This week’s book review was written by a British crime writing powerhouse. No wait, this week’s book was written by a British crime writing powerhouse. The review was written by a British crime writing mud hut (and he’s only going to stay that way if he keeps using Real Estate metaphors).

I’m trying to read debut novels by crime fiction writers. Sleepyhead was Mark Billingham’s first novel and he’s written 13 others since. He’s won the Sherlock award for ‘Best UK Detective novel’ and he’s won the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2004 for Lazybones and in 2009 for Death Message.

Sleepyhead introduces DI Tom Thorne and has a very interesting premise. The antagonist doesn’t murder his victims; he puts them in comas. Crime authors speak for the dead and readers are usually given insights into the life of the deceased through conversations by those who remain behind or by examining their belongings etc. In Sleepyhead, Billingham let’s us hear from the victim in the form of short chapters formed from her thoughts as she lies, unable to move, in a hospital bed. We’re able to feel her frustration and fears as she tries to communicate with Thorne and the Doctors throughout the book using no more than twitches of her eyebrow. This aspect of the story is an absolute stroke of genius.

Thorne is cut from the standard fictional detective cloth, so there’s not much more to say about him really. Part of the charm of a detective series is to follow the main character over a series of books, and I’ve no doubt Thorne becomes more interesting as the books go on.

Billingham writes tense scenes very well and creates characters with intense relationships. The book keeps up a good pace right the way through and the story reaches a satisfying conclusion. I’d recommend it you give it a go.