Love Like Blood: 14 (Di Tom Thorne)

Product Information

Lifeless (Little, Brown & Company, May 2005), ISBN 0-316-72752-0; Scorpion Press, June 2005, ISBN 1-873567-70-7; William Morrow US, September 2006, ISBN 0-06-084166-4 Honour killings have also been documented in Jewish and Christian communities,' Tanners says in the book. 'If fact I think the only ones without blood on their hands are Buddhists and Rastafarians...maybe Jedis.' An intelligent, hugely entertaining thriller that treats its subject with sensitivity. It includes gasp-inducing moments of drama and some ingenious twists. Groundbreaking... a gripping, unsensational take on a type of crime that is happening more frequently than many of us realize.”— The Sunday Times This is an excellent addition to the series and I would not only recommend this book but the series itself to any lover of Thrillers.

I haven't read any of the other books in the author's DI Tom Thorne series but I did read the prior DI Nicola Tanner book, "Die of Shame", which I liked more than I liked this book. However, this book works as a standalone. Tanner's partner Susan was recently murdered in their home and she is currently on compassionate leave. Tanner believes that she was actually the target of the killers because of her work on a series of honour killings within the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities and she enlists the help of Thorne to conduct an unofficial investigation of Susan's death. Their search is complicated when a teenaged couple disappears. The topic of honour killings was a novel one, but otherwise this was a straightforward police procedural. There was a lot of filler with Tanner's mourning and Thorne's home life with his girlfriend and her 3 year old son. I'm one of those readers who doesn't care about the lives of the detectives, so it felt like padding to me. The book was fine, though unexceptional, and I'd be willing to read more by this author. Scaredy Cat (Little, Brown & Company, July 2002), ISBN 0-316-85954-0; Time Warner UK, November 2002, ISBN 0-356-23206-9; William Morrow US, June 2003, ISBN 0-06-621300-2 The book is dedicated to the memory of Banaz Mahmod and Rahmat Sulemani, and in his “Author’s Note” Billingham provides valuable information about honor-based violence in the UK, and the tragic true story of Banaz and Rahmat. For those who are interested, I discovered an excellent article in “The Independent” about their heart-breaking deaths and how Mark Billingham wrote “Love Like Blood” to bear witness and bring awareness.

The Burning Girl (Little, Brown & Company, July 2004), ISBN 0-316-72574-9; William Morrow US (June 2005), ISBN 0-06-074526-6 His standalone novel In The Dark was adapted as a miniseries of the same name by the BBC in 2017. An adaptation of another standalone novel, Rush of Blood, is being developed for US television. [15] Awards and nominations [ edit ] TV [ edit ] A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.

a b "Nominations for Theakston's Crime Novel of the year Award 2009". digyorkshire.com. 2 June 2009 . Retrieved 17 June 2009. Mark Philip David Billingham (born 2 July 1961) [1] is an English novelist, actor, television screenwriter and comedian known for the "Tom Thorne" crime novel series. Billingham became the first crime writer to win the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice when his novel Death Message won in 2009, [10] against Reginald Hill, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin and Lee Child.

In talking about the creation and development of Thorne, Billingham details his difficulty in trying to create a character different from those in other, popular works: at the time of the book's original publication. 'That you are going to write a bad book. 'And I stand by that. Even if I am writing something topical the story has to be front and centre. And it has to be character driven.' Every religion is an alibi for regulating and controlling the sexuality of women. But as regards, specifically, the phenomenon of honour killing, the three religions which are most culpable are Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. Honour, said Shakespeare’s Falstaff, is “air”. Now it means something like the defence of male entitlement, at all costs. Billingham tries to distinguish between the religion, which he respects, and the crime, which he abhors. He argues that honour killing is “a cultural thing not a religious thing – it comes out of South Asia.” He has a believer, in the novel, making the case that the true religion is really all about peace: “Do not harm yourselves or others”, quoth the Prophet.

Maid Marian and her Merry Men Series 3 (Tony Robinson, Mark Billingham and David Lloyd on 'creative writing'). David Bell. UK: Eureka. 2006 [1993]. EKA40224. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) You can read the full text of that letter here. In this review, meanwhile, we’re pleased to report that all that passion has been channeled into what is a gripping and at times brutal story. It feels relevant. It feels conflicted. It’ll give you a knot in the stomach. And, it’s pretty uncomfortable reading, too. Billingham currently hosts UKTV's crime podcast A Stab in the Dark. [21] Each episode includes a discussion on a particular theme from crime fiction and crime drama, and has featured guests including David Morrissey, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly and Ann Cleeves. Obviously DI Tanner is not allowed to be part of the investigation in any way. But DI Nicola Tanner needs to catch the people who killed her girlfriend. DI Nicola can't imagine life without Susan the woman she loved. Still loved. The way they trap the culprits is laughable, with the most obvious mole ever. And the whole chase at the end is ridiculous because they blow their cover far too early. There has not actually been anything specific said between the broker and the undercover cop and they haven't committed any crimes when the undercover police officers reveal themselves. If I was them, I would have let myself get arrested, any half decent lawyer could have gotten the charges dropped.Billingham's detective character Inspector Tom Thorne first appeared in his 2001 debut novel Sleepyhead. The character has since appeared in the majority of his works, except In the Dark, Rush of Blood, and Die of Shame (May 2016), in which Thorne has minor roles. Billingham claims to have imbued Thorne with many of his own characteristics, such as a birthday, a locale (London), and a "love of country music both alt and cheesy". [3] [11] Billingham's novel Lazybones won the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2004 and he won the same award in 2009 for his novel Death Message. [10] In The Dark was nominated for the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. [18] In 2011, Billingham was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. This is an important novel, as well as a thriller with all Billingham’s characteristic wit and perception. The idea of honour killings - be it for love or some other inferred shame - is the central premise of this book. Mark Billingham has not tried to retell Banaz's story. As he has said himself that is not his story to tell. But her story has most certainly inspired a book which becomes somewhat of a moral dilemma in the making. At the heart of this novel is real life horror dressed up here as a form of entertainment, art even. Should we really say that we enjoy it? Maybe, maybe not. However Billingham has found a near perfect balance, blending Thorne's irresistible charm, an element of humour and the day to day mundane realities of family life, with an overwhelmingly depressing set of statistics and a case which puts the lives of Thorne's friends and colleagues at risk. This is not a case of preaching the horrors of honour killings, although they are clearly outlined here, but it is also more than mere entertainment. Billingham skilfully gets his distaste at the subject across to the reader through Thorne's reactions, while still leaving them the scope to make their own minds up about what has occurred.