Love Like Blood (Tom Thorne Novels)

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When her domestic partner Susan is brutally murdered, Nicola Tanner is convinced that she was the intended target. The murderer’s motive is likely connected to her recent work on a string of cold case honor killings. Despite being placed on leave, Tanner insists on pursuing justice for Susan—and she turns to fellow DI Tom Thorne for help. Overall a really excellent, entertaining yet hugely thought provoking read that I would actually like to throw at everybody. Read it. Even if you are new to the series I see no reason you couldn’t start here. Like many people, I watched the first episode of the TV series Written In Blood in which Simon Toyne interviewed Mark Billingham about the case which inspired his book, Love Like Blood. Now I don't know anybody who wouldn't have been moved an indeed horrified by the true story of Banaz Mahmod and the way in which she suffered at the hands of family for the simple act of falling in love with the wrong man. 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. And yet in some cultures, this still remains an impossible dream. 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. When she’s put on compassionate leave, some of her colleagues are hoping a little time away will help ease tension between the victim’s families & police. A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.

Love Like Blood is painful, frightening and quite disturbing in equal measure. Somewhere in the police files there was a reference to two men. It is believed that two hit men were paid to murder. Their methods of killing were always different and the locations. They were contracted out to honour killings all over the world. Entertaining . . . One perfectly executed twist at the end will leave [readers] eagerly awaiting the next in this series." — Publishers Weekly This is the 14th book in the Tom Thorne series by author Mark Billingham. I have read and enjoyed all the previous books in this series so it was a pleasure to read this one. As always the plot was excellent, the characters continue to develop and the overall story well paced.This was fabulous writing and excellent reading and I highly recommend it. I've loved the Thorne books for a long time, and now enjoy the character of Nicola Tanner. The topic definitely will stimulate discussion of this heinous practice and hopefully lead to its termination. What I love generally speaking is the way this author brings a strong emotional core to the centre of all the stories he writes – the ongoing interpersonal relationships (I’m the biggest fan of Phil you will find) are always layered beautifully into each individual plot, whilst the supporting cast are given just as much depth. The writing is always immersive and completely addictive – as a reader you genuinely live with these people for a while. No different with Love Like Blood which I read fast, often angrily, the best reads are the ones that grip you by the heartstrings, not letting go and send you through a gamut of emotions as you head towards the finale. And this finale had me clutching my hair.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the other hand, puts the blame squarely at the door of the religions in question and especially draws attention to the violence against women that she sees inherent and explicit in the Koran. “It specifically mandates unequal and cruel treatment of women,” she wrote in Nomad. “For instance, chapter four, verse 34 instructs men to beat the women from whom they fear possible disobedience.” In September 2015 Billingham and co-host Michael Carlson released the six-part podcast The Crime Vault Live, [20] with the last episode released in January 2016. Billingham’s entertaining 14th Tom Thorne novel (after 2015’s Time of Death) teams the formerly rule-bending London detective inspector, who’s fighting middle age and an expanding waistline, with Det. Insp. Nicola Tanner, introduced in 2016’s standalone, Die of Shame. When Tanner’s life partner, Susan Best, is murdered outside the couple’s home after a shopping trip, the by-the-book Tanner believes that she, not Susan, was the intended victim, retaliation for her investigation of a series of honor killings in London’s Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities. Skeptical at first, Thorne agrees to help Tanner when a young Bangladeshi couple disappears, and Thorne suspects that the honor killings may be linked to a cold case from his past. Readers may wish for more tension from the contrasting styles of the two well-drawn leads, or that the main plot could offer more surprises, but one perfectly executed twist at the end will leave them eagerly awaiting the next in this series. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. (June) Publishers Weekly You can read the full text of that letter here. In this review, meanwhile, we’re pleased to report that all that passion has been channeled into what is a gripping and at times brutal story. It feels relevant. It feels conflicted. It’ll give you a knot in the stomach. And, it’s pretty uncomfortable reading, too.

An intelligent, hugely entertaining thriller that treats its subject with sensitivity. It includes gasp-inducing moments of drama and some ingenious twists.

Admonish and scourge. There is a debate here about causation. Maybe it’s just easier (but, in some ways, not easy at all) for an ex-Muslim to make a case against religion than a white guy born Church of England. But what both writers agree on is the fundamentally criminal aspect of “honour”. It conflicts with the basic human right not to have the life squeezed out of you. Billingham’s book, perhaps without intending to, makes Hirsi Ali’s argument for a “reformation” of her own rejected religion all the more cogent. Groundbreaking... a gripping, unsensational take on a type of crime that is happening more frequently than many of us realize.”— The Sunday Times Dancing Towards The Blade" in Men From Boys by John Harvey (ed.) ( Arrow Books, September 2004), ISBN 0-09-946152-8 What’s a little hard to believe is that Tanner isn’t given more police protection from the start, considering how and why her girlfriend was murdered. The major twist in the plot is a little too easy to foresee as well. After graduating with a degree in drama from the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts, he helped form a socialist theatre company, Bread & Circuses, in Birmingham. Bread & Circuses toured with shows in schools, colleges, arts centres and the street. [3] In the mid-1980s he moved to London as a "jobbing actor", taking minor roles in episodes of TV shows Dempsey and Makepeace, Juliet Bravo, Boon, and The Bill. [2] [4] After playing a variety of "bad guy roles such as a soccer hooligan, drug addict, a nasty copper, a racist copper or a bent copper", he claimed that he had become disenchanted with acting and that the emphasis was not on talent, but on looks. [3]

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This sensitive topic is delicately handled, with a perfectly executed and thoroughly unnerving twist at the end. The idea of honour killings - be it for love or some other inferred shame - is the central premise of this book. Mark Billingham has not tried to retell Banaz's story. As he has said himself that is not his story to tell. But her story has most certainly inspired a book which becomes somewhat of a moral dilemma in the making. At the heart of this novel is real life horror dressed up here as a form of entertainment, art even. Should we really say that we enjoy it? Maybe, maybe not. However Billingham has found a near perfect balance, blending Thorne's irresistible charm, an element of humour and the day to day mundane realities of family life, with an overwhelmingly depressing set of statistics and a case which puts the lives of Thorne's friends and colleagues at risk. This is not a case of preaching the horrors of honour killings, although they are clearly outlined here, but it is also more than mere entertainment. Billingham skilfully gets his distaste at the subject across to the reader through Thorne's reactions, while still leaving them the scope to make their own minds up about what has occurred.