In Review

08 January 2009 16:49 BST

In The Dark by Mark Billingham

Published by Little, Brown Books, out now, hardback, 384 pp, £14.99.

In a nutshell...

Dark. Mysterious. Contemporary. Timely. Surprising.

What's it all about?

A well-timed story of gangland violence in London begins when a gun is fired from one car into another, forcing a woman driving alone to swerve onto a pavement and plough into a bus stop - killing an off-duty policeman in the process.

The main story follows the pregnant widow of the policeman who is killed as she looks to unravel the details behind what appears to be a random shooting.

She herself is a policewoman and therefore has the insider knowledge, the know-how and the contacts to make headway into the case to uncover the truth and track down her dead husband's killer.

Who's it by?

Mark Billingham is most famous for his Tom Thorne series of crime novels, which won him the Sherlock Award for Best Detective in 2003, the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year award in 2005 and five nominations for the CWA Daggers.

He has achieved the Sunday Times' Top Ten Bestseller list with each of his works to date from his debut effort, Sleepyhead, to his most recent work before In The Dark, Death Message.

Billingham has also previously worked as a stand-up comedian, and continues to tour comedy clubs today, appearing at headline venues such as Jongleurs and the Comedy Store as well as on TV.

As an example...

"The Cavalier eases to the left, just inches away now, forcing the BMW across into the bus lane. The three on the backseat hiss and swear and snort.

'Any f*****g second, we doing it… '

In the passenger seat, he nods and his palm tightens, clammy around the handle of the gun against his knee.

'Lift it up, man, lift that thing up high. Show her what you got.'

Holding his breath, clenching; fighting the urge to piss right there in the car.

'What she getting.'

When he turns he can see that the woman in the BMW is scared enough already.

Just a couple of feet away. The eyes all over the place, the twist of panic at the mouth. He raises the gun.

'Do it'"


Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

It's a possibility. The story is good and has the twists necessary to make a useful transition to the screen.

Billingham already has a track record in converting his written work onto celluloid, having experienced success with his DI Tom Thorne novels which are currently in production by the BBC.

Admittedly this is for TV audiences, not film, which is an altogether different step up but it is not beyond the realms of possibility to suggest In The Dark could make it to the big screen some time.

What the others say

"The cast is large and sometimes confusing, but the central characters - Hopwood's pregnant partner, also a police officer, and the tyro whose determination to prove himself has disastrous consequences - really stand out. Our concern for them draws us through the story just as much as all the wham-bam stuff, and there's a nice twist at the end. Nifty." - Guardian

"An uninspiring tagline hides what is a gritty and realistic portrayal of gang life and organised crime in North London. The characters are a bit weak, but it's a well paced and very readable story." - Bookbag

So is it any good?

In terms of the narrative and the story itself, you can see why Billingham has had success in the past. His writing follows well and his ability to spin a yarn is unquestionable.

At times the book does seem to waver on the far reaches of plausibility, with a middle class woman just days away from giving birth traipsing around playing detective in some of the less affluent areas of London.

In attempting to mimic the speech patterns of young black kids in the capital, the author leaves off the first word of every line of dialogue and it does become irritating, even though you can appreciate what he is attempting to do.

This sometimes spills over into his actual writing as well, which does make the text somewhat clunky and spoiled my enjoyment of the novel to a degree before I got used to the style.

However, this said, the story itself is very good. It starts quickly, getting straight into the meat of the book. And although the pace lets up slightly midway through, and some of the multiple narrative threads become slightly tangled and confusing, there is plenty to keep the reader interested.

The twist at the end will be predicted by hardcore crime thriller fans who are one step ahead but this does not make the final approach to the ending of the book any less exciting. There are a couple of moments that genuinely got my heart racing and with more than one surprise in the final chapters, it does become a real page-turner towards the end.

All in all, a very decent effort from Billingham. Having read one of his Tom Thorne novels since, this first standalone thriller is not quite up to that standard.

But the fact In The Dark encouraged me to pick up some more of the author's work says it all.

7/10

Alistair Potter