Sorry! I thought I was reviewing Last Dance! ignore this review and let me go find Cry Baby to review it!

I just reviewed Cry Baby by Mark Billingham. #CryBaby #NetGalley Mark continues to write amazing books and the Thorne series is amazing, I really like the details of each character and they call come together nicely

A fabulous book which I could not put down. Really easy to read, gripping and wonderfully told story that I would recommend to others!!

A prequel to the Tom Thorne novels and featuring the detective in his early career investigating the abduction of a young boy. It was interesting meeting the younger Thorne and his embryonic friendship with the pathologist Hendriks. A worthy addition to the crime series.

I really enjoyed gaining more insight into Tom Thorne’s earlier life.
I always enjoy books by Mark Billingham as there are always twists and turns in the plot and a good mix of mystery about murder/s and the character’s personal life.
You would be able to read this as a stand-alone book though if you hadn’t read any of the other books.
Highly recommend!

A look back at Tom Thorne’s earlier days.

I have read a few of Mark Billingham’s books including his first one Sleepyhead and enjoyed them all. This book goes back to 1996 when the European football championships were taking place in England. For once England does quite well getting to the semi-finals and Tom is understandably annoyed, as a football supporter when a case of an abducted child stops him from watching some of the games!

Kieron and Josh are best friends, both their mums, Catrin and Maria are single parents who meet up regularly in a playground next to some woodland. The story begins when both boys run into the woods to play hide and seek and only Josh comes back out A witness comes forward to say he had seen Kieron getting into a red car with a man who he (apparently) seems to know. Things become more complicated when the witness is also found dead.

We discover that Kieron is being kept prisoner in the garden of an old cottage and we suffer with him as he tries to keep his hopes up that he will be reunited with his mother. Josh, meantime, who has been getting into trouble at school, becomes even more aggressive and we come to realise that maybe he knows more than he is letting on.

As always DS Tom Thorne solves the mystery but I feel that this book has been written more for the fans of these books to give the readers some interesting background on how Tom and his friendships have developed. This is the first time, for example, that Tom encounters Dr Phil Hendricks, who has become a mainstay in the later novels. We also learn that Tom is going through a divorce, his wife has left him to live with a college lecturer, and she is pressing him to sell their matrimonial home.

Although the plotline was good I probably enjoyed more getting an insight into the early days in the life of DS Thorne.

Dexter

Elite Book Group received a copy of the book to review

Two boys take their game from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one emerges. With almost no clues, DS Tom Thorne takes on the investigation into the boy's disappearance. When connections to other crimes are made, will the police be able to find the missing boy before it is too late?

I have enjoyed some of the Tom Thorne novels in the past, so I was a little surprised that I was not a fan of Cry Baby. The story seemed forced in places and the ending was a little too transparent for my liking. I was not a fan of the lack of progression of the character, as it seemed as though Tom Thorne was there just to solve the case. The investigative portion of police procedural thrillers normally drive the plot forward, but it did not help the pacing of Cry Baby. Overall, it was a good book, but the lack of thrilling moments would make me hesitate to recommend it.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Cry Baby by NetGalley and the publisher, Atlantic Monthly Press. The choice to review this book was entirely my own.

Well, it’s odd thinking this is actually the start of the Thorne series, I loved sleepyhead and all of his that followed with Thorne and this was no different, a fast paced thriller that grabs you by the balls and doesn’t let go until the end, and even then your kinda stood there wanting more! A great ending and a fair few twists which is to be expected, loved it and was gutted when I’d finished it 😔

I had to keep reminding myself this was early Tom Thorne, how he ever got promoted to Inspector when he clearly regards everyone else as a fool at best. Mind you, the same could be said for Morse. Anyway, you quickly forget that the look-back start of the book was tinged with dark outcomes as this nostalgic trip through the nineties progresses.

#Net Galley #Cry Baby

I did not finish this book. I did not find it interesting. I will not Review this book.

I have not read any Mark Billingham books for quite a few years, and this one was very good. A convoluted, twisty plot, it kept my interest right until the reveal. Highly recommended.

Cry Baby by Mark Billingham is the prequel to the bestselling police procedural Sleepyhead, a novel featuring Detective Superintendent Tom Thorne. The year is 1996 and two young boys playing in a park disappear together in the nearby woods and only one child comes back. The other has vanished without a trace and it seems the remaining child is traumatized and cannot talk about the incident. DS Thorne heads the team searching for the child and within a few days two people who had connections with the children are murdered. This is an absorbing and well-developed crime drama. What I found especially interesting was the difference in electronic policing tools of 1996 compared to what is available today. This was a most enjoyable and unpredictable read. Highly recommended. Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for providing me a copy of this book.
Sorry I wasn't able to go on and finish this.
It just didn’t work for me.
I'll try again next time and leave a feedback.

I'm a sucker for origin stories, ever if I've never read any of the books in the series.

Such is the case with Cry Baby, listed as Tom Thorne #17, but which is essentially book zero.

The year is 1996, before everyone had the equivalent of a supercomputer in their pocket. Two boys go into the woods, but only one returns. Thorne is assigned to investigate the disappearance of the boy, but with no information at all to go on. He's also navigating the ruins of his marriage, which comes with the additional baggage of his estranged wife's boyfriend.

Another couple of deaths - people known and connected to the families of the two boys - ups the ante, and we discover that some people involved are not giving up a;; the information as to what they know.

It's a taut story. The only misfire for me is a motive that is sadly not as well defined as the rest of the book.

A solid four out of five stars.

Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the review copy.

Thank you for giving me access to this book. I really enjoy Mark Billingham he is modern, incorporates culture and drama in a very enjoyable method of writing. Compelling author

A clever prequel set in the 70s lets us see the beginning of the story for DI Thorne. All the usual Billingham fun and games in this novel.
Recommended read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity to review Cry Baby.

Love Tom Thorne books, this one was amazing,
Read it in two days and couldn’t put it down , kept me guessing till the end !

Mark Billingham never Disappoints and the re-emergence of DI Thorne is another shining example of why some characters stand the test of time. The action is immediate and doesn’t stop. Taking the time to build the key characters does not detract from the sense of pace which comes with this book. Thorne is a flawed character but somehow his flaws make him all the more relatable. A really great read.

Another brilliant story by Mark Billingham, set in an era before mobile phones and social media. It shows how difficult the communication was between the police in different areas really was.
A young boy goes missing in the woods when his mother and her friend take their eyes off him for just a second. There are a multitude of suspects, all of whom end up dead. There is a great twist in the tale.
Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book from Billingham!!

A new book by Mark Billingham. Surely that's all you need to know?

An author that has never let me down, Mr Billingham writes at a good pace and delivers a well thought out story.