Mark Billingham – From the Dead

Donna Langford hired a hit man to kill her husband Alan and served ten years in prison for the crime. Shortly before her release she receives a photo of her husband alive and well in the sunshine. DI Tom Thorne takes on the case to try and find out where Alan Langford is and who was actually murdered ten years ago.

Once again I have gone charging straight into a series without reading any of the previous books! In this case From The Dead is the ninth book about DI Tom Thorne. This time I felt that it didn’t matter at all, the book worked well as a standalone novel, at no point did I feel that I was missing anything as I have done with other books where I have charged straight into the middle of a series.

Tom Thorne is pretty much your usual flawed but likeable detective and there is a good cast of supporting characters. I liked the writing style and the pacing was just right. The plot was quite intriguing. I didn’t manage to work out any of the answers!

I will definitely be reading more Mark Billingham and more of the Tom Thorne series. A quick look through my to read pile has revealed that I have one of the earlier Tom Thorne books so I’ll look forward to reading that one.