After quick-stepping aside in recent years to write a couple of dazzling, more comical crime tales – starring unconventional, ballroom-dancing-loving Blackpool detective Declan Miller – bestselling British crime writer Mark Billingham has returned to his roots.
In What the Night Brings, readers are once again immersed in the troubling world of DI Tom Thorne, and a supporting cast we’ve come to know and love over 19 novels since 2001’s Sleepyhead (to my mind, one of the best crime fiction series debuts of the past quarter century). Thorne is initially miffed when four police officers who helped arrest murder suspect Nick Cresswell – thanks to his work – don’t share the box of doughnuts; until three of them die and the other ends up in hospital. Poisoned.
Then another policeman is murdered in a park. Someone is targeting the Met Police, as accusations of rape and official misconduct swirl. Working with
DI Nicola Tanner, pathologist and best friend, Phil Hendricks, and longtime colleagues DI Dave Holland – recently returned to the Met – and DCI Brigstocke, Thorne must unravel a case entwined with the dark web and crimes committed by some of the Met’s own.
A terrific read. Billingham continues to evolve his bestselling series in an admirable way. No resting on laurels. He’s unafraid to address the real-life clamour about Met misconduct, or changing global views on policing. And he’s likewise courageous in the closing chapters of What the Night Brings, which may divide long-time readers. Strap in.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. Having worked for some years as an actor and more recently as a TV writer and stand-up comedian his first crime novel was published in 2001.
Sleepyhead was an instant bestseller in the UK. It has been sold widely throughout the world and was published in the USA in the summer of 2002.
Mark is also a regular contributor to radio and TV and is a member of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a combo of bestselling crime and thriller writers who performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2019 and 2024.
An acclaimed television series based on his ‘Thorne’ novels was screened on Sky One in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne. A series based on the novels In The Dark and Time Of Death was screened on BBC1 in 2017.
Mark lives in London with his wife and two children. He is currently writing his next novel.
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