Life is never easy for Detective inspector Tom Thorne. This novel opens with him receiving a picture sent to his mobile phone from a number that he does not recognise. The picture is hazy, but it is soon apparent that it shows the head of someone who has been battered to death. He passes the phone on to the police’s technical experts to see if they can draw any further information from the photo. In the meantime, the body of a second-hand car dealer is found, severely battered. Closer inspection shows that the victim is the person shown in the picture. It transpires that the dead man was also a member of a local biker gang. Thorne receives another photo, and shortly afterwards, another member of the biker gang is killed.

This sets the scene for a complex case in which Thorne finds himself under scrutiny. Of course, being Thorne, it is not long before he goes off on a tangent, departing from the rule book as is his norm.

That may all sound like standard crime thriller fare. Billingham always rises about that, however. His characters are always well drawn, and very credible. The relationships between the principal police figures is also entirely plausible. Thorne is a difficult and often demanding officer, but his colleagues trust him, and are often prepared to go the extra mile for him. Meanwhile, colleagues from Internal Affairs are hanging around rather more often than is comfortable.

Billingham is a master at weaving different narrative threads, and isn’t afraid of leaving the odd loose end. I enjoyed this, and find that nine or ten books in, the series shows no sign of flagging. ( )

Ytterligare en bok om Tom Thorne och som alltid välskrivet med en bra intrig även om denna bok inte höjer sig över mängden ger den ett antal timmars lättlyssnad förströelse. ( )

Death Message by Mark Billingham is the seventh book in his police procedural series featuring DI Tom Thorne. Set in London, this book deals both with new crimes and old. When Thorne starts receiving picture of dead bodies the pieces are soon put together that the murderer is the recently released from prison Marcus Brooks, seeking revenge on both those who set him up for a murder he didn’t commit and on those who ordered the death of his girlfriend and son. Tom soon discovers that he is receiving these pictures because an old nemesis had befriended Brooks in prison and helped him plan the revenge murders.

When Thorne figures out that Marcus Brooks was originally set up, he does bend the rules in order to discover who the two corrupt police officers who assisted in the set-up were. This bending of the rules appears about to backfire on Thorne, but the book offers up one final twist, when Thorne realizes that this nightmare has widespread roots in his own past.

Death Message was another exciting read in this superior detective series. The pacing is excellent, the story clever and the characters are engaging. I am looking forward to book number eight. ( )

DCI Tom Thorne receives a photograph of a dead body on his mobile phone, he has no idea who or why he has been sent the image, but of course is determined to find the answer. Being a maverick though, Thorne has to do things his way and without authority from his boss. At the same time he's having a relationship with another police officer and finds it difficult to confide in her, creating further tension. All is eventually revealed and involves previous cases in which Thorne was involved as well as police corruption. It doesn't paint a very pleasant picture of life in London. ( )

I really love the character of Tom Thorne, the tough DI who insists on doing things his own way, and often pays a hefty price. But of course he never learns. This book will reward long-time fans by bringing back a couple of villains from earlier stories. And I’m glad we finally learned what really happened to Tom’s father. I only wish the author had shown a scene between Hendricks and Thorne at the end. The close friendship enjoyed by the two is one of the central threads of the series, and I ended the book worrying that it would remain fractured. ( )