The Demands (Tom Thorne, #10)

by Mark Billingham

[ibeforem]

I liked this book a little better than the last one in the series (Bloodline). I didn’t dislike that one, but I thought The Demands had a much quicker pace. The chapters are rather short, and it helps move things along. I think that most of that is due to the circumstances of the story: it’s a hostage situation, which puts a clock on Thorne’s investigation.

Helen is a character that appeared in another of Billingham’s books, In the Dark. She and Thorne make a connection in this book that is sort of out of nowhere. I’m hoping it’s set up in the previous book that I haven’t read.

While I liked the story, the “procedural” part of this police procedural is rather weak. I’m not sure there’s much of anything here that’s by the book. The justification for it is the shortened time span (though Thorne has a bit of a reputation for working outside of the lines).

This is a series I’d eventually like to get to from the beginning.