Product Description

It is only ten days since Douglas Remfrey's release from prison, having served seven years of a twelve-year sentence for rape, and now he is dead: naked on a bare mattress in the grubbiest of North London hotel rooms, his head hooded and his hands tied tight with a brown leather belt. Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some new punishment of his own. And when a second sex offender is discovered dead, different hotel, same modus operandi, Thorne knows he has a vicious, calculating vigilante on his hands. Thorne works best when his passions are up, when his anger flares him into action. Here though, his sympathy for the dead is zero. It is only as the investigation continues that he finally discovers a victim worth fighting for, a victim whose identity becomes crucial in cracking this most twisted of cases........

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10778 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Lazybones confirms our sense of Mark Billingham as a thriller writer determined to put ever more inventive spins on the police procedural and the serial killer novel. His police officers--hard-working Country fan Thorne, pierced gay pathologist Hendricks and the rest--find themselves on a case that raises complicated issues for them; they have continually to remind themselves that dead rapists have as much right not to be raped and murdered as anyone else.

Billingham's tricksiness--he tells us just enough of what the killer is thinking to keep us intrigued and confused--goes along with a real sense of London's back streets: the shabbiness of small hotels and the lonely hours of the early morning. The case involves not only pursuing present cases, but chasing up back-story; among all its other merits, this is an intelligent and humane discussion of changing attitudes to rape and its investigation. There was a time, after all, not so long ago, when police regularly failed to take rape seriously enough to get convictions. This is not just an ingenious thriller--Billingham makes us care what happens to Thorne, who is in far more jeopardy than he ever begins to know. --Roz Kaveney

Review
'Murder and mystery do not come better than this.' What's On in London ** 'Brisk, racy read.' The Times

About the Author
Mark Billingham is a stand-up comedian, appearing regularly at the Comedy Store. LAZYBONES won the inaugural Theakston's Old Peculier Award for the best crime novel of the year. He has also been awarded the 2003 Sherlock Award as the creator of the Best Detective created by a British writer. He has also written drama for children's television, including Knight School which won the Royal Television Society Award for best children's drama.

Customer Reviews

Lazybones is no Sleepyhead - but it's good enough
The first body was found in a shabby London hotel room, bound with a leather belt, raped, kneeling hooded on a bare mattress, as if praying for salvation.

Ten days ago convicted rapist Doug Remfry was released from prison. Now, he has been horrifically murdered, and a macabre wreath ordered for him from a florist. What anger drove his killer to this act? Was it vengeance for his victim, or something that happened to him in prison, or something else entirely?

It is only when the body of a second released rapist is found, killed in an identical way, and another wreath ordered, that Tom Thorne realises that they are up against a completely different, even more chilling and twistedly driven killer than they at first thought. But how can Thorne fight with all he has if he cares so little for the victims? Thorne will have to dig very deep inside indeed to put a stop to this most cold and calculating of killers.

This is another original serial killer thriller from Mark Billingham. It's very dark and it's good, but it lacks something that his previous books had. I never felt the urge to race through it as I did with Sleepyhead (maybe because there isn't a great deal of urgency created through the killings. After all, if the investigator himself finds it hard to care, so will the reader), and the prose isn't so special as it first felt in his debut. But maybe that's just because I'm used to it a bit more now, I'm not sure. Indeed, there is something about the writing style that doesn't quite fit right, but that might be just me. Or maybe I'm just getting used to his rather unchangeable "formula" (and he certainly does have one). Billingham's very original formula has remained static through his first three books, and with each one that formula has been exposed a little more, and the power of each additional book is very much less.

Still, Thorne remains a good lead character, human and flawed as the most popular detectives are. There's also a solid cast of subsidiary characters: Phil Hendricks, the quirky, earinged pathologist, Yvonne, Dave Holland (who, in this book, gets a nice chunk of subplot and character development). The plot itself is a great concept, and discovering the history and motivations of the killer through flashbacks is fascinating once again, as it was in Scaredy Cat (indeed, it's even becoming a kind of "Billingham trademark device".) The conclusion, too, is exciting and tense and dark, even if it's not exceptionally difficult to see it coming or guess "whodunnit".

Lazybones is disappointing, certainly, but it is ultimately still a worth a read, even if it's at times tiresome and not of the very highest class set by "Sleepyhead"; even if there is something lacking that I can't quite put my finger on...

Direct and thrilling
This was a really great whodunnit. The writing style is so direct that we almost feel we are there for the ride along with DI Thorne. I love the way Thorne's character has developed since Billingham started writing - he's one of those really honest detectives who always says things as they are and gets to the issue with no nonsense. The action parts of the story - the detecting - are fast and atmospheric and contrast with the more opaque writing we get when allowed, bit by bit, into the twisted mind of the killer. I really think that Billingham is a very under-rated crime writer and feel that his books are on a par with, if not better than, some of the big names out there.

Serial Killer Story With A Twist
This is the third book in the Detective Inspector Tom Thorne series and Mark Billingham is fast building a reputation as a writer of compelling thrillers. As with his previous books this is a serial killer story and, although they can tend to fall into the trap of having that feeling of sameness about them, Billingham manages to offset this by giving each story a slight twist. Set around the Serious Crime Group (West) team at the Metropolitan Police Service in London, they’re all serial killer books with a difference and LAZYBONES is no exception.

So what’s the difference in this book? I’m glad you asked. Whereas the majority of victims in serial killer stories are either women or children, the victims here are male. The killer targets sex offenders who are nearing the end of their prison sentence, luring them in with a series of letters full of adoration and promise. After they leave prison it doesn’t take a lot of effort to lure them to a hotel room where they expect to meet their adoring pen pal. What they actually meet is rather different. The story starts off with Thorne being called to the first crime scene which contains a victim left in a very distinctive pose. It’s enough to make everyone working on the case passionate about catching the killer.

The strength of this series, and it was reinforced in LAZYBONES, lies in the characters that make up the Serious Crime Group (West) team. Apart from a strong character development within each book, there is also a continuation from book to book. So while it would be a good idea to read the series in order, it is not essential if you don’t mind playing catch up. Tom Thorne is a terrific lead character although he does fall under the rather clichéd role of the policeman devoted to his job, so much so that he has a failed marriage in his past and an occasionally lonely lifestyle in his present. He is, however, instantly likable possessed with a sardonic wit and a strong conviction that he can make a difference.

I know that when some people hear that a book involves serial killers, they immediately discard that book / series as being not for them. I’ve heard a few people comment about Billingham that even though they’re not fans of serial killer stories, they still really like his books. I can understand this comment because even though his books detail murders he is not overly graphic in his descriptions, nor is he gratuitous in his portrayal of the murders.