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![Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham](https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/29/1a/291a6e5b90ac534593743706241433041414141_v5.jpg)
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Loading... Sleepyhead (original 2001; edition 2012)by Mark Billingham (Author)
Work InformationSleepyhead by Mark Billingham (2001)
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No current Talk conversations about this book. ![]() ![]() This was a really dark mystery, with not much in the way of humor or anything positive. I don't know why I liked it so much, and I'm wondering if I should be worried about it. How can anyone like a book about a deranged serial killer who would purposely want to cripple someone so severely that they can't do anything? Aside from that, the book was hard to put down, especially toward the end. Lots of suspense, and lots of wondering what was actually going on. If you like dark mysteries, you just might like this one. If you want some uplifting story with a happy ending, I think you'd better move on. I plan to read some more from this series; I hope they are as good as this one. Tricky to rate this one but ended up on 2 stars "It was okay". The technical standard of the writing is very high with clear characterisation and vivid description but it just didn't compell me in any way. I would say it was a slog for the most part except it's a very easy read because of how good the prose is. One of those where you tear through the pages but aren't interested once you put it down. Not sure what the problem was, although it wasn't helped by the amount of the book spent pursuing the red herring who was very obviously so, making our protagonist look kind of like an idiot because he was convinced based on, essentially, nothing. There is an attempt to make "being wrong" into the lesson of the piece for him but it didn't land for me. The final act was where it actually got me compulsively reading to the finish but the overly-theatrical finale felt very out of place and melodramatic compared to the rest of the book. Would I read another? Yes. Would I care if I never did? No.
Billingham takes risks in making his cop hero, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, so pigheaded and off track for most of the investigation, though it's easy to imagine Thorne becoming a companionable protagonist... and Billingham's control of character and plot becoming more sure. He's off to a remarkable start. Is contained inDistinctionsNotable Lists
Alison Willetts is unlucky to be alive. She has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by a skilful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel and is aware of everything going on around her, but is completely unable to move or communicate. Her condition is called Locked-In Syndrome. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer made his first mistake. Then D. I. Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth; it isn't Alison who is the mistake, it's the three women already dead. An appropriate margin of error is how their killer dismisses them, and Thorne knows they are unlikely to be the last. For the killer is smart, and he's getting his kicks out of toying with Thorne as much as he is pursuing his sick fantasy. Thorne knows immediately he's not going to catch the killer with simple procedure. But with little more than gut instinct and circumstantial evidence to damn his chief suspect, anesthetist Jeremy Bishop, his pursuit of him is soon bordering on the unprofessional. Especially considering his involvement with Anne Coburn, Alison's doctor and Jeremy's close friend. No library descriptions found. |
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