From The Dead by Mark Billingham

From The Dead by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Thorne investigates a troubling case of conspiracy—a wife who arranges to have her husband murdered. He turns up alive… and other people begin to turn up dead.

A decade ago, 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 sentenced to ten years in prison. But 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. But how is it possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why?

It’s been over a decade since Donna Langford was imprisoned for hiring a man to murder her husband. Having admitted to the crime and pled guilty – even with the evidence of her husband’s abuse and criminal dealings she still was sentenced for a lengthy time in jail. Just before her release, she’s sent photos. Of her husband. Tanned. Enjoying himself. Living free and happy to indulge in all his desires. Against his better judgement, DI Tom Thorne finds himself drawn into this case where nothing and no one appear to be what they are.

This British police procedural has a gritty knack for turning plotlines on their head and writing uncomfortable things in such a manner you just have to keep turning the pages. I found this book to be no exception to that rule. Thorne finds himself with quite a bit on his plate, two or three cases weaving around each other as well as his ongoing relationship with Louise. I found myself nervous at a few points and while everything absolutely resolved none of it was quite how I was expecting and some parts were a little messier than I originally thought they’d be.

Readers should also be aware that for some of the plotlines there wasn’t a “usual” type of ending and one in particular finished on a bit of a cliffhanger/unresolved note for me. I definitely feel the reader is left to fill in the blanks and it could have gone a few different ways to my mind so readers who don’t enjoy vague endings might not find this as satisfying as many of the other book conclusions in this series.

That said, I’ve noticed a number of times previously that this book series is a lot grittier and harsher than many other British police procedurals and so while leaving threads hanging is not my favourite thing – the overall style and plotting is just so good and so different to most other series out there I can’t help myself I know I’ll keep reading the next book along. I also expect there will be an answer hopefully early on in the next book – this series does tend to (eventually) tie off all the loose threads so hopefully this won’t be any different.

Readers looking for a different, gritty and at times dark/lonely type of series should absolutely find this a great book. They can be read and enjoyed out of order – but personally I prefer reading things systematically so it’s well worth going back to the start and reading these in sequence.