Product Description

It's rare for a young woman to die from a stroke and when three such deaths occur in short order it starts to look like an epidemic. Then a sharp pathologist notices traces of benzodiazepine in one of the victim's blood samples and just traceable damage to the ligaments in her neck, and their cause of death is changed from 'natural' to murder. The police aren't making much progress in their hunt for the killer until he appears to make a mistake: Alison Willetts is found alive and D.I. Tom Thorne believes the murderer has made a mistake, which ought to allow them to get on his tracks. But it was the others who were his mistakes: he doesn't want to take life, he just wants to put people into a state where they cannot move, cannot talk, cannot do anything but think. When Thorne, helped by the neurologist looking after Alison, starts to realise what he is up against he knows the case is not going to be solved by normal methods - before he can find out who did it he has to understand why he's doing it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5906 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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...

Review
'.. one of the finest first novels I've read in a long while. (He) has brought a rare & welcome blend of humanity, dimension & excitement to the genre & earned an instant seat at the top table of crime novelists. An exceptional debut.' G. P PELECANOS ** 'A disturbing & thrilling medical procedural with memorable characters & bundles of atmosphere.' Guardian **'Extremely capable & unsettling.' Lit. Review **'A terrifically stylish debut.' Indy on S.

Literary Review
'Extremely capable and unsettling.'

Customer Reviews

Sleep well.....
This is Mark Billingham's debut novel featuring the stout figured DI Tom Thorne, just turned 40 and on the trail of a psychopath who kills a number of women `by accident' until eventually he is successful in his most unusual objective : to leave them somewhere in between life and death. The murders are errors on his part while he perfects his technique. Early on we are presented with a prime suspect, or at least someone who Thorne is convinced is the killer, so this novel becomes less of a whodunit as much as a "did he or didn't he?" - and I for one was never completely sure about the answer until hundreds of pages later and the moment of revelation.

Despite the serial-killer storyline, Mark Billingham successfully manages to create a `novel' twist to the well-worn theme by making it clear that all of the murders were mistakes, at least in the mind of the perpetrator who has something of an obsession with Thorne and in addition to making direct (but anonymous) contact with the determined copper he seems to want Thorne to be the one who finally nabs him. Thorne has emotional scars of his own, dating back several years and which unknowing to him have served to shape his personality both as a detective and as a man. All is eventually revealed, and very disturbing it is. Thorne's something of a maverick, sometimes part of the team but often the cavalier, maybe he's on the verge of some kind of burned-out breakdown but just when you think he's going off the rails, he gets back on track again.

Having read Lazy Bones, Scaredy Cat and The Burning Girl in times past I have gone about Mark's work (which all feature DI Thorne) in the wrong chronological order but in a way I feel that I'm the better for it - Sleepyhead is probably the strongest of the story lines and it is convincing, consistent and authentic from start to finish. Yes, even the finish is thoroughly well planned and delivered, dare I say it had the faintest of links to The Silence of the Lambs (by Thomas Harris), in that finale when the doorbell rings and we all expect the FBI to burst into the house of Buffalo Bill but clever time and location manipulation surprised us when the said Bill opened the door to Clarence Starling - I mention this mainly because there is reference early on in Sleepyhead of this exact moment (in the film, and possibly the book), so we are given a hint of the structure of the ending but guess what.....I missed that, so I was taken by surprise. Glad I was too.

Mark Billingham says that writing dark, violent novels such as this and the others in the Thorne series serve as a suitable counterpoint to his very different other life as a stand-up comedian; well those lives are clearly poles apart, because surely the opposite of standing up is lying down, and in Sleepyhead there's quite a lot of that going on.

Dead opposite.

For me, Sleepyhead is Mark's best novel, it's a highly impressive debut and I hope he returns to these very high standards again in the future. Lazybones delivered much of the same, I think it slipped just a bit with Scaredy Cat and more so with The Burning Girl; Lifeless was better and Buried was Billingham back to his best - although Sleepyhead remains my favourite for now (it was also voted the favourite among Mark Billingham fans on a poll on his web-site).

As for you - I suggest you buy the whole lot, all six. You won't be disappointed.

A gripping psychological crime debut!
With tawdry serial-killer thrillers ten a penny, it is a treat to come across such an intelligent and unique take on this genre. Sleepyhead is as gripping and terrifying a thriller as I have read in a long time. Mark Billingham has created a killer with a genuinely disturbing agenda and in DI Tom Thorne has come up with a central character who readers will want to see return in future novels. The plot races along, the settings are vividly described and the characters leap off the page. The prose is hardboiled in style, and brings to life the noirish side of London that the tourists never see. It would of course be wrong to give the ending away but suffice it to say that readers will NOT be dissappointed! The publishers of this book promise that it is the best crime debut of the year. Never mind debut. It's the best crime book I've read this year. Can't wait for more.

WILL KEEP YOU AWAKE - NOT SLEEPY !!!!
SLEEPYHEAD by Mark Billingham (NO SPOILERS)

I spent Saturday reading 'SLEEPYHEAD' by Mark Billingham, well the Weather was rainy/cold and so it was perfect to curl up on the sofa and read. The book had sat on the TBR for some time, and I devoured it in two sittings. It is a difficult book to put down as you really get into the characters who are very interesting and very well rounded with flaws/faults etc. I wished it would not end, however Billingham has an economy with words that I wish other writers understood better.

The plot revolves around the search and apprehension of a 'weirdo' who is drugging young women, most of whom die, however Alison Willetts the only survivor is left in a 'Locked-in' state (paralysed but fully conscious/cognitive). The Investigator is DI Tom Thorne, with Dr Anne Coburn as the Doctor treating Willetts. Billingham has an entourage of Police folk which is handled really well, and echoes of stark and detailed research. I loved the side-character 'Kodak' and hope he returns in 'Scaredy Cat'. The medical stuff I found very realistic (I'm the son of a now retired Doctor) especially the Dr Jeremy Bishop character and his back-story was very intriguing. Tom Thorne's 'back-story' about 'Calvert' and his family I found extremely well written and quite moving, especially as it was kept 'off-stage' till near the end.

The story although marketed as 'Dark' is not without amusement, which Billingham pulls off deftly. There are some very funny lines, but these are moderated and pitched just write, so that the book doesn't become a parody. I also like some 'country music', and therefore found Billingham's reference's to Country Music a hoot, especially the play on the Kenny Roger's CD that Thorne is given as a present.

The North London setting is done perfectly, and as I spent some time around Camden/Highgate etc I found it echoed reality very well and reminded me of the places I used to visit. Billingham's ear for dialogue is very perceptive and funny. I know he's a comedian but it doesn't come over in the book, as the humour is quite subtle. I wonder if some of the 'Britishness' will be moderated for the US release? as I found some of the UK Baby-Boomer references very funny.

I would never have believed that SLEEPYHEAD was 'a first novel' as it is extremely professional. The only mild criticism I have is that I guessed the conclusion at about the 65% mark, but even then I was not sure as there were plenty of other possibilities. I suppose because of various clues I 'twigged' but I feel that Billingham kind of wanted you to know, but I don't wish to go into it, as it would be too much of a spoiler. I would not want to spoil a wonderful book for anyone.

I feel excited waiting for 'Scaredy Cat' as I like his style, which is sort of 'easy-going character intense drama'.

I would however warn you that it also has sharp teeth, for just when you think it might be a 'cosy' he does a 'Robinson' (as in Peter Robinson).

Highly recommended and my second book of 2002, which has left a 'tide-mark'.

Alberto