Mark Billingham – författare

The first corpse was found hooded, bound, and naked, kneeling ona bare mattress in a seedy hotel room. This was no ordinary murder but rather the work of a killer driven by something special, somethingspectacular. The fact that the dead man was a convicted rapist recently released from prison only increases the bizarre nature of the gruesome crime ... and the police''s reluctance to apprehend the perpetrator. It''s the body count that troubles Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, as brutal slaying follows brutal slaying, each victim more deserving than the last. Though he has no sympathy for the dead, Thorne knows he must put an end to a cruelly calculating vigilante''s bloody justice before time runs out -- and a horrifically efficient serial killer targets a life worth fighting for.

Luke Mullen, the missing teenage son of a former police officer, was last seen getting into a car with an older woman. No one knows whether he went willingly or was abducted, whether he''s living or dead.

Then the videotape arrives . . .

On special assignment, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne is in charge of the investigation into Luke''s disappearance. But it''s the information that Tony Mullen, the boy''s father, is not freely sharing that Thorne finds particularly disturbing—like the names of dangerous criminals who have openly threatened the tough ex-detective and his entire family. Something shocking and deadly may well be buried deep in old cases and past lives. But Thorne knows he doesn''t have the luxury of time to dig—especially when a kidnapper brutally demonstrates that he is willing to kill.

Some fires never go out ...

X marks the spot -- and when that spot is a corpse''s naked back and the X is carved in blood, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious contract killer. It''s morbid and messy -- but it''s a mystery with plenty of clues. This is turf warfare between North London gangs. Organized crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else''s territory, and that someone is ready to stand up for what he believes is his.

Thorne''s got plenty on his plate when he agrees to help out ex-DCI Carol Chamberlain rake through the ashes of an old case that has come back to haunt her. Schoolgirl Jessica Clarke was lit on fire twenty years ago. Now, Gordon Rooker, the man Chamberlain put away for the crime, is up for parole, and it seems there''s a copycat on the prowl.

Or perhaps it''s someone trying to right a serious wrong: Jessica Clarke was the victim of mistaken identity. The intended target was the daughter of a gangland boss, a woman who would grow up to marry the current leader, Billy Ryan ...

Thorne quickly identifies a tenuous link between the two crimes, and past and present fuse together to form a new, horrifying riddle. One that involves more killings, violence, greed, and a murderous family with no values -- except gain at any price.

When an X is carved into his front door, Tom Thorne realizes that fires, once thought to be out, continue to burn.

Tom Thorne''s career is on the skids. Having seriously crossed the line on his last case and depressed over the recent suspicious death of his father, the once ambitious police detective has been reduced to pushing papers . . . and is being encouraged to take a prolonged leave of duty.

But someone is stalking the city''s most destitute citizens. Three homeless men have recently been kicked to death, each brutalized corpse discovered with a banknote pinned to its chest. With nothing to lose, Thorne volunteers to try to find the killer—taking to the streets he knows so well from his days as beat policeman and as a homicide detective, but this time joining the squalid ranks of life''s rejects. In this harsh and harrowing netherworld, with its own rules and moral codes, a shocking link between the brutal crimes and a fifteen-year-old atrocity could end up costing Thorne what little life he has left.

A Deadly Crash

A rainy night in south London. A gun is fired into a car, which swerves onto the pavement and plows into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost the life of an innocent victim. But the reality is far more sinister. . . .

A Dangerous Quest

One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger, the ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. How will she, two weeks away from giving birth, now cope in a world where death is an occupational hazard?

A Shocking Twist

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, nything 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 stand-alone thriller, In the Dark is his most powerful novel yet. Gritty, fierce, and moving, here is a must-read for anyone who likes their crime fiction unflinching—and unforgettable.

The sixth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.A MISSING BOYTeenager Luke Mullen was last seen getting into a car with an older woman. No one can understand why he has disappeared. His father - a former police officer - knows all too well that the longer he is missing, the more likely he is to turn up dead. A TERRIFYING VIDEOThen Luke''s parents receive an anonymous video. It shows their son, eyes wide with terror, as a man advances towards him holding a syringe. A RACE AGAINST TIMEDI Tom Thorne recognises a psychopath when he sees one. And the scene on the tape chills him to the bone - he knows that a child''s life hangs in the balance, and that every minute counts...__________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

The seventh book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.THE MESSAGEDI 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 KILLERAnd 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 TWISTBecause 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!

Winner of the Crime Novel of the Year, Lazybones is the third novel in the bestselling Tom Thorne series, a shocking, unputdownable novel from the master of psychological thrills.''Never loosens its grip on your throat'' Daily MailIt''s only ten days since Douglas Remfry''s release from prison, having served seven years for rape, and now he''s dead: naked on a bare mattress in a grubby north London hotel room, his head hooded and his hands tied with a brown leather belt.Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some punishment of his own.And when a second sex offender is found dead, DI Tom Thorne knows he has a vicious, calculating vigilante on his hands...__________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

The fifth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.A SERIES OF KILLINGSThree men, sleeping rough on London''s mean streets, have been found brutally murdered - each victim kicked to death and found with a £20 note pinned to his chest. But were they killed at random, or were they targeted for a reason?A DEADLY MISSIONTom Thorne is posted to the same streets - working undercover, disguised as a homeless man. In a harsh and harrowing underworld, Thorne discovers the horrifying link between the homeless victims and the perpetrators of a fifteen-year-old atrocity. A RUTHLESS ENEMYThose who know are keeping quiet. But the word on these streets is that the killer is a cop...__________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

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'' GuardianIt 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

A stunning 20th anniversary paperback edition of the groundbreaking first Tom Thorne novel, a case that changed crime fiction forever . . . Alison Willetts has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by a skilful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel but she is completely unable to move or communicate. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer''s made his first mistake.Then DI Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth: it isn''t Alison who is the mistake, it''s the three women already dead.Thorne must find a killer whose agenda is disturbingly unique, and Alison, the one person who holds the key to the killer''s identity, is unable to say anything . . .''One of my favourite authors'' Harlan Coben''A terrifically stylish debut novel'' Independent on Sunday ''The next superstar detective'' Lee Child

The fourth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.A MAN WHO KILLS FOR MONEYX marks the spot - and when that spot is a corpse''s naked back and the X is carved in blood, DI Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious killer. A BRUTAL VENDETTAThis is brutal turf warfare between north London gangs. Organised crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else''s patch, and that someone is not best pleased. A COP WHO IS PLAYING WITH FIREAnd when an X is carved on DI Tom Thorne''s front door, he knows the smouldering embers of this case are about to erupt into flames...__________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

''A stunning novel . . . The final twist is brilliantly clever and shocking'' The Times

Don''t miss Mark Billingham''s brand-new thriller, The Wrong Hands, available to pre-order now!

What real readers say about In the Dark

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!

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!

The tenth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.''Billingham''s most desperately gripping read yet'' Daily MirrorPolice officer Helen Weeks walks into her local newsagents on her way to work. It''s the last place she expects to be met with violence, but she is about to come face to face with a gunman.The hostage-taker is desperate to know what happened to his beloved son, who died a year before in youth custody. By holding Helen at gunpoint, he will force a re-investigation into his son''s death. And one man knows the case better than any other - DI Tom Thorne.As the body count rises, Thorne must race against time to bring a killer to justice and save a young mother''s life.Taking place over three action-packed days, this is the fastest and most surprising Thorne thriller yet from Sunday Times bestseller Mark Billingham.''One of the great series of British crime fiction'' The Times''A new Mark Billingham is always a treat'' Susie Steiner________________The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!

Perfect strangers.A perfect holiday.The perfect murder...

Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.

When the shocked couples return home, 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 dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices...

Then, a second girl goes missing.

Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?

A brilliantly plotted, utterly gripping thriller about the danger of making friends on holiday, Rush of Blood is Mark Billingham''s most ambitious and accomplished work to date.

The eleventh book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham.''Expertly crafted, with a slam-dunk ending. The Dying Hours is a terrific read'' GuardianA cluster of suicides among the elderly. Such things are not unknown to the police 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.''One of the great series of British crime fiction'' The Times''Billingham is a world-class writer'' Karin Slaughter_____________________The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!

When Donna Langford receives a very recent photo of her ex-husband in the post, she gets the shock of her life. Because she''s just spent ten years in prison for organising his murder. When her daughter goes missing, Donna believes there can only be one man responsible and hires Anna Carpenter, a determined young private investigator, to find him.DI Tom Thorne worked on the Alan Langford case, so when Carpenter brings the photo to him, he refuses to believe that the man whose body was found in a burned-out car ten years before can still be alive. But when a prison inmate that he and Anna interview is viciously murdered, Thorne starts to understand that Langford is not only alive, but ready to get rid of anyone who could threaten his comfortable new life in Spain...