Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2009.
DI TOM THORNE - a dogged London cop whose beat somehow invariably crosses into the dark side and confronts evil at its cleverest.DEATH MESSAGE is the 7th in the series, and BLOOD LINE appears next in August.
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Billingham hits a winning formula again. The seventh in the Tom Thorne series keeps the body count high as a killer seeks revenge on those who killed his family while he was in prison and those who put him inside unable to protect his loved ones. He has nothing left to lose and only a burning desire to avenge his wife and son’s death. Gripping and compelling, Billingham is a great crime writer.
The first message sent to Tom Thorne's mobile phone was just a picture - the blurred image of a man's face, but Thorne had seen too many dead bodies in his time to know that this man was no longer alive. But who was he? Who sent the photograph? And why? While the technical experts attempt to trace the sender, Thorne searches the daily police bulletins for a reported death that would match the photograph. Then another picture arrives. Another dead man ... It is the identities of the murdered men which give Thorne his first clue, a link to a dangerous killer he'd put away years before and who is still in prison. With a chilling talent for manipulation, this man has led another inmate to plot revenge on everyone he blames for his current incarceration, and for the murder of his family while he's been inside. Newly released, this convict has no fear of the police, no feelings for those he is compelled to murder. Now Tom Thorne must face one of the toughest challenges of his career, knowing that there is no killer more dangerous than one who has nothing left to lose.
