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| Lifeless | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Billingham
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $4.00
You Save: $3.99 (50%)
New (30) Used (16) from $1.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 295577
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0060841672
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780060841676
ASIN: 0060841672
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All orders ship from Florida each day. We value your satisfaction and our feedback! Thanks Z78U
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Product Description
Tom Thorne's career is on the skids. Having seriously crossed the line on his last case and depressed over the recent suspicious death of his father, the once ambitious police detective has been reduced to pushing papers . . . and is being encouraged to take a prolonged leave of duty. But someone is stalking the city's most destitute citizens. Three homeless men have recently been kicked to death, each brutalized corpse discovered with a banknote pinned to its chest. With nothing to lose, Thorne volunteers to try to find the killer—taking to the streets he knows so well from his days as beat policeman and as a homicide detective, but this time joining the squalid ranks of life's rejects. In this harsh and harrowing netherworld, with its own rules and moral codes, a shocking link between the brutal crimes and a fifteen-year-old atrocity could end up costing Thorne what little life he has left.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Quality writing December 12, 2008
Mark Billingham is a top writer, someone who deserves to rank at the same level as Ian Rankin (although the latter has the edge in longevity). Both of their writing styles are similar and if you like Rankin, you will like Billingham and vice versa.
The author's main character is Tom Thorne the policeman who is battling with the guilt that his actions may have led to his father's death in the previous book. Dealing with this results in a strain on Thorne's psyche and leads to him taking an undercover position as a homeless person trying to gather information on who is killing the homeless.
The story itself is pretty good. I learned a great deal about the plight of the homeless in London and I found it an interesting change of pace to have the lead character roughing it like Thorne does.
Not wanting to give any spoilers, I did find the reason for the killings to be a bit fanciful and it tended to take away from the reality of the homeless situation a bit but something similar occurred in the real world at the same time so Billingham was bang up to date with the novel.
 Disappointing May 11, 2008
Not as good as his first three novels featuring DI Tom Thorne; Sleepy Head, Scaredy Cat and Lazybones. Although the potential was there with the very believable Gulf War storyline it never quite hit the spot. Yes there were murders but really it could have just been an account of what it's like to live on the streets of London - which I have to add, was sensitively and well conveyed.
DI Thorne, who is such a likeable maverick, really holds the story together, liasing between the homeless world and the police. Even so, I still found my attention wandering and needed to re-read paragraphs. It wouldn't put me off reading another of Billinghams books though because I know he's capable of better stuff.
 Great Stuff November 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. Having worked for some years as an actor and more recently as a TV writer and stand-up comedian his first crime novel was published in 2001.
Though still occasionally working as a stand-up comic, Mark now concentrates on writing the series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.
For any new readers who have not read any of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne books, you are missing a real treat. Start reading them now, I am sure you will not be disappointed.
It would seem, even those who know him best, that Thorne's career has reached it's peak and is now on the long steep slide to disaster. He has always flirted with trouble with his superiors but on his last case he overstepped the mark and someone up in that ivory tower has suggested he take a break to take stock of both himself and his career.
Someone appears to be making a target of London's homeless, so with time on his hands Thorne decides to go undercover amongst them, after all if things carry on the way they are, he may be one of them shortly.
Thorne soon finds out that these are no random killings, they are being perpetrated by someone with a very specific purpose. Then all of a sudden it becomes common knowledge that a copper is working amongst them, not good news for Thorne . . .
Dark humor by a master storyteller September 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Fans of the various BBC Mystery programs will find much to interest them in Billingham's series featuring Detective Inspector (DI) Tom Thorne and the other officers of the London Metropolitan Police Service.
The recent death of DI Thorne's father, combined with publicly overstepping the bounds on his last case, has made him persona non grata around the station house and he's been asked to take "gardening leave."
Unable to sit on his hands and do nothing, DI Thorne requests a job deep undercover posing as a member of the homeless community in order to catch a serial killer. The bodies of three men have been discovered with a banknote pinned to their chests--each one kicked to death. Are these random killings? Or have these men been targeted? The homeless feel ignored by society on a good day, now they have much more to fear than unkind looks and cold shoulders.
DI Thorne must walk a fine line to avoid total integration. He is a man in crisis and the smallest nudge could push him over the edge into really becoming what he is only pretending.
Not just a crime novel, Lifeless is also a look inside a community with its own rules and moral codes. The homeless community is given a voice and a presence in this story, its characters are very real and their stories are heart wrenching.
Armchair Interviews says: With skilled use of dark humor and gut-wrenching tension, Billingham confirms his place as a master storyteller.
Thorne on The Streets May 21, 2007
Quite different from the rest of the series. Thorne goes undercover as a homeless man to catch a killer and work through some demons. Billingham never dissapoints. His books are always satisying and lean. I'm telling you Rebus and Banks fans to get your Thorne on.
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