Billingham, Mark - THE BURNING GIRL

[LJ Roberts]

THE BURNING GIRL (Police Procedural-London-Cont) – G+ Mark Billingham – 4^th in series
Little Brown, 2004 – U.K. Hardcover

Detective Inspector Thomas Thorne is in the middle of an investigation of what appears to be contract killings. A former colleague asks for his help with an old case of a girl, mistaken for the daughter of a mob boss, is murdered. It shortly becomes clear the two cases are, in fact, linked.

Billingham is a very good writer, but I always feel as though I’m missing bits of background. It’s hard to pinpoint. The character of Thorne is all there, but I still don’t feel I know him. Certainly the plots are tight, the settings well done, the dialogue realistic but there is always something that leaves me just a touch unsatisfied.