In the Dark

by Mark Billingham
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A Deadly Crash

A rainy night in south London. A gun is fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement and ploughs into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life. But the reality is far more sinister…

A Dangerous Quest

One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger; an ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard?

A Shocking Twist

In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible. Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story’s final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come.

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I have stolen the description above from the back of the book because I want the next reader of this book to be as unprepared for the plot of and characters in this book as I was. I consider it close to genious how Mark Billingham builds up my knowledge while still keeping me in suspense. As I read about what is happening and the lives of the characters, I still wonder what is actually happening, what will happen next and what the true motivations of the characters are.

Nothing is simple about this book, except reading it. The language and the composition of the story carries the reader forward in a quest to understand. And we do understand; we understand how life can force people into contexts they feel unable to escape. We understand that all kinds of relationships between human beings are complicated and sometimes demand behaviours not in agreement with your own wishes or conscience. We understand how everybody carries their own sorrow, guilt or fear that explain their behaviour, even though not excusing it. It is difficult to pick a side in this book. And this is why I am still pondering the how, what if and why of the events in this book.

I am sure I will re-read this book one day, and I recommend everybody to read this book. Actually I recommend every book that Mark Billingham has written and I am happy to say that my favourite character makes an appearance in this book too.

Mark Billingham has written the following novels:

Featuring Tom Thorne, detective inspector in London:
Sleepyhead (2001)
Scaredy Cat (2002)
Lazybones (2003)
The Burning Girl (2004)
Lifeless (2005)
Buried (2006)
The Death Message (2007)

Non-series:
In the Dark (2008)

The Case of the Imaginary Detective

by Karen Joy Fowler
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Rima Lanisell's father has died and she moves from Ohio to her Godmother Addison Early in California. Addison is a successful mystery writer, but her fictitious detective Maxwell Lane is even more famous than she is. Addison's books always start with a murder, and before even starting to write she creates the murder scene in a doll house. Her beach house in Santa Cruz is filled with these doll houses.

Rima herself is all consumed with the question "Why?". Most importantly; "Why must she lose everything?". She has lost her entire family and is constantly misplacing things; keys, gloves, shoes... Now she is trying to figure out why Addison made her father not only into a character in one of her books but a murderer.

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I chose this book because I wanted to read something that would be different from what I normally read. And it was different allright, but not in a refreshing way. This book is much too frivolous for me. It doesn't convey any strong emotions, no clear plotline, no beginning and no ending. Sometimes I'd smile thanks to a particular wording or some reference made, but on the whole I have to say that this book has felt like a waste of my time.

I cannot recommend this book.

Karen Joy Fowler has written the following novels:

Sarah Canary (1991)
The War of the Roses (1991)
The Sweetheart Season (1996)
Sister Noon (2001)
The Jane Austen Book club (2003)
The Case of the Imaginary Detective (2008)
(Also published as Wit's End)