Love Like Blood (Tom Thorne Novels)

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His standalone thriller IN THE DARK was chosen as one of the twelve best books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, SLEEPYHEAD was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. Thorne’s girlfriend Helen and step-son Alfie are there in the background, with their relationships developing, and with Helen working a suspected child abuse case as she’s a social worker. The late great Merle Haggard provided the accompaniment on the drive to a retail park in Wembley and Thorne sang along to Silver Wings with rather more gusto than he managed in the school hall the day before. Readers will be familiar with Tanner from Mark Billingham’s last novel, Die Of Shame, as she was the straight-laced DI tasked with uncovering a murderer. It is not preaching to the reader, but it does bring to our attention a most heinous, sociocultural practice which is at odds with the freedom we associate with our country.

Overall a really excellent, entertaining yet hugely thought provoking read that I would actually like to throw at everybody. Official figures are that there are around a dozen or so honour killings in the UK each year, with around five thousand each year globally - a thousand of these killings take place in Pakistan alone. Tanner was first introduced in a stand-alone, and I hadn't read that since Thorne was a bit tangential to the story. We have an idea of some of the culprits as the story opens and we soon follow along with two of the main players and so whilst this isn’t a conventional whodunnit, there are still characters involved in the killings that aren’t fully revealed until the closing pages.The idea of honour killings – be it for love or some other inferred shame – is the central premise of this book. Written by Mark Billingham — It must be easy for a series author to fall into a pattern, giving us murder by numbers and keeping an established audience happy with a book a year. She won't leave the investigation alone though and drags Tom Thorne into her case; unofficially of course. In one particular chapter there is a great and memorable moment when D I Tom Thorne is driving down the road singing at the top of his voice. Two teenagers go missing and the body of Amaya Shah is found and her boyfriend Kamal Azim is missing.

To those who disobey or 'dishonour' their family, a fate such as that which befell Banaz is sadly far more prevalent than any of us would like to accept. I was a little confused with the chapter that indicated that a body had been found in a reservoir and there was only a minor reference to explain this later on.

The pacing of the book is notably more measured than some of the previous efforts, and although, yes, there is a car chase towards the end, the action sequences are much more controlled than before.

Thorne joins forces with Nicola Tanner (DIE OF SHAME - a recent standalone) to ferret out the ringleader and the hired killers. As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour. It is something in Western culture that we take for granted - the basic right to love and be loved by those whom we choose not those who are chosen for us. I love this series so much that I can remember when I first read a Thorne novel and the day that I borrowed it from the library.The result is an intelligent and hugely entertaining thriller that treats its subject with sensitivity. Tanner had been investigating suspected hour killings and Thorne had previously investigated the death of Meena Athwal and the case was still unsolved.