Op een moment in zijn leven waarop dat bepaald niet uitkomt, wordt de innemende Tom Thorne, gelouterd vakman en inspecteur bij de afdeling Ernstige Delicten in Londen, onverwacht geconfronteerd met een seriemoordenaar. Opvallend is dat de daders de slachtoffers eerst verdooft en dan - ja, wat dan? Wat gebeurt er voorafgaand aan het ogenblik van hun dood? De rechercherende politiemannen en het ondersteunende team van wetenschappers staan voor een raadsel. Een eerste tip van de sluier wordt opgelicht als Thorne op bezoek gaat bij een van de slachtoffers - Alison Willetts, die als enige overlevende verlamd in het ziekenhuis ligt. Alison kan zien, ze kan horen, ze kan voelen, maar dat weet niemand. Kort daarop vindt Thorne onder zijn ruitenwisser een briefje: 'Oefening baart kunst. Het komt allemaal neer op druk uitoefenen op de juiste plaats.' Bij deze vondst beseft Thorne twee dingen: hij wordt in het oog gehouden en, wat nog belangrijker is, de dader beoogt iets anders met zijn slachtoffers. Maar wat? Alison Willetts, de enige die weet wie de dader is, kan hem dat niet vertellen...
Tom Thorne Reeks
Deze serie duikt in het leven van een doorgewinterde inspecteur die zich een weg baant door het complexe criminele landschap van Londen. Elke aflevering presenteert ingewikkelde zaken die zijn scherpe geest en persoonlijke vastberadenheid op de proef stellen. Lezers volgen zijn meedogenloze zoektocht naar gerechtigheid te midden van de schaduwen van de stad en zijn eigen innerlijke worstelingen. Het is een meeslepende reis voor fans van boeiende politierechercheurs.
Aanbevolen leesvolgorde
The second book in the Tom Thorne series from bestselling author Mark Billingham, Scaredy Cat is a gripping, chilling tour-de-force; a book to keep you reading until deep into the night. 'Assured and shocking' Guardian It was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube, strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. And this grisly event eerily echoes the murder of two other women, stabbed to death months before on the same day. It is DI Tom Thorne who sees the link and comes to the horrifying conclusion. This is not a serial killer the police are up against. This is two of them - and two killers are way more deadly than one . . . __________ Read what everyone's saying about the heart-racing Tom Thorne series: 'Literary superstar' Mail on Sunday 'Ingenious' Guardian 'Ground-breaking' Sunday Times 'Mark Billingham gets better and better' Michael Connelly 'A cracking read . . . I couldn't put it down!' Shari Lapena 'A damn fine storyteller' Karin Slaughter 'Twisted and twisty' Linwood Barclay 'One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today' Gillian Flynn 'The next superstar detective is already with us. Don't miss him' Lee Child
De man op het bed zat op zijn kniën, alsof hij aan het bidden was. Misschien was dat ook wel het laaste wat hij had gedaan... Dit was het werk van een moordenaar met een missie. Al snel ontdekt Tom Thorn, inspecteur bij de Londense politie dat de man was veroordeeld wegens verkrachting en dat hij niet uit de gevangenis was gekomen. Kort daarop wordt er weer een man op dezelfde wijze vermoord. Ook hij heeft vastgezeten voor een zedenmisdrijf. Wie is er uit op wraak? Wie heeft toegang tot de databank met gegevens van gevangenen? Telkens als Thorne een vraag beantwoord denkt te hebben, wordt er weer iemand vermoord...
Het Verbrande Meisje
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
Twintig jaar geleden stak Gordon Rooker een schoolmeisje met aanstekerbenzine in brand - alleen vergiste hij zich: in plaats van de dochter van een bendeleider verminkte hij haar vriendin, die later zelfmoord pleegde. Carol Chamberlain, die hem indertijd heeft gearresteerd, heeft nog vaak nachtmerries van het verbrande meisje. Als ze op een dag gebeld wordt en een stem zegt: "Ik heb haar verbrand," weet Carom één ding zeker: het is niet de stem van Rooker. Samen met rechercheur Thom Thorne duikt ze in de Londense onderwereld - die toch al op scherp staat door een aantal gruwelijke moorden door de mysterieuze 'X-man' - om te achterhalen wat er echt is gebeurd.
Levenloos
- 380bladzijden
- 14 uur lezen
Een undercover-agent gaat op zoek naar de moordenaar van enkele Londense daklozen.
Buried - An Uncorrected Bound Proof
- 405bladzijden
- 15 uur lezen
Teenager Luke Mullen is missing. He was last seen by schoolmates getting into a car with an older woman, and it is unclear whether he has disappeared voluntarily or been abducted. "Police looking For the boy are pretty certain they are dealing with a missing-persons case. The son of a former police officer. Luke has no history of being out of touch, no track record of truancy or misbehavior. And they know that the longer he is missing, the more likely he is to turn up dead. Then the videotape arrives ..." "On special assignment, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne searches desperately for the boy and for anyone who might have a grudge against him or his father, former detective Tony Mullen. As someone responsible for convicting many tough villains in his time, Luke's father is asked to list a few potential suspects. But it is the names Mullen carefully omits from the list that intrigue Thorne. Has Mullen simply forgotten about the criminal who threatened him? Is he so distraught in the emotional trauma of his son's disappearance? Or is he hiding something?" "When the kidnapper demonstrates, shockingly, that he is not reluctant to kill, Thorne knows he does not have the luxury of time. He must dig hard and deep into old cases and past lives. He learns that secrets are as easily hidden as bodies, and that even if Luke Mullen is still alive, making assumptions is the quickest way to get him dead and buried."--BOOK JACKET.
Death Message
- 512bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
The seventh book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. THE MESSAGE DI Tom Thorne has seen plenty of dead bodies in his time. But when he starts receiving sick photos of murder victims on his mobile phone, he soon realises that the next body could be his. THE KILLER And even when the man who has been sending the photos is tracked down, the deadly threat remains, For some, the case is all but closed, but Thorne's nightmare is just beginning. THE TWIST Because someone else is masterminding the death messages. The most vicious psychopath Thorne has ever faced is able to manipulate others even behind bars, and time has only deepened the deadly grudge he has against the policeman who put him away... ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!
The eighth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman's fist - and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim's mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead. When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey's victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer's list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted... ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!
From the Dead
- 496bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
The ninth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. It has been a decade since Alan Langford's charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and served ten years in prison. But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being - the man she paid to have murdered - seems very much alive and well. How is it possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why? DI Tom Thorne becomes involved in a case where nothing and no one are what they seem. It will take him much further from his London beat than he has ever been before - and closer to a killer who will do anything to protect his new life. ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!
Tom Thorne - 8: Ten dode opgeschreven
- 407bladzijden
- 15 uur lezen
Bij de Pakistaanse kioskhouder Akhtar slaan onverwacht de stoppen door: op een doordeweekse ochtend gijzelt hij twee klanten in zijn Londense buurtwinkel. De rolluiken gaan naar beneden en de slachtoffers, Helen Weeks en Stephen Mitchell, worden vastgeketend aan de verwarmingsbuizen van de bedompte opslagruimte. Helen werkt bij de politie en met haar connecties zijn Akhtars eisen snel overgebracht: rechercheur Tom Thorne moet de waarheid boven water halen in het reeds afgesloten onderzoek naar de zelfmoord van Akhtars zoon in een jeugdgevangenis. Thorne voert een race tegen de klok en met elke dag die verstrijkt, wordt de situatie in de winkel explosiever en de zaak gecompliceerder. Gaat het Thorne lukken Akhtars eisen in te willigen en het leven te redden van Helen en Stephen?
The Dying Hours
- 498bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
A cluster of suicides among the elderly. Such things are not unknown and the deaths are quickly dismissed by the police as routine. Only one man is convinced that something more sinister is taking place.However, no one listens to Tom Thorne anymore. Having stepped out of line once too often, he's back in uniform and he hates it. Patronised and abused by his new colleagues, Thorne's suspicions about the suicides are dismissed by the Murder Squad he was once part of and he is forced to investigate alone.Unable to trust anyone, Thorne must risk losing those closest to him. He must gamble with the lives of those targeted by a killer unlike any he has hunted before. A man with nothing to lose and a growing list of victims. A man with the power to make people take their own lives. Tom Thorne returns in Billingham's most compelling thriller to date. The Dying Hours is a haunting portrait of London's dark heart, and the darker heart of a twisted killer bringing terror to its streets.
The Bones Beneath
- 469bladzijden
- 17 uur lezen
The Deal Tom Thorne is back in charge - but there's a terrifying price to pay. Stuart Nicklin, the most dangerous psychopath he has ever put behind bars, promises to reveal the whereabouts of a body he buried twenty-five years before. But only if Thorne agrees to escort him. The Danger Unable to refuse, Thorne gathers a team and travels to a remote Welsh island, at the mercy of the weather and cut off from the mainland. Thorne is determined to get the job done and return home before Nicklin can outwit them. The Deaths But Nicklin knows this island well and has had time to plan ahead. Soon, new bodies are added to the old, and Thorne finds himself facing the toughest decision he has ever had to make...Tom Thorne returns in this utterly gripping, brilliantly plotted thriller. The Bones Beneath is Mark Billingham's most ambitious and accomplished work to date.
Time of Death
- 538bladzijden
- 19 uur lezen
The astonishing thirteenth Tom Thorne novel is a story of kidnapping, the tabloid press, and a frightening case of mistaken identity. Tom Thorne is on holiday with his girlfriend DS Helen Weeks, when two girls are abducted in Helen s home town. When a body is discovered and a man is arrested, Helen recognizes the suspect s wife as an old school-friend and returns home for the first time in twenty-five years to lend her support. As his partner faces up to a past she has tried desperately to forget and a media storm engulfs the town, Thorne becomes convinced that, despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt, the police have got the wrong man. There is still an extremely clever and killer on the loose and a missing girl who Thorne believes might still be alive."
Love like blood
- 518bladzijden
- 19 uur lezen
'Groundbreaking and gripping'Sunday Times A BLOODY MESSAGE As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner Susan is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft, and vengeful. A POWERFUL ALLY Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts. A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour. From number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a masterful, intense crime novel that pits DI Tom Thorne against an evil beyond comprehension, yet shockingly real. ________________ 'One of the great series of British crime fiction' The Times 'Billingham is a world-class writer' Karin Slaughter
The Killing Habit
- 560bladzijden
- 20 uur lezen
'One of the great series of British crime fiction' The Times From multi-million-copy number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a twisting, unbearably gripping DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner thriller inspired by a dramatic real-life case. How do you catch a killer who is yet to kill? We've all heard about the signs: coldness, cruelty, lack of empathy. DI Tom Thorne knows the psychological profile of a psychopath all too well, so when pets start disappearing on suburban London streets, he sees a chance to stop a future murderer. Others are less convinced, so Thorne relies on DI Nicola Tanner to help him solve the case, before the culprit starts hunting people. The journey brings them face to face with a killer who will tear their lives apart. ---------- 'A new Mark Billingham is always a treat and The Killing Habit hurls the reader straight into the action. Thoroughly enjoyable for being so very real' SUSIE STEINER 'Mark Billingham on superb form. A finely paced and polished procedural, with twists and turns galore and an ending that will chill your soul' CARA HUNTER 'An unconventionalliterary superstar' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'As ever with Billingham, a rich cast of characters and tense situations are marshalled with panache, leading to a final terrifying encounter' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Thorne is a terrific invention' IRISH INDEPENDENT ________________
Their Little Secret
- 512bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
The sixteenth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. 'Hugely intelligent and authentic' BELINDA BAUER, AUTHOR OF SNAP She says she's an ordinary mother. He knows a liar when he sees one. 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. Meanwhile, DI Tom Thorne is investigating a woman's suicide, convinced she was driven to do it by a man who preys on vulnerable women. A man who is about to change Sarah's life. From number one, five-million-copy bestseller Mark Billingham comes a breathless new thriller starring Thorne and Tanner that readers will devour. PRAISE FOR MARK BILLINGHAM 'One of the great series of British crime fiction' THE TIMES 'An unconventional literary superstar' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Billingham is a world-class writer' KARIN SLAUGHTER 'A new Mark Billingham is always a treat' SUSIE STEINER 'Finely paced and polished procedural, with twists and turns galore' CARA HUNTER 'Perfectly executed and with a thoroughly unnerving twist' GUARDIAN 'Thorne is a terrific invention' IRISH INDEPENDENT 'Mark Billingham gets better and better' MICHAEL CONNELLY
Cry Baby
- 512bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
Two boys run into the woods--but only one returns-- In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on the case--which quickly spirals out of control when two people connected to the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage . . .
