Lazybones (33 page)

Authors: Mark Billingham

BOOK: Lazybones

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks are due to those people who helped this particular lazybones get this one doneâ¦.

DI Neil Hibberd of the Serious Crime Group (again) for his insight, for fighting off the desire to sleep, and for providing the usual invaluable advice.

Victoria Jones, for answering a thousand stupid questions, and, ironically, opening the right doors.

The governor, staff, and inmates of HMP Birmingham.

Sarah Kennedy, for kind words, very early, where the pictures are best.

Wendy Burnsâsupervising social worker (Fostering)âand Louise Spannerâfamily placement panel administratorâat Essex Social Services.

And of courseâ¦Hilary Hale, Sarah Lutyens, Susannah Godman, Mike and Alice Gunn, Paul Thorne, Wendy Lee, and Peter Cocks.

And my wife, Claire. I still demand a recountâ¦

About the Author

MARK BILLINGHAM is the author of the critically acclaimed novels
Scaredy Cat, Sleepyhead,
and
The Burning Girl,
all international bestsellers. A standup comic, he began working in the alternative comedy circuit in the United Kingdom in 1987. Since then he has appeared on more than thirty radio and television shows. The
Sunday Times of London
rates him as “one of the very best.” He now writes for the BBC and ITV, where he has twice been nominated for Royal Television Society awards. He lives in London with his wife and two children. You can visit his website
at
www.markbillingham.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Praise
Raves for a new master of terror
and suspense
MARK BILLINGHAM
and
LAZYBONES

“
Lazybones
isn't your formulaic murder mysteryâ¦Deft touches with character and humor help set it apart from the crowd.”

Detroit Free Press

“It's difficult enough to write even one exceptional thriller, but when you consistently turn out engrossing tales, you have one exceptional storytelling talent. Mark Billingham has that kind of talent, as his third thriller shows. With
Lazybones
following
Scaredy Cat
and
Sleepyhead,
Billingham has won the trifecta and readers have scored big.”

Denver Rocky Mountain News

“There is a pleasantly nasty streak of mordant humor running just below the surface of this storyâ¦Billingham has such a command of his craft and his characters that he quickly lets us know Thorne will do his jobâor die trying.”

Chicago Tribune

Mark Billingham is the new-wave leaderâ¦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 firmly establishes himself among the upper echelon of his country's most talented crime novelists. In
Lazybones,
[he] again shows his affinity for producing excellent dark, contemporary crime fiction. Billingham is able to burrow into our deepest fears while offering a sense of hopeâ¦The appealing, at times brooding Thorneâ¦is complemented by a team that Billingham is careful to portray as individuals. Billingham doesn't deal in stereotypes, but in real people.”

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“Both the nitty-gritty police work and the gruff camaraderie between Thorne and his teammates ring true. Billingham's tone is sardonic, even caustic at times, but he lays open the inner lives of his charactersâeven those who've committed ghastly crimesâwith consummate sensitivity and skill, presenting a complex, 360-degree view of victims and perpetratorsâ¦Billingham knows exactly how to let the tension build gradually in his complex, carefully spun plot, letting the story pick up speed as it races toward a heart-pounding finish.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Billingham writes with a deft hand about violence intruding on the everyday.”

Karin Slaughter

“Mark Billingham has brought a rare and welcome blend of humanity, dimension, and excitement to the genre.”

George P. Pelecanos

“Pitch-darkâ¦[a] gripping climaxâ¦In
Lazybones,
the English and American mystery genre traditions clash together in very satisfying ways. The British tradition, that of P.D. James and Peter Robinson, is represented by Billingham's attention to detail and character, as each player large and small is fleshed outâ¦The American tradition comes through in the brutality of the crimes, as well as the character of Thorne himself. He's a middle-aged loner much in the vein of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux or Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudderâ¦And the knotted mystery, with echoes of long-ago misdeeds reverberating through present-day crimes, is satisfyingly unraveled.”

Madison Capital Times
(WI)

“Mark Billingham writes some of the scariest crime books around. His third,
Lazybones,
confirms his ability to mix first-rate plots with grim psychological tensions that cannot fail to unsettle.”

The Times of London

“A remarkable combination of police procedural and psychological thrillerâ¦The addition of solid and realistic police investigation by a very human detective serves to balance the horribly unreal.”

Library Journal

“Engrossingâ¦Compelling characters, along with Billingham's gift for coupling canny observations with effective plot misdirection, mark this series for long-term success.”

Booklist
(*Starred Review*)

Books by Mark Billingham

T
HE
B
URNING
G
IRL

L
AZYBONES

S
CAREDY
C
AT

S
LEEPYHEAD

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

LAZYBONES
. Copyright Â© 2003 by Mark Billingham. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition Â© FEBRUARY 2008 ISBN: 9780061862939

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