Bloodline by Mark Billingham is the 8th book in his DI Tom Thorne series and in this one the past has come back with a vengeance. Raymond Garvey murdered seven women before he was stopped some 20 years ago but now it appears that the children of his victims are being targeted.

DI Tom Thorne has been appointed to head up the task force on these murders and finds himself struggling to make sense of the vicious murders all the while dealing with the political in-fighting and some personal difficulties that he and his girlfriend, Louise are going through.

I am a fan of this series, but there were a few things that distracted me and had me questioning how the police went about this investigation. I also felt that even though the murderer was a twisted psychopath, I never got a complete picture of why he was targeting these victims. I did enjoy catching up with Thorne and other series regulars and although this book isn’t going to be one of my favorites of the series, I fully intend to read continue on. ( )

This is another strong instalment in the series featuring the likeable if careworn Detective Inspector Tom Thorne. Of course, in recent years we have come to expect fictional detectives to have their own idiosyncrasies. For instance, Chief Inspector Morse had his vintage Jaguar, love of opera and penchant for real ale, while John Rebus has his classic rock music and whisky to fuel this ‘thrawn’ nature. Thorne is less querulous (just), and his personality manifests itself through a bright yellow BMW and a love of melancholy country music. Ah, well, each to their own.

I particularly like the Thorne books because, in addition to the sound plots and plausible denouement, they are largely set in North London, in areas which I know very well. From that local knowledge, I know that Mark Billingham is excellent at catching the local colour of his settings, which gives me confidence in the verisimilitude of those sections and settings with which I am not familiar.

In this particularly chilling case, it gradually emerges that someone is murdering the children of victims of an earlier serial killer. As Mister Kurtz might have said, ‘The horror, the horror!’ As if that were not enough, Thorne finds himself with his own personal loss to contend with.

While elements of the story may be grim, Billingham doesn’t luxuriate in the horror, and he manages the bleak story with great sensitivity. ( )

Intelligent och välskriven. Det är en bra serie som hela tiden utvecklas. ( )

http://www.literaryfeline.com/2011/07/review-bloodline-by-mark-billingham.html ( )

The book starts out with heartbreak, as you find out Louise was apparently pregnant with Tom Thorne's child and has lost the baby. The two characters struggle with the loss and what it means to their relationship through the rest of the book. Hendricks lends friendly support to both of them. The actual mystery is really good in this one, a serial killer who is murdering the children of a previous serial killer's victims. Very well done resolution which I didn't see coming. And I enjoyed the few references to happenings and characters from previous books. ( )