Lazybones by Mark Billingham

Lazybones by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Sphere
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

The first corpse was found hooded, bound, and naked, kneeling on a bare mattress in a seedy hotel room. This was no ordinary murder but rather the work of a killer driven by something special, something spectacular. 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.

DI Tom Thorne and his team are pulled into a new investigation when a recently released convicted rapist is brutally murdered. While plenty of his colleagues feel this was simply justice being meted out, Thorne knows they still have a job to do. And when a second recently released rapist is killing in a nearly identical manner, Thorne knows things will only get more difficult from here on in.

I’ve been enjoying this slightly darker, gritty British police procedural series. I’m pleased that the main character isn’t some perfect hero – he’s a fairly regular guy and has his share of flaws. I also am enjoying getting to know Holland, Thorne’s colleague, and delve a little more into the complications of his personal life as Holland and Thorne become more friendly with each other.

I could understand if this won’t be every reader’s cup of tea. British crime novels often have a slightly different tone, and this series is no exception. A little grittier, a little harder in some respects I personally find this sort of story well worth the effort of reading. I admit that I guessed a few aspects to this mystery about halfway through the book, though I was wrong about a few of the other points that I missed so there was still plenty in this book that did keep me in the dark. I thoroughly enjoyed the complications and twists in the plot and ended up very happy with the final few chapters and everything untangling itself.

Readers looking for a different style of murder mystery book and who don’t mind the different British style of writing should give this series a try.