Ve městě začala řádit bestie, která nechce, aby její oběti žily — ale ani aby zemřely. První tři ženy, které si vrah vybral, skončily mrtvé. Čtvrtou nepotkalo takové štěstí… Alison Willetsová vyšla ze setkání s brutálním psychopatem živá, ale neschopná pohybu či komunikace. Policie zprvu usuzuje, že se vrah dopustil první chyby, když nechal Alison naživu, ale pak inspektor Thorne objeví hrůznou pravdu: že pro pachatele byly nezdarem ony tři mrtvé ženy — a že ve svém zvrhlém jednání hodlá pokračovat. Thorne se pouští do nelehkého honu na muže, který je ve své zrůdnosti naprosto nevyzpytatelný a hraje si s ním jako kočka s myší. A Alison Willetsová, jediná osoba, která zná klíč k zabijákově identitě, Thorneovi v pátrání pomoci nemůže…
Tom Thorne Série
Tato série sleduje osudy ostříleného detektiva v rušném Londýně. Každý případ přináší nové výzvy, které prověřují jeho intelekt i morálku. Sledujeme jeho boj s temnými stránkami města i vlastními démony. Jde o napínavé čtení pro milovníky detektivek.
Doporučené pořadí čtení
První oběť sledoval vrah z nádraží až domů a tam ji uškrtil před očima jejího dítěte. Tentýž den byla nalezena mrtvola druhé ženy, usmrcené stejným způsobem. Inspektor Thorne brzy zjišťuje skutečnost, že pachatelé jsou dva. Jeden zabíjí s chladnou myslí, druhý jako by byl posedlý šílenstvím – a touhou napodobit svůj morbidní vzor. Thorne pochopí, že se musí při pátrání zaměřit na brutálnější polovinu vražedné dvojice a do té doby, než pachatele dopadne, musí žít s mučivou jistotou, že každá další nalezená mrtvola bude někde mít věrnou kopii…
V ošuntělém hotýlku na severu Londýna byla nalezena mrtvola.Tou obětí byl muž, který byl před pouhými deseti dny propuštěný z vězení, kde si odpykával trest za sexuální zločiny. Někdo nad ním vynesl a vykonal vlastní trest. Vrah vskutku neponechal nic náhodě – dokonce pro svou oběť objednal pohřební věnec... Když je krátce poté nalezeno zmasakrované tělo dalšího sexuálního násilníka, policie dochází k přesvědčení, že vraždil stejný člověk. Svůj akt pomsty měl zjevně promyšlený do posledního detailu a v jeho uskutečnění mu nemohlo nic zabránit. Jak ovšem vrah přilákal své oběti na místo, kde na ně čekala krutá smrt? S kým se tam ti muži vlastně chtěli sejít? Policisté naráží na hradbu neodbytných otázek – a pak naleznou svazek dopisů...
The Burning Girl
- 464 stránek
- 17 hodin čtení
The fourth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. A MAN WHO KILLS FOR MONEY X marks the spot - and when that spot is a corpse's naked back and the X is carved in blood, DI Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious killer. A BRUTAL VENDETTA This is brutal turf warfare between north London gangs. Organised crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else's patch, and that someone is not best pleased. A COP WHO IS PLAYING WITH FIRE And when an X is carved on DI Tom Thorne's front door, he knows the smouldering embers of this case are about to erupt into flames... __________ Read what everyone's saying about the heart-racing Tom Thorne series: 'Literary superstar' Mail on Sunday 'Ingenious' Guardian 'Ground-breaking' Sunday Times 'Mark Billingham gets better and better' Michael Connelly 'A cracking read . . . I couldn't put it down!' Shari Lapena 'A damn fine storyteller' Karin Slaughter 'Twisted and twisty' Linwood Barclay 'One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today' Gillian Flynn 'The next superstar detective is already with us. Don't miss him' Lee Child
Lifeless
- 480 stránek
- 17 hodin čtení
It appears that someone is targeting London's homeless community so DI Tom Thorne goes undercover amongst them. The information he gleans is that this is no random killer, it is someone with a specific list of victims.
Buried
- 416 stránek
- 15 hodin čtení
The fashion in which Mark Billingham has climbed his way to the top of the British crime writing fraternity should cause no one any surprise. His secret is simple: Billingham's work is always utterly reliable, delivering gritty and authoritative crime fiction writing in which the sense of locale is always spot-on. Here, DI Tom Thorne is asked to help in the case of a teenage boy who has disappeared. He is the son of a once high-ranking police officer (now retired), and Thorne's first endeavour is to ask the father, ex DCI Mullen, to draw up a list of all those in his past who might have reason to hold a grudge. But then Thorne discovers that there is an omission from the list: a man who has made serious threats to Mullen and his family. And as Billingham's beleaguered hero strains every sinew to track down the boy before he is killed, he has to find out why his ex-police colleague has lied to him. As so often before with Billingham, it's the steady accumulation of disturbing detail that makes this novel so compelling. The author eschews easy thrills, and prefers to involve the reader at a more realistic pace. This is not to say that the book lacks excitement (even Billingham's enemies could hardly accuse him of that), but just that the tension is dispensed in a way that never seems meretricious. Another solid entry in the growing Tom Thorne canon.
Death message
- 458 stránek
- 17 hodin čtení
When Detective Tom Thorne starts to receive cellphone photos of murder victims, it takes him a while to identify them and to figure out who the probable killer would be. But the man has been in prison since Thorne put him there.
The eighth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman's fist - and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim's mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead. When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey's victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer's list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted... ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!
From the Dead
- 496 stránek
- 18 hodin čtení
The ninth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. It has been a decade since Alan Langford's charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and served ten years in prison. But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being - the man she paid to have murdered - seems very much alive and well. How is it possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why? DI Tom Thorne becomes involved in a case where nothing and no one are what they seem. It will take him much further from his London beat than he has ever been before - and closer to a killer who will do anything to protect his new life. ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!
Good as dead
- 394 stránek
- 14 hodin čtení
Detective Tom Thorne is forced to re-consider an old case when a grieving father takes one of Thorne's colleagues hostage. The man demands to know the truth about how his son died in prison; he is convinced the death was not an accident. What Thorne discovers will upend everything he thought he knew about the fate of those he's put away-- but will it be enough to end the hostage situation without violence? Published in the United States in 2012 under the title: The demands.
The Dying Hours
- 498 stránek
- 18 hodin čtení
A cluster of suicides among the elderly. Such things are not unknown and the deaths are quickly dismissed by the police as routine. Only one man is convinced that something more sinister is taking place.However, no one listens to Tom Thorne anymore. Having stepped out of line once too often, he's back in uniform and he hates it. Patronised and abused by his new colleagues, Thorne's suspicions about the suicides are dismissed by the Murder Squad he was once part of and he is forced to investigate alone.Unable to trust anyone, Thorne must risk losing those closest to him. He must gamble with the lives of those targeted by a killer unlike any he has hunted before. A man with nothing to lose and a growing list of victims. A man with the power to make people take their own lives. Tom Thorne returns in Billingham's most compelling thriller to date. The Dying Hours is a haunting portrait of London's dark heart, and the darker heart of a twisted killer bringing terror to its streets.
The Bones Beneath
- 469 stránek
- 17 hodin čtení
The Deal Tom Thorne is back in charge - but there's a terrifying price to pay. Stuart Nicklin, the most dangerous psychopath he has ever put behind bars, promises to reveal the whereabouts of a body he buried twenty-five years before. But only if Thorne agrees to escort him. The Danger Unable to refuse, Thorne gathers a team and travels to a remote Welsh island, at the mercy of the weather and cut off from the mainland. Thorne is determined to get the job done and return home before Nicklin can outwit them. The Deaths But Nicklin knows this island well and has had time to plan ahead. Soon, new bodies are added to the old, and Thorne finds himself facing the toughest decision he has ever had to make...Tom Thorne returns in this utterly gripping, brilliantly plotted thriller. The Bones Beneath is Mark Billingham's most ambitious and accomplished work to date.
Time of Death
- 538 stránek
- 19 hodin čtení
The astonishing thirteenth Tom Thorne novel is a story of kidnapping, the tabloid press, and a frightening case of mistaken identity. Tom Thorne is on holiday with his girlfriend DS Helen Weeks, when two girls are abducted in Helen s home town. When a body is discovered and a man is arrested, Helen recognizes the suspect s wife as an old school-friend and returns home for the first time in twenty-five years to lend her support. As his partner faces up to a past she has tried desperately to forget and a media storm engulfs the town, Thorne becomes convinced that, despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt, the police have got the wrong man. There is still an extremely clever and killer on the loose and a missing girl who Thorne believes might still be alive."
Love like blood
- 518 stránek
- 19 hodin čtení
'Groundbreaking and gripping'Sunday Times A BLOODY MESSAGE As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner Susan is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft, and vengeful. A POWERFUL ALLY Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts. A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour. From number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a masterful, intense crime novel that pits DI Tom Thorne against an evil beyond comprehension, yet shockingly real. ________________ 'One of the great series of British crime fiction' The Times 'Billingham is a world-class writer' Karin Slaughter
The Killing Habit
- 560 stránek
- 20 hodin čtení
'One of the great series of British crime fiction' The Times From multi-million-copy number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a twisting, unbearably gripping DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner thriller inspired by a dramatic real-life case. How do you catch a killer who is yet to kill? We've all heard about the signs: coldness, cruelty, lack of empathy. DI Tom Thorne knows the psychological profile of a psychopath all too well, so when pets start disappearing on suburban London streets, he sees a chance to stop a future murderer. Others are less convinced, so Thorne relies on DI Nicola Tanner to help him solve the case, before the culprit starts hunting people. The journey brings them face to face with a killer who will tear their lives apart. ---------- 'A new Mark Billingham is always a treat and The Killing Habit hurls the reader straight into the action. Thoroughly enjoyable for being so very real' SUSIE STEINER 'Mark Billingham on superb form. A finely paced and polished procedural, with twists and turns galore and an ending that will chill your soul' CARA HUNTER 'An unconventionalliterary superstar' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'As ever with Billingham, a rich cast of characters and tense situations are marshalled with panache, leading to a final terrifying encounter' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Thorne is a terrific invention' IRISH INDEPENDENT ________________
Their Little Secret
- 512 stránek
- 18 hodin čtení
The sixteenth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. 'Hugely intelligent and authentic' BELINDA BAUER, AUTHOR OF SNAP She says she's an ordinary mother. He knows a liar when he sees one. Sarah thinks of herself as a normal single mum. It's what she wants others to think of her. But the truth is, she needs something new, something thrilling. Meanwhile, DI Tom Thorne is investigating a woman's suicide, convinced she was driven to do it by a man who preys on vulnerable women. A man who is about to change Sarah's life. From number one, five-million-copy bestseller Mark Billingham comes a breathless new thriller starring Thorne and Tanner that readers will devour. PRAISE FOR MARK BILLINGHAM 'One of the great series of British crime fiction' THE TIMES 'An unconventional literary superstar' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Billingham is a world-class writer' KARIN SLAUGHTER 'A new Mark Billingham is always a treat' SUSIE STEINER 'Finely paced and polished procedural, with twists and turns galore' CARA HUNTER 'Perfectly executed and with a thoroughly unnerving twist' GUARDIAN 'Thorne is a terrific invention' IRISH INDEPENDENT 'Mark Billingham gets better and better' MICHAEL CONNELLY
Cry Baby
- 512 stránek
- 18 hodin čtení
Two boys run into the woods--but only one returns-- In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on the case--which quickly spirals out of control when two people connected to the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage . . .
