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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Graphic photographs of torture and murder sent to Thorne's phone; serial killing with personal targeting of the detective
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Some
Heavy drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific psychological effect of receiving murder evidence personally; the killer's deliberate establishment of an intimate connection with the investigator
What this book is about
DI Tom Thorne receives photographs on his mobile phone — images of a man being tortured and killed — before the body has been discovered. More follow. The killer is sending the images directly to Thorne, establishing a personal connection that the investigation will depend on breaking. Mark Billingham's seventh Thorne novel is his most technologically current — the use of mobile phones as a delivery mechanism for murder evidence was genuinely new when published — and the specific intimacy of a killer who addresses the detective directly makes it one of the series' most unsettling.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
seventh of the Tom Thorne series
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