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Rabbit Hole

The Sunday Times number one bestseller

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Rabbit Hole

By: Mark Billingham
Narrated by: Maxine Peake
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About this listen

 'Fast-paced and twisting' PAULA HAWKINS, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

'At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize' THE TIMES
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Pre-order Mark Billingham's pulse-racing new Tom Thorne thriller, THE MURDER BOOK, now!
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My name is Alice. I'm a police officer.
I'm trying to solve a murder on a psychiatric ward.
But I'm also a patient...

They were meant to be safe on Fleet Ward: psychiatric patients monitored, treated, cared for. But now one of their number is found murdered, and the accusations begin to fly.

Was it one of his fellow patients? A member of staff? Or did someone come in from the outside?

DC Alice Armitage is methodical, tireless, and she's quickly on the trail of the killer.

The only problem is, Alice is a patient too.
________________________

'A deeply compelling read'
Harriet Tyce

'The most cunning, complex, claustrophobic mystery'
Louise Candlish

'Immense skill and heart'
Eve Chase

'Brilliant, suspenseful, poignant, heartbreaking, surprisingly funny'
Linwood Barclay

'One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today'
Gillian Flynn

'A world-class crime writer'
Karin Slaughter

'Mark Billingham is a master of psychology'
Ian Rankin

'Billingham is always a must read'
Harlan Coben©2021 Mark Billingham Ltd Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedural Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Detective Crime Witty Murder Suspense

Critic reviews

A gripping, twisting murder mystery and a blackly comic indictment of the way we treat psychological illness today. At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize.
Follow Alice - plucky, resourceful, lovable and infuriating - down the Rabbit Hole in Billingham's fast-paced and twisting thriller
Rabbit Hole is the most cunning, complex, claustrophobic mystery with delicious echoes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I tore through it, terrified I'd never get out
Rabbit Hole is authentic, raucous and deeply compassionate. Expertly balancing humour, tension and pathos, it'll do for the psychiatric ward what The Thursday Murder Club has done for retirement villages. A deeply compelling read
A gripping murder mystery with a streak of black humour
Mark Billingham's tough, funny novel combines a shockingly twisty plot with a scathing critique of our mental health services
I was totally drawn into Rabbit Hole by Alice, the novel's wildly unreliable narrator. Hilarious, menacing yet vulnerable, she's a brilliant creation, alive on the page. Billingham creates the dark, claustrophobic world of the psychiatric ward with both immense skill and heart
Brilliant, suspenseful, poignant, heartbreaking, surprisingly funny, and Mark Billingham, magician that he is, pulls that proverbial rabbit out of the hat at the end. More than just about any other book I've read, I HAD to know how it would all come together
Unusual and ambitious - written with immense sympathy, but also glorious jet-black humour
A one-of-a-kind narrative and a finale that resolves most matters but preserves a measure of tantalizing ambiguity
Billingham's picture of the ward and its staff is full of humanity, leaving us with a clear sense that this kind of illness could affect any of us, and the story offers an excellent twist. He gets better and better.
An absolute monster of a read, it pulls you in close for a hug as it slaps your awareness. A LoveReading Star Book and Book of the Month, Rabbit Hole is quite simply an outstanding and wondrous ride.
When the solution comes it's perfectly satisfying. My guess, though, is that what most readers will remember more intensely is . . . Alice's voice: by turns funny, broken, chatty, defiant, bewildered-but always utterly convincing and compelling.
It's all gripping stuff
With a powerful shocker that you never see coming, it is thought-provoking to discover what truly lies beneath
Mark Billingham's Rabbit Hole is a terrific mystery and a gripping whodunit and whydunit - and especially howdunit
All stars
Most relevant
Oh my word Mark Billingham and Maxine Peak is a match made in heaven. Sublime.

Rabbit Hole

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I'm a book binger, but there was something about this story that wasn't making me listen for hours on end. I wanted to love it. It was a great story idea. But... It just wasn't for me. I do really enjoy a lot of this author's other work though (and Maxine Peake is always great).

Interesting story idea, but hard to engage with

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I really wanted to like this book and for the first few hours I did - having been somewhere very much like fleet ward and met some similar characters, Billingham’s descriptions made me chuckle. Unfortunately I then found it dragged and I stopped listening completely with 5hrs still to go.

Far too long

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Absolutely loved this book. Brilliant story , poignant, insightful and funny. Great writing Mark Billingham.

Another great book

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I'm already a big fan of Mark Billingham & this latest novel really hits the spot! I couldn't put it down through all the twists and turns & honestly loved every minute.

Mark always gives his characters such depth they seem to come alive and Alice is no exception. Her mental health issues, treatment & experiences were so relatable & realistic, it's hard to believe she's just the creation of one man's imagination, albeit a very talented man.

Maxine Peake did an excellent job of narrating & really helped bring the story to life.

Highly recommend!

Loved it!

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