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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
Serial murders designed to look like natural deaths; the investigation involves elderly victims
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Some
Heavy drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific horror of a killer who exploits the expectation that old people die; Thorne's frustration with a police machine that isn't interested in suspicious deaths that look unremarkable
What this book is about
A series of elderly men are dying — apparently suicides, apparently peaceful. A retired detective named Ray Grantham begins to suspect the deaths are murders, and brings his concerns to DI Tom Thorne. Thorne is skeptical, but as Grantham dies and his suspicions become evidence, Thorne finds himself investigating a killer who has found a method with almost no forensic trace. Mark Billingham's eleventh Thorne novel is his most focused on the vulnerability of the elderly and on what happens when people whose deaths are expected are murdered and everyone assumes it's natural.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
eleventh of the Tom Thorne series
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