Sleepyhead
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3.5 • 19 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"A British police procedural as good as those produced by crime queens Elizabeth George and Ruth Rendell." —USA Today
His first three victims ended up dead. His fourth was not so fortunate . . .
Alison Willetts is unlucky to be alive. She has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by a skillful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear, and feel and is aware of everything going on around her, but is completely unable to move or communicate. Her condition is called locked-in syndrome. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer made his first mistake.
Then DI Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth; it isn't Alison who is the mistake, it's the three women already dead. The killer is getting his kicks out of toying with Thorne as much as he is pursuing his sick fantasy, and as the detective zeroes in on a suspect, he finds himself pushed to his personal and professional limits . . .
This is the "exceptional" first novel in the long-running series by an international bestselling author (George Pelecanos).
"The best thriller debut of the year." —Rocky Mountain News
"A world-class crime writer." —Karin Slaughter
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a variation on the serial killer theme, newcomer Billingham's villain doesn't want to actually kill his victims (those who do die he considers "mistakes") so much as induce massive strokes that will leave them cerebrally conscious while otherwise in a completely comatose state known as "locked-in syndrome." Combining elements of both police and medical procedural thriller, the novel follows frayed, middle-aged London detective inspector Tom Thorne as he chases down a series of red herrings, gradually becoming more and more obsessed with the killer's "masterpiece," 24-year-old Alison Willetts, and the seductive doctor, Anne Coburn, who cares for her. This romantic subplot becomes entwined with the main plot as Anne's colleague and paramour, Dr. Jeremy Bishop (whose amusement with Thorne's growing infatuation with Anne reveals a particular sort of passive-aggressive sadism), fuels Thorne's rising suspicion of him with verbal jousts. Billingham, a TV writer and stand-up comic, manifests a competent enough hand with plotting and dialogue, particularly at romantic moments ("Now, this carpet has unhappy memories and I'm still not hundred percent sure I've got the smell of vomit out of it..." "You smooth-talking bastard"). Overall, he displays a solid grasp of the form, though not at the gut-wrenching level of such peers as Mo Hayder. Billingham excels in characterization, however, and it's likely that readers will develop empathy for his conflicted protagonist and the compassionate physician who takes justice into her own hands.
