, have been translated into twenty-five languages and have sold over four million copies. He lives in London.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01LFQ6QNC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Monthly Press; Reprint edition (February 7, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 7, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6819 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 397 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #588,601 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,104 in International Mystery & Crime (Kindle Store)
- #7,788 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)
- #9,345 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)

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Mark Billingham

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Mark Billingham is one of the UK's most acclaimed and popular crime writers. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring D.I. Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel Of The Year Award as well as the Sherlock Award for Best British Detective and been nominated for seven CWA Daggers. His standalone thriller IN THE DARK was chosen as one of the twelve best books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, SLEEPYHEAD was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. Each of his novels has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.

A television series based on the Thorne novels was screened in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne and a BBC series based on the standalone thrillers IN THE DARK and TIME OF DEATH was shown in 2017.

Mark is also a member of Fun Lovin' Crime Writers. Performing alongside Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Stuart Neville, Doug Johnstone and Luca Veste, this band of frustrated rockers murders songs for fun at literary festivals worldwide.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

1,674 global ratings

5 star		50%
4 star		31%
3 star		12%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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No less than 5-STARS for a well-written, intriguing mystery.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 12, 2015

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I had started to read my first book by Mark Billingham --- "The Dying Hours." The Tom Thorne series had been recommended to me, but I just could not connect with the story. But determined to try another by this author, I went on to read, "Rush of Blood." It was a totally engaging thriller!

The plot is about 3 British couples who meet on a vacation in Florida, and a strange and bizarre type of friendship develops, linking the couples who plan to continue with each other's company even after the vacation ends and they return to England.

For a good bit into the story, there is no crime. The only "mystery" is why these couples, who seem to despise each other, keep up the friendship pretext, with shared dinners and evenings out. The story has a leisurely (yet thoroughly interesting) build-up, allowing the reader to get to "know" each couple individually and get familiar with the characteristics and foibles that distinguish them from each other.

Then - a horrible crime - as a young teenaged girl (one with mental handicaps) - vanishes from the Florida vacation site. If she's been murdered, WHERE is the poor young girl's body? WHO would consider harming her? Is anyone so heinous and calculatingly cruel? How is it possible? And yet, we readers know that the guilty party is most likely a deviate mind lurking within the six British couples. Even before the crime, most readers will have probably decided that the six members of this strange friends "club" are not very nice people. After the murder, we're all sure of it

Now that the couples have the shared experience of the crime, they seem incapable of putting the matter behind them. They return to England, and conversation at their shared events consists of thoughts and speculations about the missing girl. Then, once the girl's body is found, a young detective constable (in training) begins conducting follow-up interviews; the novice detective constable is determined to be very thorough. Her questioning rattles the six friends, and tensions develop.

This is a unique setup for a mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed the originality, the characterizations, the plot, everything! The author's talent is sharp and well-presented, especially in the realistic dialog brought to each page; I often felt I was nearby, hearing the excited, outraged, and curious chatter-gossip amongst the six friends. Very clever twists, interesting in all ways -- well, I just LOVED this book.

Murder among friends? Maybe. But certainly, no less than 5-STARS for a mystery that was an incredibly good read!

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Blue in Washington (Barry Ballow)

The Florida Board of Tourism isn't going to like this one - 4-

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 24, 2017

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Takes "who done it?" to the extreme as six vacationing Brits are linked to the disappearance of a 14-year old girl in Florida. Author Billingham slathers enough suspicion on each of the six principal characters to make them all likely candidates for murder and creates an extended strip-tease of a procedural that leaves readers hopping from one conclusion about guilt to another. No real heroes in this one as everyone has things to hide or loathsome habits. Well enough written and entertaining but not going to be a cherished reading memory.

2 people found this helpful

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Ms Terry

Vacation Yarn - Good perhaps, for vacation reading

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 19, 2012

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I love Mark Billingham's books, I've read them all and met the author - a witty, entertaining, nice guy. It's slightly painful therefore to give Billingham only 3 stars for Rush of Blood- not my usual 5. I read a lot and mostly crime but am usually kept guessing till the end by really good writing. Unfortunately in this outing I guessed both the perp and the twist at the end before I was halfway through, so I kept reading only to verify my guesses. Some British english phrase spoken by the Florida detective was very jarring and made me jump out of the reading zone into a critical zone. A little under-researched, methinks. Buggy, boiling Florida (the last place God made) was made to sound very attractive - that in itself was a masterpiece of fiction but overall, thin plotting and Christie-esque characters made this a bit of a disappointment though I have my next Thorne on pre-order! A fitting beach read, perhaps.

10 people found this helpful

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Lawrence Baxter

Interesting new approach

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 16, 2013

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I have loved Mark Billingham's novels which, until this one, have largely been set in London and the central England and have involved British police procedures. In this novel Billingham tries his hand at a transatlantic combination. At first I thought it was not going to work but once I got into the story I found that the characters and the plot worked. Billingham does a reasonably good job at mixing American policing in credibly with his more familiar domain. By the end of the book the novel had the same momentum for me as all his other works. The change in approach adds a nice diversion for Billingham's readers.

5 people found this helpful

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Tank

Rush of Pages

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 6, 2012

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Simply another great page turner from Billingham. I changed my mind at least half a dozen times in the "who done it" hunt and was just about right - eventually. The characters are as believable as ever and most want a good shaking at least once through the tale. Not as gritty or twisty as a Thorne novel, but a nice change of pace and scenery shouldn't leave fans disappointed. I wasn't. Billingham remains in my top 3 of great crime writers.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2012

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This book is a very good read. Three couples from England meet up while vacationing in Florida. While they are at the resort a teenager goes missing and is subsequently found murdered and her body hidden. They continue their friendship when they get back home even though they don't particularly like each other. Eventually one of them is tied to the murder and until the end you don't know which one is guilty. Keeps you guessing.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2013

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What a cracker of a read. I was hooked from the start and found it hard to put down. I have never read this author before, but the storyline intrigued me and I am so glad I purchased it. Its a gripping, well written book about three British couples who befriend each other while on holiday in Florida. Just before they are to leave for home a young girl goes missing. The characters are believeable and well defined. I can't praise this book highly enough other than to say it is the best book I have read in the past 12 months.

2 people found this helpful

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Eden.M

Keeps You Guessing !

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 5, 2013

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I love a book that gives you lots of potential suspects, and pretty much teases you with them the whole way through, so that your thinking who is it ? When your reading it, when your not, and this fit the bill to a T. Great story about 3 couples, 2 murdered children, and a twist at the end you will not see coming.

One person found this helpful

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Sheils

My worst nightmare is going on holiday and ‘making friends’

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 26, 2016

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Rush of Blood
Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham has the rare skill of writing a really dark bleak tale while lightening the mood with little asides and scenes that amuse the reader.
My worst nightmare is going on holiday and ‘making friends’. In this novel, set in Florida, three couples meet up and apparently bond spending most of the time together at the pool, at meals and out in the evening. This disparate group have little in common and are not all enthusiastic at spending so much time together. And no wonder. Their conversations lack warmth and tend to be edgy. The day before they leave to return to London, Amber, a vulnerable girl, staying at the same resort with her mother, goes missing. The six are questioned lightly by the local police who appear to believe that Amber had merely wandered off.
Angie forces the six ‘friends’ to keep in touch by inviting them all for dinner, which puts pressure on the other couples to continue the friendship. The dinner chat always returns to the apparent murder of Amber after the six learn that her body has been found in the mangroves where time, water and animals have destroyed any evidence.
Has this been a perfect crime? Is one of the six a murderer?
When a similar case occurs in the south of England Involving a similarily vulnerable young girl, it is Jenny, an ambitious trainee detective who first suspects a link. She contacts the Florida police suggesting that someone from the UK who was on holiday in Florida when the first girl was killed could conceivably have committed a similar crime on home territory.
The tension in the story builds as the reader begins to wonder if one of the six is a murderer. Gradually Jenny prods away at their alibis and uncovers flaws in their initial statements and cracks in some of the relationships.
The characterisation is sharp and clear as weaknesses are exposed and the reader suspects first one then another of the crimes. Brick by brick the case and the story build towards an exciting denouement ending with one of the most stunning twists in the tale that I have ever read.

3 people found this helpful

I Read, Therefore I Blog

Structured crime thriller that doesn't quite hit its mark

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 21, 2015

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Angie and Barry, Dave and Marina and Ed and Sue all meet on holiday in Florida. They hit it off and over the next fortnight, they go out and share laughs but on the last day, the daughter of one of the other guests at their resort goes missing. Nevertheless, when they get back to the UK they agree to meet up for dinner at each other’s houses – starting with Angie and Barry. Over the next few weeks, the couples meet up and get to know each other better, which means that character flaws and tensions all start to come to the fore. And of course, the disappearance of the girl dominates all of their discussions. Then a second girl goes missing in the UK and the couples begin to realise that one of them could be responsible …

Mark Billingham’s stand-alone crime thriller sits outside his successful TOM THORNE SERIES (although Thorne himself does make a delicious cameo). It’s a very structured piece, built broadly around the three dinners and although I enjoyed the way he weaves the events in Florida with the burgeoning relationships that develop between the couples, the final quarter seems very rushed and I wasn’t particularly convinced by the revelation of the killer, especially in terms of why they did it. I was equally unconvinced by Marina and Dave’s relationship – for me, they were the most underdeveloped of the couples with Dave in particular coming across as a stereotypical computer geek while Marina’s self-confidence issues get a predictable back-story. I also wanted a little bit more on Ed and Sue’s marriage – there’s more emphasis on Ed than on Sue with the result that she’s slightly under-baked on the page. However there’s a lot to enjoy here as Billingham slowly ratchets up the tension and gradually reveals information so that the book keeps you guessing until the end. He also does a good job in depicting the dinners themselves in all their awkward and stilted glory as games of one-upmanship take place and tensions are revealed, especially as the alcohol flows. All in all, even though the book didn’t quite come good for me, it did keep me turning the pages and, as always, I will check out Billingham’s next book.

One person found this helpful

Jl Adcock

Gripping - a new direction for Billingham's thrillers?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 23, 2013

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As Mark Billingham writes in the acknowledgements section of this book, it's good for writers to occasionally step outside the comfort zone and try something new. He's certainly done that here with 'Rush of Blood' - a non-Tom Thorne novel that moves away from the police procedural and instead comes at the storyline from an altogether more psychological perspective.

The story centres around 3 UK couples, who could be implicated in the disappearance of a child whilst holidaying in Florida. With considerable skill, Billingham unfolds the stories of his characters - none of them particularly likeable - but all of whom seem damaged enough in their own ways to be possible suspects as the events unfold.

Impressively, the book holds the attention all the way, and only right at the very end does a slight over-egging of the plot reduce the overall impact and drama of things. That said, Billingham's writing style is so much more measured and controlled now from when he started out at the beginning of the Thorne series, and in many ways I think this is his best book to date.

Billingham has taken a risk here, and 'Rush of Blood' certainly won't appeal to all of his fans who prefer the Thorne series, which in my view was becoming a little stale. With 'Rush of Blood', Billingham shows he's actually quite comfortable working in different styles of crime writing, and certainly much more successful than some other big name crime writers who struggle a bit when they move away from the formula of a character-series. Here, he's probably opened up a raft of new possibilities for extending his range, and Billingham is to be applauded for making a decision that has paid off well.

A genuinely suspenseful novel that tackles a number of difficult themes with real skill in storytelling. Recommended.

One person found this helpful

Gill Elliott

What a thrilling book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 28, 2020

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I thought that I had read everything by this author so I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed this book, what a great read a real page turner and I have to admit it did keep me guessing almost to the end, I sort of got suspicious when the docile Sue suddenly turned on Ed but it didn’t detract from the final outcome, I have to say though I usually feel a little cheated when the baddie doesn’t get their comeuppance although it certainly makes a change.

C. Coote

A thoroughly good entertainment

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 7, 2014

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I found this book to be engrossing and I read it in two sittings. The central characters - three couples who meet on holiday in Florida are unsympathetic with complex partnerships. The mystery is the disappearance of a young girl with learning difficulties from the motel all were staying at and the underlying question is whether any of them had a part in her disappearance. Back in the UK, a young trainee CID officer keen to make an impact, is charged with undertaking follow up interviews with the couples and carries out her duties with such focus that she irritates not only the interviewees but also the Florida policeman with whom she corresponds.
The couples meet for dinner in each others households, they don't really like each other and have little in common. Their shallowness of the friendships made on aentertainers exposed but until each couple has taken their turn to prepare a meal they cannot disengage. I admit that there were parts of the book which stretched credibility but the tension ratchets up to a surprising climax.

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