Death Message: A Novel of Suspense

Death Message is the unforgettable new entry in the suspense series featuring Tom Thorne, “the next superstar detective” (Lee Child), from Mark Billingham, one of Britain’s most compelling and talented crime writers. Billingham, the author of In the Dark and Buried, delivers a chilling thriller that begins with a body and a phone line, both of which are dead. |

Winner of the UK's 2009 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award

It's carried by police officers to your door—the last words anyone ever wants to hear: The Death Message.

Detective Investigator Tom Thorne is receiving messages of his own: photographs of murder victims sent to his cell phone. Thorne doesn't know who's sending the grisly pictures, who the victims are, or why he has been chosen—but he knows a dead man when he sees one. Ensnared in an investigation that threatens to confound his judgment and destroy his career, he must track down a fiendishly elusive killer before time runs out. Because the slayings are somehow connected to the most terrifying psychopath he has ever encountered—and the blood trail is about to cross into Thorne's personal life.

|

“The line between cop and criminal becomes dangerously blurred in Billingham’s excellent stand-alone thriller. . . . Billingham does for South London what Richard Price does for Manhattan’s Lower East Side in Lush Life.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A series of dark revelations. . . . Americans who think the bleak world George Pelecanos brings to life is limited to the nation’s capital will find Billingham’s atmospheric maze of London byways just as sprawling and squiggling with desperate cops and robbers.” - Kirkus Reviews

“The new-wave leader. . . . Like the best of British and American crime writing rolled up together and delivered with the kind of punch you don’t see coming.” - Lee Child

“Mark Billingham’s London police detective Tom Thorne has joined the ranks of popular fictional detectives like Morse, Rebus and Lynley.” - Toronto Sun

“Billingham is a world-class crime writer and Thorne is a wonderful creation.” - Karin Slaughter

“Billingham knows how to build a story, invite you in, and then lock the door behind you. Read DEATH MESSAGE and you’ll see for yourself.” - Michael Connelly

“Gripping. . . . Taut, tense and disturbing.” - London Times

“Billingham doesn’t shy away from the realities of modern policing, whether they be grisly, dull or mind-numblingly bureaucratic. . . . Well-plotted, high quality stuff.” - The Guardian

“Morse, Rebus, and now Mark Billingham’s Thorne. The next superstar detective is already with us—don’t miss him.” - Lee Child