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The Burning Girl

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The Burning Girl

By: Mark Billingham
Narrated by: Roger Lloyd Pack
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Summary

 Jessica Clarke had been set alight twenty years ago. Her attacker, quickly tracked down and eager to confess, is still in jail, his career as a hitman for North London gangs now well behind him. So who is harassing Carol Chamberlain, the arresting officer, and claiming that he is one who burned the girl?

Now retired, Carol turns to DI Tom Thorne for help. Thorne is up to his neck investigating a series of killings which appear to be the result of a turf war between rival gangs, and he's fed up to the gills with reporting to DCI Tughan, so helping Carol out looks like a good deed in a naughty world. Only the world is about to turn much nastier, so nasty in fact that he finds himself longing for a straightforward psycopath to hunt down.

This is a powerful work, exploring the effects of violence and greed on the lives of those who exploit their fellow beings.©2001 Mark Billingham Crime Thrillers Modern Detectives Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Suspense
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Critic reviews

With The Burning Girl, Mark Billingham steps away from the inventively vicious serial killers of his earlier thrillers to have his police detective Thorne investigate something equally unpleasant--the men who kill for money not kicks and the gangsters who ruthlessly employ them. Thorne's retired friend Carol put Rooker away years ago for setting fire to a girl--whom he mistakenly believed to be the daughter of gang-boss Kelly; the girl did not die, then, but wished she had. Now someone is ringing Carol, saying it was them that burned the girl, and Rooker is promising to tell the truth; Ryan, Alison Kelly's ex-husband and her father's chosen successor, is caught up in gang warfare with a new North London Turkish mafia. As always, Billingham delivers psychological insights you half wish you didn't have, along with a profound sense of just how far the damaged Thorne will go in the name of justice. Anyone who knows North London will recognise this as being as atmospheric as it is moody--Billingham continues to develop from book to book.
A disturbing and ruthlessly compelling novel
Murder and mystery do not come better than this.
Brisk, racy read.
All stars
Most relevant
Sorry after listening to Mark read the first 3 books. I couldn’t get into RLP reading as all I heard was “Trigger” and waiting for Delboy to join in.
And what is with that music. For a short listening (under 6hrs) I’m still trying to finish it off after5 days. I still have chapter 5 to reread as feel asleep. Sorry.

What’s with the music

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I’ve really enjoyed the previous books in this series but found this one a bit disappointing. I can’t decide whether it was the narrator, who I found really irritating!, or a combination of poor narration and not great storyline.

Disappointing

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Suprisingly lacklustre (compared to the first three Tom Thorne books). Thorne seemed to have very little to do - other than to antagonise both sides ina gang war - and was little more than a minor character in the book.
I'm not sure about Roger Lloyd Pack as a narrator, and I definately did not appreciate the discordant music between each chapter.

Disappointing

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Not my favourite in the series. Probably because it was abridged and felt disjointed in places.
I didn't much care for the narration. Once it occurred to me that the guy sounded like Trigger from Only Fools and Horses it got in the way for me.
Overall an okay listen.

Good story.

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Compared to other books in the series, the narrator in this one was annoying to listen to and it took away from my enjoyment of the story. There were no other versions on offer and I wanted to listen to the books in order so I persevered but was left wishing I had read it instead. The storyline was good but I tuned out at times and fell asleep at times as the narrator just didn’t appeal.

Good book but annoying voice

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