Lifeless by Mark Billingham

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

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.

Three men (all homeless and sleeping rough on London’s streets) have all been brutally murdered; kicked to death and found with a twenty-pound note pinned to their jackets. The murders each appear random, but – even still grieving and newly shuffled out of the murder team – DI Tom Thorne can tell there has to be more to this series of killings than is readily apparent. Convincing his boss that going undercover and living rough with these people, Tom is determined to navigate this disturbing underworld. Can Tom uncover what’s happening before he, as well, is lost amongst the masses?

I have been really enjoying this gritty and well written British Police Procedural series. I’ve remarked a few times in the previous reviews for earlier books that this series can be quite harsh and difficult at times to read and this story was absolutely up there with the best of them. The entire premise of the plot is a difficult subject – the vulnerable homeless which every large city has, so I feel everyone can relate on some level to this group. While I was pleased the author didn’t go overboard with the harshness and tragedy of this subject, neither does he gloss over anything.

I found myself really impressed with the depth and balance to which the author – through Tom – filled out this book. I thought the balance was just right, with plenty of description and showing much of this underbelly through Tom living 100% rough on the streets full time with this community (and all those associated taboos) but not making this aspect more important than the other humans there or the plot of unearthing a killer.

Like most of the previous books in this series, I strongly suspect this will not be every reader’s style or favoured plotline. I feel this is meant to be an uncomfortable book and meant to make you think and push your boundaries and I found that here in spades. I equally found myself enjoying Tom’s character – and his boss and Holland’s to a lesser extent – and hoping each of them could grow and expand through this experience.

I admit the murder mystery – while always present – definitely took a secondary seat at times to the life experience Tom was getting on the streets. I was quite happy with this, but I do feel readers interested more purely in the mystery and not as engrossed in the rest of the story might find the spotlight should have been more firmly on the mystery and less on the homeless world and streets that were the atmospheric backdrop to this story.

Readers looking for a different, grittier and at times harder storyline should absolutely give this series – and this book in particular – a crack. While it might not resonate with everyone, I am really finding myself darkly addicted to this series and am happy there’s a number more to come before I’m caught up.