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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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About this listen

 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 Action & Adventure Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction

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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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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

After purchasing the books from 1 to 5 slightly out of sequence i found burning girl the most difficult to engage with. This had nothing to do with the content but everything to do with the narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

After being spoiled by Robert glenister narrating the other books I've listened to, i found Roger Lloyd Pack's narration dull and monotone. The performance distracted me from fully enjoying the book. I have re-listened to the other 4 books many times but can't bring myself to suffer the narration again. This is no reflection on the narrator really as Robert Glennister is superb as Thorne.

another great book but....

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I must admit to being extremely fussy regarding narrators and having read the reviews regarding the narrator not being Mark Billingham himself was very apprehensive as to whether I could get through this book. I did and found Roger Lloyd Pack to be ok. looking forward to getting back to MB narrating and also I have seen Robert Glenister on some too who is brilliant with the Strike novels. Story wise probably my least favourite of the series so far but I am glad I didn't skip it.

Another enjoyable Tom Thorne novel

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wish I had read reviews. It's abridge and very hard to listen has its all over the place. The narrator is different and in my opinion is terrible

Abridged and new narrator

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