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Billingham, Mark Sleepyhead ISBN 13: 9780066212999

Sleepyhead - Hardcover

 
9780066212999: Sleepyhead
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When a victim of a deliberately induced stroke is discovered, completely aware of her surroundings but unable to move or communicate, Detective Tom Thorne is horrified to learn that the attacker's intention is to leave his victims hanging between life and death. 35,000 first printing.

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Review:
The art of inducing fear in a reader via the printed page is a speciality of only a few skilled craftsmen. Mark Billingham is such an author, and Sleepy Head is such a book. The blurb on the jacket warns that we are in for a disturbing experience and that is precisely what we get: "He doesn't want you alive. He doesn't want you dead. He wants you somewhere in between".

The killer who Billingham's protagonist Tom Thorne is up against is a particularly creepy specimen: he has savagely killed three victims but his fourth, although alive, is perhaps not so fortunate. She has undergone a deliberately induced stroke and although all her senses are intact, she is totally unable to move or communicate. This hideous condition, called Locked-in Syndrome is, however, quite possibly the killer's first miscalculation ... or is it? Soon the dogged Thorne (given to distrusting his own abilities) is playing a cat-and-mouse game with a psychopathic killer. And the brilliant and sadistic killer is just as interested in leading Thorne a merry dance as he is in fulfilling his degraded obsessions.

All characterisations here are spot-on, even the killer (although one wonders just how many more hyper-intelligent psychopaths readers will be prepared to take) while the British setting is handled with intelligence, the horrific set pieces with real élan:

His head moved up, through the hole and into bright white light. He blinked quickly to adjust and opened his eyes. Thorne's last thought, before his body turned ice cold and began to shake quietly, was that he'd been right to be afraid...
--Barry Forshaw
Review:
A terrifically stylish debut novel. (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

Extremely capable and unsettling. (LITERARY REVIEW)

A cunning variation on the serial-murder theme. (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

Mark Billingham is one of my favourite new authors. Highly recommended. (Harlan Coben)

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  • PublisherWilliam Morrow & Co
  • Publication date2002
  • ISBN 10 0066212995
  • ISBN 13 9780066212999
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages310
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780751548914: Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne Novels)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780751548914
Publisher: Sphere, 2012
Softcover

  • 9780751582208: Sleepyhead: The 20th anniversary edition of the gripping novel that changed crime fiction for ever (Tom Thorne Novels)

    Sphere, 2020
    Softcover

  • 9780802121509: Sleepyhead

    Grove ..., 2013
    Softcover

  • 9780751578812: Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne Novels)

    Sphere, 2020
    Hardcover

  • 9780061032219: Sleepyhead

    Avon B..., 2003
    Softcover

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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. A tight, clean, unread and unmarked copy -First Thus - " Dear Detective Inspector Thorne. What can I say? Practice makes perfect. And don't you just envy her that perfect.distance? I invite you to consider the concept of freedom. True freedom. Have you ever really considered it? I'm sorry about the others. Truly. I shall not insult your intelligence with platitudes about ends and means but offer in mitigation the thought that a massive undertaking often has an appropriate margin of error. It's all about pressure, Detective Inspector Thorne, but then you'd know all about that. Seriously, though, Tom, maybe I'll call you sometime. Mark Billingham's arresting debut novel Sleepyhead, an international bestseller, is a mesmerizing, psychological thriller. Tense and unnerving, this menacing tale of obsession is as scathingly witty as it is bone chilling, and it introduces a stunning new talent in detective fiction. Alison Willetts is unlucky to be alive. She has survived a deliberately induced stroke, and although she can see, hear, and feel, she is completely unable to move or to communicate. In leaving Alison alive, the police believe her assailant has made his first mistake. Until Detective Inspector Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth: Alison is the psychopath's first success; the three women he killed before her were the mistakes. "An appropriate margin of error" is how their killer dismissed them; his true intention was to leave them just like Alison: put to sleep for the rest of their natural lives. And Thorne knows they won't be his last victims. To save innocent lives, he must find a criminal whose agenda is terrifyingly unique. But this untraceable, sadistic madman is smart, elusive, and cryptic -- he enjoys toying with the police almost as much as he savors pursuing his sick fantasy -- and the only lead Thorne has is the tragically uncommunicative Alison. Sensational, sinister, and sophisticated, Sleepyhead is a twisted take on the contemporary crime novel, and with it Mark Billingham reveals an extraordinary depth and range of talent. Impeccably plotted and remarkably assured, Billingham's debut marks the start of a brilliant career.". Seller Inventory # 011133

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