Customer Reviews
not good - By: Steve G, 19 Nov 2008 
I have rated Mark billinghams' books as real page turners but this one, well I managed to get to page 60 with a bit of effort & had to put it down. I would rather have spent the £10 hardback money on half a book by Stuart MacBride. He is the guy to look for now. May be Marks next book will be good lets hope so. I think the only twist to this book is me paying the £10.Bring back D.I.Tom Thorn.
Soooo disappointed !! - By: Mrs. Donna Robinson, 16 Oct 2008 
Being a fan of mark Billingham - especially DI thorne - I was very excited about this book. But what a disappointment. It took me quite a while to get into the book but i persevered always thinking of the "breathtaking twist" - what twist? It leaves so many loose ends, such an anti climax - bring back DI THorne
In the Dark - Mark Billingham - By: S. Lloyd, 10 Oct 2008 
Other reviewers have described the story itself - which is extremely good. The intrigue starts on the first page & is cleverly wovenin laterin the book. The pace does slow downin the middle but what's lostin pace gives value to the well drawn characters. The writing is excellent so much so thatin reality I wanted one of the main characters to thrive whenin reality he is a gang member selling drugs.
The pace picks up to a quite a speed at the end & even though you may work out the twists towards the end, this doesn't detract from any enjoyment.
I liked the Tom Thorne cameo & the snippet of information given which will be interesting when the next Tom Thorne novel comes out.
I didn't feel that this had the same grittiness that comes acrossin the Thorne novels but that said, this is great & holds your interest throughout.
Not quite 5 stars - By: Ju Bu, 19 Sep 2008 I have just finished this book, & being a fan of Billingham's "Thorne" novels I admit that I bought this thinking it was the nextin the series, so was cautious that I may not enjoy it. However I was surprised to be drawn into the story very quickly & as a Mum, found it a refreshing approach to this type of story to have a pregnant woman as the main character, for me it was unusual but worked. I agree with the other reviews that I did find the ending a little disappointing as there seemed to be lots of unanswered questions, but as the storyline was pretty bleak I came to the conclusion that that's just life - if this is what Billingham intended then I like him even more! Definitely worth reading.
PS: I cheered out loud when Thorne made an appearance.
Eh? - By: bucket hands, 18 Sep 2008 I thought this was rubbish if im honest.
As the story of a pregnant woman dealing with loss & uncovering truths it was very well written. As a story of a young black guy brought up on an East london council estate, trying to support a family a make something of himself while all his friends turned to crime - it was very well written.
But the book presents itself as something else entirely! The title & tag line In the darl - its where fear lives made me look twice because I love crime novels that verge on the border of horror - Some of Dean Koontz stuff where the villain are just so horrendous you wonder what they will do next. In fact the plot of this book is more like Midsomer Murders setin London gangland.
The 'twist' at the end was rubbish. It was clear from about halfway through who was behind it & more or less why. But most frustratingly the ending felt about 20 pages too shirt. The main male character Theo's story gets resolved - though i didt like the way that happened but there we are. But Easy his sidekick & probably the one that you want to see get banged up/dealt with most is left as M.I.A who knows what happened to him?
And to anyone else who read it - what's all the stuff about frank & Paul & Paula about? either i dont get it or its a really bad attempt to stickin a twist. It felt very contrived & ill-thought through when it suddenly gets revealed why paul & frank became friends because of Laura.
The biggest disappointment of all is that up to the last 5 pages i was gripped, waiting for the big twist to be reveled etc & then suddenly it was over. I read Robert harris' The Ghost & spent about 300 pages being pretty bored before suddenly being completely blown away by the twists & turnsin the last 20 pages. this was the opposite. I felt totally let down.
