Good As Dead (Tom Thorne, #10)

Jun 04, 2012 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We are all creatures of habit, and Helen Weeks is no exception. Helen, a detective for the police department and a single mother, stops at a newsagent every morning for her newspaper, gum and some candy. As Helen is paying for her items three boys walk into the shop wrestling with each other and messing with the stock. Javed Akhtar, the owner, chases the boys out of the shop. Helen and the man behind her in the store are shocked when Akhtar locks the door to the shop and pulls a gun on his two c...more We are all creatures of habit, and Helen Weeks is no exception. Helen, a detective for the police department and a single mother, stops at a newsagent every morning for her newspaper, gum and some candy. As Helen is paying for her items three boys walk into the shop wrestling with each other and messing with the stock. Javed Akhtar, the owner, chases the boys out of the shop. Helen and the man behind her in the store are shocked when Akhtar locks the door to the shop and pulls a gun on his two customers.

So begins a situation that is terrifying to the hostages as well as the police attempting to see them released without harm. The hostages are handcuffed to the radiator. Stephen Mitchell, the other customer taken hostage, seems to think that Helen can use her familiarity with Akhtar and her skills as a detective to miraculously rescue them from the situation. But he soon realizes she has no power over Akhtar.

Akhtar orders Helen to get in touch with a detective named Thorne. Helen knows Thorne since she dealt with him when her boyfriend was killed. Helen learns Akhtar's son, Amin Akhtar, was involved in a manslaughter case and sentenced to prison. Amin killed himself in Barndale Young Offenders Institution eight weeks earlier. Thorne is familiar with the manslaughter case and had been surprised the boy got the stiff sentence that he did.

Akhtar does not believe that his son's death was a suicide and he is demanding that Thorne find out what really happened. Thorne is racing against time in his investigation into the boy's death. Two people's lives are at stake and it is up to him to save them. But first he must satisfy all of Akhtar's questions and prove that his son was murdered.

As Thorne investigates, he finds more and more puzzling things about the conviction and the boy's death - some that will come as a shock to Akhtar. The story switches back and forth between Thorne who is seeking answers on the outside and Helen Weeks who is one of the hostages. It is a race against time as the police outside the newsagent's shop try to determine whether to go in with force or hope Thorne comes up with answers.

Mark Billingham introduced Sgt. Helen Weeks in the novel In the Dark. The Demands bring Weeks and Thorne together and this reader hopes for more adventures involving Weeks and Thorne.
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Dec 30, 2012 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-audio-books

The Demands, by Mark Billingham, narrated by author, a-minus, Produced by Hachette Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Detective Helen Weeks makes her usual stop in a convenience store to pick up a paper and treats to eat during the day. Suddenly, the store owner locks the street door and pulls down the shutters. Detective Weeks and another man are still in the store. He pulls out a gun and makes them go into his office. Then he insists that Helen make a call to the police station to find DI Tom...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, police-procedural

Good as Dead is a fast paced, can't put it down, read by Mark Billingham. London police officer Helen Weeks stops at her local corner store each morning for her daily supplies. Today will be different. As she chats with the proprietor, Javed Akhtar, a trio of young boys comes in the door and start creating havoc. Akhtar is incensed and chases them out of the shop, locking the door behind them. As he turns back to his customers, he pulls a gun out of his pocket. Helen and the other customer, Step...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/...

Detective Helen Weeks walks into the convenience store she’s been coming to for ages, her mind on her 1 year old son, and the workday ahead, when she’s abruptly taken hostage, along with another customer, by the convenience store owner, Akhtar. This is a man she’s talked to every day for months, exchanging pleasantries, and Helen is baffled as to why he’d want to hold two people at gunpoint. He doesn’t want money. He doesn...more You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/...

Detective Helen Weeks walks into the convenience store she’s been coming to for ages, her mind on her 1 year old son, and the workday ahead, when she’s abruptly taken hostage, along with another customer, by the convenience store owner, Akhtar. This is a man she’s talked to every day for months, exchanging pleasantries, and Helen is baffled as to why he’d want to hold two people at gunpoint. He doesn’t want money. He doesn’t want fame. He wants to speak with Tom Thorne, and until he does, Helen and her fellow captive have no chance at freedom. See, a year earlier, Akhtar’s son was attacked by a group of boys with knifes. He turned the tables, and stabbed one of his attackers to death. Given a sentence above and beyond what anyone expected, he supposedly killed himself while in the infirmary 8 weeks earlier. Akhtar knows his son didn’t kill himself, and wants Tom Thorne to find out who did. Until then, Helen Weeks will be his hostage. At first Tom thinks it’s certainly a suicide, but as he digs deeper, he realizes it’s so much more, and time is of the essence.

It’s no secret Tom Thorne is one of my fave detectives, and he’s back in fine form in The Demands. It’s a powder keg waiting to burst inside that convenience store and Mark Billingham has a talent for garnering sympathy for people doing terrible things, as in the case of Javed Akhtar. His son is dead and determined to be a suicide, but he knows it’s not true. Obviously, holding two people hostage is not the way to go about things, but he feels he’s done everything right throughout his life, been an honest man, and that the justice system that he once believed in has failed him. He’s desperate, and his grief and terror over his own actions is constantly on display. Helen Weeks is fighting her own demons as well, still mourning the death of her son’s father, and fellow cop, Paul. All she can think about is getting home to her son, and will do anything to do so, even if it means keeping secrets that will come back to bite her. The body count is piling up as Tom sniffs around, but his willingness to color outside the lines serves him particularly well in this case. Sadly, he uncovers something far more tragic than a random attack and killing in self defense, and it involves some pretty powerful folks, but that never stopped Tom before, so why should this be different? The clock was ticking here, and it gave an immediacy to the events that really kept me turning the pages. I just had to know what happened next. Fine writing and explosive revelations rounded out another great entry into the Thorne series, and The Demands actually ends on a bit of a high note for our hero. I can’t wait until the next book!(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Luca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tom Thorne is back, the highlight of many a crime fiction readers year, and is on top form in 'Good As Dead'. As superbly written as the previous novels in the series, it's a rip-roaring tale which takes place over the course of three days. This ensures the pace never has time to drop, as Thorne races against time to discover the truth about a young boys death and appease the boys father holding two people hostage at gunpoint.

This is the 10th Tom Thorne book (Eleventh if you include the cameo in...more Tom Thorne is back, the highlight of many a crime fiction readers year, and is on top form in 'Good As Dead'. As superbly written as the previous novels in the series, it's a rip-roaring tale which takes place over the course of three days. This ensures the pace never has time to drop, as Thorne races against time to discover the truth about a young boys death and appease the boys father holding two people hostage at gunpoint.

This is the 10th Tom Thorne book (Eleventh if you include the cameo in standalone 'In The Dark'!) and the series is showing no signs of wear and tear, even if Thorne himself is. The evolution of the Thorne character over the last 8/9 years, is nothing short of outstanding. To keep the level of excellently written novels going over that time, is a testament to the talent Billingham has.

The story also feature Helen Weeks, first introduced in the standalone novel 'In The Dark', and it was fantastic to see the character back. Well written and , Weeks is the perfect foil for Thorne. Other characters from the series, Holland, Hendricks and Kitson for example, feature in the story, however they have minor roles as Thorne and Weeks take centre stage. Which is an example of the engrossing world Billingham has created, in which he has a wealth of well rounded characters to call upon at any time and make each book seem fresh every time.

The story is as intricately plotted as is always apparent in Billingham's work, with ingenious methods of killing and twists and turns along the way. The time limit incorporated with being set over just three days, gives the story a real sense of tension and, although the term is thrown around quite a bit on Guilty Conscience, this really is a page turner (kept me awake until 3AM reading the last 100 pages).

Slick, stunning, excellently written and authentic, 'Good As Dead' proves Mark Billingham is one the best British crime fiction writers working today. He never disappoints and gets better with each book, knowing exactly how to provide enough callbacks from previous books to entice old readers, whilst also ensuring the book can be read on its own. I cannot recommend Billingham's books more highly and 'Good As Dead' is possibly the best of the series so far. I'm a huge Tom Thorne fan and this does not disappoint. I'm already eagerly awaiting the next instalment!

If you haven't read a Mark Billingham book, then what in the name of biscuits are you still doing here?! Go now, treat yourself to a book or 11 and discover one of the greatest talents working in the UK today.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Rebecca Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hmm, I read this as a Kindle ebook (978-0-06-170113-9)entitled, The Demands. It was published on June 12, 2012 on Amazon but seems to have arrived earlier, August '08, as a Mobipocket Reader. I don't know what happened to the original title but it's certainly the same book described as Good As Dead. The book is about a hostage-taking by a grieving and angry father who feels "British justice" is a bitter oxymoron. Suspense is created as the novel swings back and forth between the cramped confines...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have been an ardent fan of Mark Billingham from book one in his Detective Tom Thorne series. The Demands is the tenth offering in this British crime series.

Detective Sergeant Helen Weeks stops regularly into Javed Akhtar's corner shop for her morning paper and gum. Akhtar has just chased some young hooligans out of his store when he abruptly turns, locks the door on Helen and a male customer....and pulls a gun. Helen and Stephen are now his hostages.

His demands? For Detective Tom Thorne to inv...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Kelly Hager rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Helen Weeks is a police officer with a young child (he's about a year old). She's also just been taken hostage by a convenience store owner who wants to know what really happened to his son. (His son was arrested in a stabbing case and given a much lengthier prison sentence than he deserved---self-defense and no prior record. Then he committed suicide, or so the authorities say. Javed doesn't believe it.) So he takes Helen and another customer hostage and demands that Tom Thorne find out what ha...more

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May 19, 2012 Pete Denton rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the 10th novel featuring DI Tom Thorne, the unpredictable and unorthodox British Detective. Central to Good as Dead is a hostage situation which brings together Thorne and DS Helen Weeks who appeared in Billingham’s only standalone novel (to date) – In the Dark.

The hostage element of the plot brings a good pace and tension to the story and we have a race against time to see whether Thorne can solve the case and prevent the types of things you expect to happen when hostages are involved....more

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May 16, 2012 Col rated it 5 of 5 stars

...........This is the 10th in the series of crime novels about DI Tom Thorne and it's the 9th of the Thorne novels that I've read, and from the outset I have to say this is the best of the lot for me!

The more Thorne novels I read, the more I'm a little uncertain about them before I start. I've loved reading these since I first read "Sleepyhead" many moons ago and I guess my uncertainty is that I might suddenly find it all a bit too familiar, a bit predictable, now that I'm 7, 8, 9 novels in. Th...more ...........This is the 10th in the series of crime novels about DI Tom Thorne and it's the 9th of the Thorne novels that I've read, and from the outset I have to say this is the best of the lot for me!

The more Thorne novels I read, the more I'm a little uncertain about them before I start. I've loved reading these since I first read "Sleepyhead" many moons ago and I guess my uncertainty is that I might suddenly find it all a bit too familiar, a bit predictable, now that I'm 7, 8, 9 novels in. This uncertainty about a series of novels stems from one point in my life when I lived in Tenerife for a few years and getting my hands on reading material wasn't easy. However through a friend I got a couple of thriller/spy novels by Colin Forbes about Tweed, Bob Newman and Paula Grey. I enjoyed them and read more and more. Unfortunately much as I'd enjoyed early stuff like "The Janus Man", by the time I got to things like "The Vorpal Blade" it all felt very "conveyor belt production" with the same lines and basically the same plots again and again. (I should have guessed it had reached rock bottom though with a title like "The Vorpal Blade"!!!!!- when an author invents weird, ridiculous titles you kind of know what's inside will be pretty thin fare!). Ever since then I've expected every series of novels I like to start running out of steam - however so far so very, very, good with Mark Billingham (and in a way I should draw positive encouragement from Rebus and Ian Rankin - I've read 18 Ian Rankin novels over the years, with most of those about DI Rebus and I've loved every single one of them!)

The story centres on Thorne being required to look into the circumstances of a young man's death in custody, which in turn is linked to a hostage-taking in a South London grocers. It all starts innocuously enough when Detective Helen Weeks (who'd appeared in Billingham's stand-alone novel "In The Dark" which I thoroughly enjoyed!) pops into her local grocers shop. Following some unpleasantness between the shop owner and some youths, Helen is debating whether or not to get involved officially when all hell breaks loose and the incident transforms itself into Helen and another member of the public being taken hostage at gun-point. And where does DI Thorne come in as a Murder Squad detective? Well the motivation for the hostage-taking is more deliberate than it first appears and the shopkeeper demands Thorne investigate the so-called suicide of his son, while serving time in a Youth Offenders Institution for a crime which was originally investigated by Thorne. And so the hares are set off and running!

This DI Thorne novel is a step up for me though from the others to date. The action essentially flits back and forward between the shop, the work of Thorne and his team, and the police command point for the hostage situation. It's archetypal race-against-time stuff in many ways but it's exceptionally well done race-against-time stuff. The events at the hostage taking are drawn in really tight and as a result the book really does create a palpable feel of tension and edge, which it then cleverly releases its grip and then re-tightens again throughout the novel and you therefore get this real feel of the roller-coaster of mood and emotion for both the hostages and the hostage-taker. Meantime Thorne is a great character to build all this action around. He's still got that down-at-heel, kicked around by the world sort of feel to him, which seems to be classic American gumshoe territory but again it's brilliantly handled by Mark Billingham. The added touches of humour through Thorne, his pathologist mate Hendricks and in some of the one line banter between Thorne and his team all add to the richness of the book and the characters.

But of course all of that is just as abundantly on offer in all the other great DI Thorne stories so what made this one the stand-out for me? Well it's basically the way the shift from one part of the storyline to the other and then back again and so on and so forth is built up to a really believable pitch. What was great about this book was that I knew who the killer was well before the end - but I didn't know how the book was going to end even though I knew who the killer was. And that's what made this just that bit extra, extra, extra, special for me. I was fit to bursting to get to the end and see how Mark Billingham brought it to a close - I won't of course say here how it ends but perhaps it's a final testimony to how good a crime novel this is if I say that I actually didn't like the ending of the book and yet I still loved it!!! I've not had that feeling since I read Captain Corelli's Mandolin when, for me, Louis de Bernieres got the ending to that book all wrong! And it's still in my view one of the best books I've ever read!

While Good As Dead isn't a Corelli, it is one of the best crime novels I've ever read, despite the rotten ending!! I'd heartily recommend it to anyone who likes reading and if you like reading crime fiction in particular I'd say this is definitely a "Not To Be Missed!"

There are other blogs out there with reviews on Good As Dead. There's one here at Book Geeks, another at Guilty Conscience (which coincidentally seems to agree with me that this is the best of the DI Thorne books so far!) and at Books and Writers. In addition I'd always recommend the "It's A Crime" blog to anyone interested in crime fiction, whether in books or on TV (it is just such a good blog about all things crime fiction that it's become a bit of a one-stop-shop for me!)

There was only one surprise for me in Good As Dead - as a mad-keen though despairing Tottenham fan I thought Thorne would have had a view on the Harry Redknapp for England manager saga - but then as it was announced recently that the FA have chosen Roy Hodgson rather than Redknapp perhaps that just shows that Thorne knew all along that the Harry-For-England campaign never stood a chance! That's what I call a detective!(less)

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Apr 06, 2012 Andrew Rumbles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Billingham is one of the big names in crime fiction. His cops are human and focussed on doing their jobs well. In this story a visit to a convenience store by a police woman quickly becomes a crisis as the store owner pulls a gun and takes Helen and another customer hostage. Mr Akhtar’s son was taken into custody a year ago and the investigations have determined his death 8 weeks ago was suicide. This resolution is not acceptable to this father. In his heart it does not ring true with the son he...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

For my money, the TV adaptation of Thorne got so very much wrong, that Billingham's dedication of this book to the team responsible worried me. The humour was missing, the relationship with Phil was totally wrong - hell, they even changed the identity of the killers! So would this first post-TV book reflect the influence of the TV show?

Well, the cover certainly does. No, it's not David Morrissey but it is a silhouette obviously designed to look as much like him as it can without getting into tro...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Midnight rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story brings together the author’s DI Tom Thorne character from the very successful series of novels and DS Helen Weeks who featured in the central role of the standalone novel ‘In The Dark’ - which also featured Thorne albeit in a small cameo role. This is the tenth in the actual DI Tom Thorne series.

Javed Akhtar believes his son, Amin, did not kill himself while he was serving time in a Young Offenders Institute, that he would never kill himself and Javed feels the truth has been covered...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel is the latest - - the 10th - - in the Tom Thorne series featuring a British cop of a different stripe. His approach to solving a crime is to achieve a conclusion by any means. And, in this book, he shows no mercy.

It begins when D.S. Helen Weeks enters her local news agent’s shop to buy her customary candy bar and ends up, along with another customer, as a hostage to the proprietor, who then demands that Thorne find the murderer of his son. Some months before, Thorne had been the arres...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Miles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Good as Dead by Mark Billingham – Tom Thorne’s 10th outing - is a rip roaring police crime thriller that places the reader smack bang in the middle of a non-stop thrilling ride as we follow Thorne’s attempts to placate a hostage-taker with nothing to lose. Reading the book in two days Billingham has this natural authorial ability to grab the reader by the scruff of the neck and once hooked he sits back and just lets his narrative do the talking, this is a very fluid and quick read. I was mesmeri...more Good as Dead by Mark Billingham – Tom Thorne’s 10th outing - is a rip roaring police crime thriller that places the reader smack bang in the middle of a non-stop thrilling ride as we follow Thorne’s attempts to placate a hostage-taker with nothing to lose. Reading the book in two days Billingham has this natural authorial ability to grab the reader by the scruff of the neck and once hooked he sits back and just lets his narrative do the talking, this is a very fluid and quick read. I was mesmerised from the very first page and with a couple of intelligent and well placed twists along the way it held my imagination throughout.

With the siege in place at the local Indian shop I did wonder how Billingham could keep the story ticking along without basing everything inside the shop, avoiding that feeling of claustrophobia, but within a few chapters my fears were allayed and the seamless transition between Thorne’s investigations on the outside and the on-going siege inside the shop were impressive and assured to say the least. But why should I be surprised? This is my second Mark Billingham book – having reviewed From the Dead in late 2010 – and his pedigree is incontrovertible, I really do need to start attacking his back catalogue!

Looking at the book from two different perspectives, firstly inside the shop, I couldn’t help but imagine myself sitting on the floor, handcuffed to the radiator with the walls rapidly closing in, the feeling of helplessness and desperation in the air simply waiting to see if the hostage taker –Akhtar – would relinquish his hold and allow a peaceful conclusion. I could taste the rank and pungent air that seemingly increased with every turn of the page, the atmosphere inside the shop debilitating to say the least.

As Thorne investigates the suicide of a young offender it’s at this point we’re treated to a range of emotions and a detective hellbent on justice no matter the cost. As the investigation matures the pressure begins to take toll on our protagonist and he has little option – with time running out – but to step up and force the pace himself, skating outside the law on numerous occasions, sucking in fellow officers who readily support him despite the long term ramifications and effect on their careers. Thorne is the type of leader you would support to the hilt and suffer the consequences once the case reaches a satisfactory conclusion knowing full well he has your back, he’s certainly a man you’d want fighting in your corner that’s for sure.

Complete review on my blog http://www.milorambles.com/2012/03/21...
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Jun 26, 2012 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

The tenth Tom Thorne thriller and another cracker! This one differs in the fact it's something of a race against time as Throne must investigate the death of someone's son in a young offender's institute. He's forced to do this though by the boy's father who has taken a police officer (Helen Weeks from In The Dark, which I have yet to read) and another person hostage. This means it's a race against time and the story takes place over three days rather than a period of months.

The investigation i...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is the 10th in the Tom Thorne series featuring a British cop of a different stripe. His approach to solving a crime is to achieve a conclusion by any means. And, in this book, he shows no mercy.

It begins when D.S. Helen Weeks enters her local news agent’s shop to buy her customary candy bar and ends up, along with another customer, as a hostage to the proprietor, who then demands that Thorne find the murderer of his son. Some months before, Thorne had been the arresting officer when t...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Jaime rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, mystery, police_procedural

I liked this book a little better than the last one in the series (Bloodline). I didn’t dislike that one, but I thought The Demands had a much quicker pace. The chapters are rather short, and it helps move things along. I think that most of that is due to the circumstances of the story: it’s a hostage situation, which puts a clock on Thorne’s investigation.

Helen is a character that appeared in another of Billingham’s books, In the Dark. She and Thorne make a connection in this book that is sort...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Shirley Schwartz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Smashing Police Procedural with a Twist - I have read a few Tom Thorne books and I like this character. Tom is a tough, no-nonsense cop wth an extreme sense of justice. He is never afraid to push things to the limit to get his man so to speak. This book is about a hostage takig but the reason behind the hostage-taking is that of a grieving father trying to prove that his son did not kill himself while he was incarcerated in a juvenile detention centre. This father places the onerous task on Thor...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Jane Fenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thank you Mark Billingham, you made my dreams come true!! When I read Mark Billingham's stand-alone book 'In the Dark', I became really attached to the stubborn, determined and heavily pregnant police officer and heroine Helen Weeks. I couldn't help thinking what an interesting counterpoint she would be if she ever worked with Tom Thorne, hero of Billingham's other books. Then 'Good As Dead' came along.....Helen Weeks is taken hostage by her local newsagent whose son has supposedly committed sui...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Michele Harrod rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ah, the latest Billingham - these novels are like spending time with a good friend. Tom Thorne is such a fantastic character and as always, Billingham grabs you by the throat in the first couple of pages. Bliss. And having now finished, I was not disappointed. Now I want to find the TV series, Thorne, it will be interesting to see if his on-screen character measures up to my image in my head! A great read.

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Aug 27, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another worthy entry in the Tom Thorne police detective series. The book begins with a hostage situation in a London convenience store run by an immigrant whose son has died in prison. One of the hostages is a pregnant police officer. Nothing is predictable. I particularly liked the narrator's omniscient point of view: we know what is going on with the police, AND we know what is going on in the store.

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Sep 18, 2011 Jennifer Thomson rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Good As Dead, we are reunited with gutsy police detective Helen Weeks who first appeared in Billingham's stand alone thriller In The Dark.

The story was gripping enough - Weeks and an other man are being held hostage by a shopkeeper, who distraught over the apparent suicide of his son in prison, wants DI Thorne to investigate because he believes his son was murdered. With the lives of the two hostages in the balance, Thorne faces a race against time to get to the truth. Along the way he faces...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, 5-stars, january-12, male-author

DS Helen Weeks goes into her local newsagents for a bar of chocolate and some chewing gum. Within minutes she and a fellow customer are being held hostage at gunpoint by the owner Javed Akter who believes his son was murdered whilst in prison despite the official verdict being suicide.

Akter insists that DI Tom Thorne reinvestigates what happened and retore justice otherwise he will kill his prisoners.

This was a completely gripping book with action alternating between what was happening inside th...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Joop Liefaard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

Mensen zijn vaak gewoontedieren en dat is met politievrouw en alleenstaande moeder Helen Weeks niet anders. Iedere ochtend als zij naar haar werk gaat, koopt zij in de krantenkiosk van Javed Ahktar een pakje kauwgom, een reep chocola en de krant voor onderweg. Op een ochtend veroorzaken drie opgeschoten jongens problemen in de kiosk en de altijd zo goedaardige en rustige Javed gaat door het lint. Hij sluit de kiosk en de rolluiken en gijzelt Helen Weeks en een tweede toevallige klant onder bedre...more Mensen zijn vaak gewoontedieren en dat is met politievrouw en alleenstaande moeder Helen Weeks niet anders. Iedere ochtend als zij naar haar werk gaat, koopt zij in de krantenkiosk van Javed Ahktar een pakje kauwgom, een reep chocola en de krant voor onderweg. Op een ochtend veroorzaken drie opgeschoten jongens problemen in de kiosk en de altijd zo goedaardige en rustige Javed gaat door het lint. Hij sluit de kiosk en de rolluiken en gijzelt Helen Weeks en een tweede toevallige klant onder bedreiding van een vuurwapen.

Javed´s zoon Amin heeft in de gevangenis zelfmoord gepleegd, althans dat is de officële verklaring voor zijn dood. Javed gelooft daar niets van en in ruil voor de vrijlating van Helen Weeks en Stephen Mitchell eist hij dat inspecteur Tom Thorne onderzoek doet naar de omstandigheden rond de dood van Amim en de schuldige voor het gerecht brengt.

Thorne begint met zijn onderzoek. Aanvankelijk ziet het er naar uit dat Javed het bij het verkeerde einde heeft en dat er inderdaad sprake is van zelfmoord maar naarmate het onderzoek vordert, stuit Thorne op zaken die maar beter voor de buitenwereld verborgen kunnen blijven. De druk op Thorne om snel met resultaten te komen neemt toe omdat Javed steeds onberekenbaarder wordt. Daarnaast wil de leider van het onderzoek ingrijpen en met geweld een einde aan de gijzeling maken.

Ten dode opgeschreven is de tiende misdaadroman met inspecteur Tom Thorne in de hoofdrol. Het verhaal kent veel korte hoofdstukken en dat geeft snelheid. Het steeds wisselend perspectief van waaruit het verhaal wordt verteld zorgt voor de nodige dynamiek. De personages zijn goed uitgewerkt en er is veel aandacht voor de animositeit tussen de verschillende politiediensten en functionarissen. Thorne is in de serie boeken gegroeid en is een boeiende inspecteur. Een man die niet terugdeinst als hij zich voor de oplossing van de zaak in de hoogste kringen moet begeven. Hij is echter ook getekend door het verleden en dat maakt hem intrigerend. De radeloosheid van Javed maar ook zijn vastberadenheid om met de gijzeling door te gaan totdat de laatste steen boven is, wordt fraai beschreven. Helen is een sterke vrouw, die zowel als politievrouw en als moeder van een eenjarige kind het beste moet zien te maken van de situatie waarin zij verzeild is geraakt en zij doet dat met verve.

Ten dode opgeschreven is misschien niet het beste Throne verhaal, daarvoor mist het nodige spanning maar het is alleszins de moeite van het lezen waard. Je verveelt je geen moment. Mark Billingham behoort tot de betere misdaadauteurs uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk en dat laat hij met deze thriller nog maar weer eens zien.
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Aug 31, 2012 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british, crime-and-or-evil

The linked stories of a hostage negotiation and a murder investigation propel the action in the latest Thorne novel. Helen Weeks, a young detective, single mother, is taken hostage by the proprietor of the newsstand where she stops each morning on her way to work. The ransom demand is that the police open an investigation into the death of the owner's son in the young ofenders' prison where he reportedly killed himself.

The man is sure his son would not have committed suicide, though the sentence...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Tyrone rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of great quality police procedurals and compelling storytelling.

Shelves: seen-the-tv-adaptation, crime-and-thriller, reviewed

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Mark Billingham is a great writer and his creation, Thorne, a great character. That aside, I did have some reservations about reading this, mainly due to the experience I had with the DVD of the TV adaptation which pretty much everybody i knew had been raving about. Billingham seems to have been involved and was very positive about adaptation. I have to say I didn't like it. It changed important aspects of the books for which i can find no reasonable ju...more I've said it before and I'll say it again. Mark Billingham is a great writer and his creation, Thorne, a great character. That aside, I did have some reservations about reading this, mainly due to the experience I had with the DVD of the TV adaptation which pretty much everybody i knew had been raving about. Billingham seems to have been involved and was very positive about adaptation. I have to say I didn't like it. It changed important aspects of the books for which i can find no reasonable justification. It left me feeling a little burned so it was going to take a great Thorne book to take the unpleasant taste away.

I shouldn't have worried, because Billingham provides us with a great new Thorne story with real momentum and an urgency which is created by the hostage situation at the heart of the story. The hostage situation both serves to severely constrain Thorne's investigation but it also provides him with the motivation to cut through the usual red tape and barriers that surround a murder investigation, not least an investigation where everyone is convinced that no crime has been committed.

Billingham continues the deconstruction of Tom Thorne. In the last novel he had Tom questioning his career choice and now a slightly older and wiser character, Thorne has lost confidence in his 'gut'...his instinct, and he is more determined to follow investigative procedure and logic and the irony of this decision was not lost on me because Thorne is forced by the urgency of the hostage situation to take (somewhat implausible) life and career threatening action to bring the story to it's cracking climax. It's to Billingham's credit that his characters actions, which sometimes push the bounds of credibility, and his somewhat cookie cutter Met Police hostage team (the gung-ho firearms officer, the inexperienced scene commander and brilliant negotiator ignored by her fellow officers) continue to service the needs of the plot and do not derail the narrative.

I didn't read the Stand-alone novel which introduced Helen Weeks and had forgotton that it existed and certainly that Thorne had had a cameo in it, which had me scratching my head as i kept trying to owrk out, where, in the last Thorne novel, From The Dead, where Helen Weeks, may have cropped up and where the murder of her husband, another policeman, fitted into it. I couldn't (obviously) and i continued to be confused until a booksearch reminded me of In The Dark. Billingham does make the effort to provide you with the pertinent information about the events involving Helen weeks but I was confused for a period where I tried to remember which Thorne book she had appeared in. That confusion aside this was a great read and I look forward to seeing how Billingham will deal with the career and emotional fallout from the events in this novel.

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Aug 16, 2012 Nene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction, british

I bought this as an audiobook because they work well for a sleepless person. Was intrigued by the fact that it's the author himself who reads it. Makes you relax when you're a pedant like me, because you just know that pronunciations and dialects are exactly as the author wants them!

I rather liked inspector Thorne (this is my first book by Billingham) and will definitely revisit. Having lived in the UK, I felt very much at home in the environment of the book. I like it that we're not dealing wit...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Shaun rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, crime, fiction, london, kindle

Four stars for this one. Ordinarily a five star read but I recently changed most of my five star ratings to four star and kept the five star books as books that have that special something, and this was missing that 'something' for me. Still an excellent read though and easily one of the best Thorne novels.

The thing I like most about the Thorne books is Tom himself. He is my favourite fictional detective and I love reading about him. I love learning more about him and following his life, so I wa...more Four stars for this one. Ordinarily a five star read but I recently changed most of my five star ratings to four star and kept the five star books as books that have that special something, and this was missing that 'something' for me. Still an excellent read though and easily one of the best Thorne novels.

The thing I like most about the Thorne books is Tom himself. He is my favourite fictional detective and I love reading about him. I love learning more about him and following his life, so I was a bit disappointed that this book didn't focus on that part as much (despite some massive changes in Thorne's life near the end of the book). There was still the comedic moments you come to expect from Billingham (a stand up comedian) and I love Hendricks, Holland and Kitson.

Instead a lot of it focuses on Helen Weeks, who previously featured in In The Dark, a book which I haven't read because most of the reviews are negative so I couldn't be bothered with it. I think Billingham shot himself in the foot here by giving away a major part of the storyline from In the Dark as I'm sure I'm not the only reader that follows Thorne but might not have read In the Dark yet but even after reading this I don't have any intention of reading it, in the foreseeable future at least. My to read pile is ridiculous as it is without adding mixed review books to it.

I liked Helen as a character and even found myself warming to Akhtar, the shop owner who takes Helen and the unfortunate man who also happens to be in the shop at the time because he wants answers about his son's death which was ruled a suicide but which Akhtar is convinced was murder. The book moves at a quick pace compared to other Thorne novels and takes place over a few days. Billingham handled the storyline amazingly well and one thing that is always clear with Billingham is the amount of research he puts into his books, some authors might write a book with little or no research and that can be detrimental to the book, not here, the research is evident and the book is a lot better for it.

I didn't work out who the people involved in the murder were but at the same time I wasn't overly shocked when the events came to light near the end of the book. I just wonder where Billingham will take Thorne from here. I think maybe he should do what a few other authors in this genre have done and go back to the start, sort of a 'prequel' to the Thorne novels where we learn more about him before he became a policeman and after he became one. Billingham actually touched on Thorne's history and his choice of joining the force in this book so perhaps it's something he may do one day. Certainly the ending of the book left the reader wondering what's going to happen and the only problem I had with the ending is I found it difficult to believe the sudden (view spoiler)
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Oct 05, 2011 Andrew Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Billingham’s Tom Thorne novels. I make a point of listening to these on audiobook as I travel to/from work and I’ve loved the reading by Paul Thornley. I was nervous, therefore, when I realised this book was to be read by the author. In truth, Thornley does it better but Billingham doesn’t make a bad job of it either. In some sections it sounds like he’s badly in need of a drink as his voice starts to show the strain and his vocal ability to bring alive the characters is a little limited...more

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title link	preview: Good As Dead
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Good As Dead (Tom Thorne #10)

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