Review: In the Dark

Mark Billingham made his name as a crime writer with his series featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne. Now, he has decided to give Thorne a well-deserved rest (although he does make a brief cameo appearance) and branch out into standalone crime writing, the first of which is IN THE DARK. A woman is driving home late at night in Hackney and, upon seeing a car with its lights turned off, she flashes her own lights to warn the driver. In response, she is shot at, careering into a bus stop and killing an off-duty policeman. While it looks as though an innocent man has lost his life, there may well be more to the situation than meets the eye.

Billingham’s writing is extremely successful, mainly because it is so realistic and down to earth. His dialogue is particularly strong, principally because he employs everyday language, without feeling the need to have recourse to elaborate, hackneyed metaphorical language. IN THE DARK is gritty and not afraid to get down and dirty, as it were. Just as in the Thorne series, the characters are strong and well-defined, particularly the gang members. Billingham does not shy away from the reality of gun crime and gang warfare in modern London, and, while he skilfully portrays a world in which teenagers tote guns and people are killed without a second thought, he creates a scenario that shows just how quickly events can spiral out of control.

The plotting is tight and works well, with numerous twists. The blurb for this novel describes the final twist as ‘shocking’, although some readers will likely find it quite easy to spot. This should, however, in no way detract from readers’ overall enjoyment of the novel, since IN THE DARK is another triumph for Mark Billingham and clearly demonstrates that he can write standalone crime fiction just as well as he can produce serial fiction.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

Book Review: In the Dark