Scaredy Cat - Softcover

Billingham, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061032204 ISBN 13: 9780061032202

Publisher: Avon Books, 2004

Synopsis

Detective Inspector Tom Thorne is back as he races against time to track two serial killers who seem to be working hand-in-hand, leaving a gruesome trail of murdered women behind them, as he tries to get inside their minds, hoping to catch them before those closest to him get caught in the crossfire of the investigation. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

Mark Billingham's Scaredy Cat is as inventive his previous serial killer novel a Sleepyhead. Detective Inspector Tom Thorne has the job of watching out for patterns and thinks he spots one--two similar killings on the same day; women followed from a mainline station and then strangled. Rapidly, though, it becomes clear that the methods differed in all sorts of ways--one killing was controlled, the other frenzied--and the timings do not work out. On a hunch, Thorne checks for other such pairings and finds them--this time two killers are working as a team, one setting the other challenges.

We know what Thorne does not, that all of this has to do with things that happened at school years ago; we also know a lot more than Thorne about the demons that drive some of his own investigating team. Billingham sets himself some complicated technical challenges here--flashes back and forwards, and closeups of killers' minds that keep crucial information from us--and some of the complications don't quite work. Overall, though, this is a terrifying exploration of brutal madness, made all the more so by touches of compassion for the killer's victims--the killer may think this a game, but we and Thorne know it is not.--Roz Kaveney

Review:

Don't make any plans for the weekend when you buy it - because you won't be leaving the house until its finished. --Fhm

An assured chiller... with memorable characters and bundles of atmosphere. Britain now has its own forensic crime maestro. --Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0061032204
• ISBN 13: 9780061032202
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 433