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7th out of 94 books
—
20 voters
Scaredy Cat (Tom Thorne #2)
SCARE SOMEONE ENOUGH, THEY'LL DO ANYTHING...
It was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube and strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. It is a grisly coincidence that eerily echoes the murder...more
It was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube and strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. It is a grisly coincidence that eerily echoes the murder...more
Paperback, 460 pages
Published
2003
by Time Warner
(first published 2002)
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The second Thorne novel is different from the first: here we know who the criminals are. There is a lot of background in the form of intriguing flashbacks and character development. The power of personality and persuasion are both emphasised here to chilling effect. This is at times gruesome, harrowing and nerve jangling.
Billingham illustrates an enviable knowledge of the city of London and its criminal underbelly. There are a lot of historical references and landmarks are expertly interwoven i...more
Billingham illustrates an enviable knowledge of the city of London and its criminal underbelly. There are a lot of historical references and landmarks are expertly interwoven i...more
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This is another solid entry into the world of Thorne. That's the bets way to describe it, solid. I said in the preview for the previous book that I felt that this series lacked that spark that would set it apart from the rest of the genre, and this book carries that notion through. It is good, do not get me wrong, but it is nothing special. Nothing to make you desperately want the next in the series, nothing that makes you think through it all after you have finished. It is just another book you...more
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A TV adaptation of this book was recently made and shown on Sky1 with David Morrisey playing the lead role, Tom Thorne. This book would be perfect for any crime fan who likes reading gruesome stories where people are murdered.
This book is filled with intrigue, murder, insight into the killers' backgrounds and anticipation as you wait for the killers' to be caught or another body to be found. The killers strike most of their victims at random. However, there are some victims which are known to th...more
This book is filled with intrigue, murder, insight into the killers' backgrounds and anticipation as you wait for the killers' to be caught or another body to be found. The killers strike most of their victims at random. However, there are some victims which are known to th...more
I picked this up at a second hand store. I had never heard of the author, but the price was right. I got 25 cents worth out of it. The book delves into the realm of children gone bad, but never fully develops the why, especially for Palmer. I also found myself lost a times, when new chapters would not identify which character was featured. The hero, policeman Tom Thorne, is not a very likeable character (for his colleagues or readers), he is tenacious. h eventually gets his man, which, I admit,...more
WOW!! What more can you say. Picked up this book in the UK as I had already read one Mark Billingham and liked it. Now I am just sad, as it seems that the UK have a TV version, and we shall have to wait to get it - if ever. I am now a confirmed fan of Mark Billingham, and his Detective Inspector Tom Thorne. I absolutely loved the characters. Thorne is flawed, irascible and irrestible. His sargent, Dave Holland, is still learning to have his heart of steel under his innocent exterior. Together th...more
Scaredy Cat, while not as strong as Sleepyhead, shows a surprising level of comfort and control on the part of Billingham. Given how flawed he's made his leads it's possible that he's a little too comfortable, with grievous errors in procedure being committed across the board. Still, I generally like how human both Thorne and Holland are and the crime develops well with actual reasonable doubt forming in the mind of the reader - except I was expecting tricks where there were none. Surprised by o...more
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This time Tom Thorne is after a serial killer who has killed a young woman in front of her little boy. He quickly figures out that there are TWO serial killers working together. One is known early in the book - the other one has changed his name and is hidden.
As we come to know the two villains in flashbacks, Billingham weaves a tightly constructed tale of a warped love, and it's disastrous results.
There are some strong supporting characters in Billingham's novels, and they help move the twistin...more
As we come to know the two villains in flashbacks, Billingham weaves a tightly constructed tale of a warped love, and it's disastrous results.
There are some strong supporting characters in Billingham's novels, and they help move the twistin...more
2.5 stars. I thought Billingham's first book (Sleepyhead) was a great combination of grim, gritty police procedural and creepy, macabre medical thriller. It also included a nice twist on the hackneyed serial killer theme. All of this had me eager to jump on board with Scaredy Cat, but I ended up not really enjoying the ride. With the plot a little tired, the characters a little predicatble, and the villain's identity too easy to figure out, I spent most of the book annoyed that the detectives we...more
Given to me to read by my next door neighbour.
I hadn't heard of this author or series before so wasn't sure what to expect. Found the novel well written, good detail on the characters, good development of the story.
Don't want to provide to much information on the story, but it's mainly about two school friends who grow up to become joint murders and how the police find and solve the murders.
The book had good pace and developed the story through a series of flashbacks through time. Some interest...more
I hadn't heard of this author or series before so wasn't sure what to expect. Found the novel well written, good detail on the characters, good development of the story.
Don't want to provide to much information on the story, but it's mainly about two school friends who grow up to become joint murders and how the police find and solve the murders.
The book had good pace and developed the story through a series of flashbacks through time. Some interest...more
This was well-written and engaging, but I'm not a fan of mysteries where we know whodunit from the start. In addition, there was a pretty big red herring which was never explained, and I was left vaguely unsatisfied by the resolution of the sub-plots about Thorne and his colleagues. I get the impression that each book in this series is intended to be a slice from Thorne's life, and that everything but the crime investigation is just part of the larger story--which would be fine, I suppose, if I...more
Apr 23, 2013
mirta
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
any crime fiction fan, specially those who appreciate good european crime literature
another awesome read, this time about two killers who compete in comitting very similar crimes, their pasts linked.
at first the link is really hard to find but good teamwork soon discovers their connections which has roots in their childhood and one of them is unable to get loose.
then everything becomes a question of time and planning a strategy because even the lives of team members will be at a stake.
first crime book I read maybe since high school or so. I am glad I started to read again and t...more
at first the link is really hard to find but good teamwork soon discovers their connections which has roots in their childhood and one of them is unable to get loose.
then everything becomes a question of time and planning a strategy because even the lives of team members will be at a stake.
first crime book I read maybe since high school or so. I am glad I started to read again and t...more
I have read a number of the Tom Thorne novels and Scaredy Cat definitely wins my vote as the best so far, within an excellent series. I think what makes this book stand out is that there are so many strands / sub plots that interweave throughout, continually intriguing as to how they will all connect in an ever-building and tense finale. The story centres on 2 serial killers who work as a team, with the use of flashback to their childhoods to explain a sinister relationship. As the pair kill ran...more
From Publishers Weekly
Billingham's second thriller (after Sleepyhead) featuring London Det. Insp. Tom Thorne offers a twist on the serial killer subgenre. Brooding, melancholy Thorne heads a team of detectives who are alerted to the death of a young mother brutally strangled as her three-year-old son looks on. The body of a second murder victim, strangled in the same manner, turns up the same day, and Thorn and his team surmise they have a serial killer on their hands. The first half of the bo
...more
SCAREDY CAT (Police Procedural) – G
Mark Billingham – 2nd in series
It is almost unthinkable that a single maniac would murder two women miles apart on the same day. Yet the evidence is leading Detective Inspector Tom Thorne to a stunning conclusion: there isn't only one serial killer on the prowl, but a pair of them, working in tandem. And any corpse that turns up in the future just might be accompanied by a second. To stop them both, Thorne must catch a man whose need to manipulate is as great a...more
Mark Billingham – 2nd in series
It is almost unthinkable that a single maniac would murder two women miles apart on the same day. Yet the evidence is leading Detective Inspector Tom Thorne to a stunning conclusion: there isn't only one serial killer on the prowl, but a pair of them, working in tandem. And any corpse that turns up in the future just might be accompanied by a second. To stop them both, Thorne must catch a man whose need to manipulate is as great a...more
8/10
The second book in the Tom Thorne series was a good follow up to Sleepyhead and, in my opinion, a more entertaining read. Whilst quite a generic police procedural with the tormented policeman and the devious serial killer on the loose there was enough that was different to the plot that made it a strong read.
The main characters come together a bit more with Thorne, Holland and Hendricks all having strong roles. During the second half of the book there is a bit of tension with Holland and McE...more
The second book in the Tom Thorne series was a good follow up to Sleepyhead and, in my opinion, a more entertaining read. Whilst quite a generic police procedural with the tormented policeman and the devious serial killer on the loose there was enough that was different to the plot that made it a strong read.
The main characters come together a bit more with Thorne, Holland and Hendricks all having strong roles. During the second half of the book there is a bit of tension with Holland and McE...more
Excellent second in the series. Will write more about it later...
Ooops, I forgot to get back to this later. Thoroughly good tale though. After how cleverly narrated everything in Sleepyhead was I thought maybe Billingham couldn't pull something as good off again, but I think he actually managed to do something better this time. This story was less about suspense but it still did the suspense of not knowing quite who the villain was until the author chose to reveal him. I liked Thorne more in th
...more
Tom Thorne is at it again in "Scaredy Cat", the second book in the series by Mark Billingham. Billingham continues to build his main and supporting characters in such a way as to make this second book even more readable than the first. This is another UK crime thriller that I read just to get lost in. I like the background story behind the crimes...a look into the killer's past...making for a nice build up to the conclusion of the book. While not as compelling and intriguing as some of the other...more
The story about how Thorne trace back Palmer's and Nigglin's past by going to the school and story about tracing back Karen identity are really interesting. But, the story plot is somehow too draggy and there are a lot of unnecessary things explained too detailed. This make the story lost its pace and I lost my adrenaline rush when read it. Maybe it is good to read the book once in a time and not make a break in between while reading it. The pace of the story is spread out in whole story and rea...more
A reasonable thriller as Billingham continues with his series on DCI Tom Thorne with a plot centred on tandem serial killers whose deviant behaviour traces stems from their unhealthy power-relationsip at private school. Not as original or as satisfying as the first, though the development of the central chracter and those who surround him is more accomplished here. The revelation as to the killer's identity is rather signposted, though the author does create a believable aura of manipulative sad...more
Billingham is a master of suspense. He always throws in red herrings without appearing to. He makes you question each person as being the perpetrator of the murders, but the final revelation is always a surprise.
A series of murders carried out simultaneously creates a real dilemma for D.I. Thorne and his team. Two murderers working apart connected to each other.
I can't wait to start the next in the series!
A series of murders carried out simultaneously creates a real dilemma for D.I. Thorne and his team. Two murderers working apart connected to each other.
I can't wait to start the next in the series!
Wow! So glad I had a couple of hours when I started reading the last part of this book, because I could not stop! Billingham's characters are flawed and dark, but incredibly appealing, nevertheless. Above all, the story itself is like an energetic Great Dane who has been kept in a tiny kennel for weeks. Hang on, because you will want to find out what happens! EXCELLENT WRITING!!
This was the first book by Mark Billingham that I have read, and it took me a while to finish - started it ages ago, then left languishing half finished until I picked it up determined to get it finished. And I am glad I did - fast-paced detective thriller, wonderfully flawed characters, this is a great read. I will definitely check out other books by Billingham, and have also picked up a copy of the 2 TV adaptations (Scaredy Cat and Sleepy Head, on DVD from Amazon) to watch after having read th...more
This is my new favorite author. He can really write well, crafts a terrific storyline, and reels you in from the first page. I finished this last night and couldn't start a new book right away. I'm still thinking about it this morning. I'm looking to start his next after I finish one of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books. Very highly recommended.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Following on from 'Sleepyhead' in my eyes would have been a difficult task, especially considering as it was the first novel of the series.
The storyline for 'Scaredy Cat' is certainly original - murders that appear in pairs, same means, just a different murderer - but not as gripping as the previous killer.
A great welcome was the background story to the murder interlaced with the modern day case during the early phase of the book giving a stronger picture of the pair as a murder duo.
However, th...more
The storyline for 'Scaredy Cat' is certainly original - murders that appear in pairs, same means, just a different murderer - but not as gripping as the previous killer.
A great welcome was the background story to the murder interlaced with the modern day case during the early phase of the book giving a stronger picture of the pair as a murder duo.
However, th...more
Another brilliant book by Mark Billingham. This is the second in the series of Thorne.
This follows the story of two teenagers and their dangerous friendship. The story is heartbreaking at times and I found myself hating the author for the plight of poor Charlie.
The book as ever is wonderfully written The plot moves along as such a pace that you are drawn in immediately and if you are like me immediately hooked.
For anyone that hasn't read of Mark Billingham's books, please do x
This follows the story of two teenagers and their dangerous friendship. The story is heartbreaking at times and I found myself hating the author for the plight of poor Charlie.
The book as ever is wonderfully written The plot moves along as such a pace that you are drawn in immediately and if you are like me immediately hooked.
For anyone that hasn't read of Mark Billingham's books, please do x
Rather obvious who the main villain was, when he made an appearance. Not many twists (the double killer element being explained on the blurb). Far too many police characters, which may well reflect actual police hierarchy at the time but confusing nonetheless. I stuck it through, but won't be reading any more in the series.
This book was pretty good. I've only ever read two of his books, but so far it seems to me that the first half of his books are generic, average, crime novels, with the second half full of edge of your seat, can't put it down, page turning suspense. If you can make it to the half way point, it's a damn good book.
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Also writes as Will Peterson with Peter Cocks.
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. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.
More about Mark Billingham...
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. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.
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