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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
A hostage situation; threat of violence throughout; deaths connected to the case
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Some
Heavy drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific guilt of a detective who knows that his decisions had consequences for people he wasn't thinking about; the hostage-taker's legitimate grievance
What this book is about
A man takes hostages in a London pharmacy and announces his demands: he wants to speak to DI Tom Thorne. The negotiation that follows forces Thorne to confront events from an old case — specifically a boy who was killed by a drug dealer Thorne put away — and the hostage-taker's reasons for selecting Thorne are both personal and principled in a way Thorne finds difficult to dismiss. Mark Billingham's tenth Thorne novel is his most interested in guilt and complicity — in what detectives owe to the people whose lives are changed by the investigations they conduct.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
tenth of the Tom Thorne series
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