I have read and enjoyed all the previous books in this series so it was a pleasure to read this one. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In one particular chapter there is a great and memorable moment when D I Tom Thorne is driving down the road singing at the top of his voice. But Mark Billingham has done a brilliant job of moving the story past this subject matter alone without sensationalising, trivialising or glamourising it in any way, providing the reader with an entertaining, if not occasionally heart breaking story that I would highly recommend you read.

Whatever the reason, for obvious reasons Tanner can’t investigate the murder herself and instead turns to Tom Thorne, a man who she has met only briefly and knows more by reputation, to help her find the answers she so desperately seeks. So I was horrified upon reading Marks notes at the end of the story, to find that this is a growing problem in The UK. Then Amaya Shah and Kamal Azim go missing, and Tanner is certain their disappearance fits the pattern of the other killings.

And the conclusion of the case is as heart thumpingly tense as it satisfying and yet also, at times, surreally calm. I was a little confused with the chapter that indicated that a body had been found in a reservoir and there was only a minor reference to explain this later on.

DI Nicola Tanner has been investigating a series of what appear to be honour killings when her partner Susan is murdered. In it, Billingham is passionate and truly reinvigorated as he explains why he wrote a novel on the tricky topic of honour killing. Tanner is put on compassionate leave, although she badly wants to investigate her partner Susan’s murder. Don’t come into it looking for outright condemnation and contempt at the practice of honour killing, although that is most certainly the context of the novel.Turning to her good friend Tom Thorne she persuades him to help her uncover the truth behind the killings within the Muslim community, contracted out to hired assassins. Thorne’s gut is telling him that the parents of both missing teenagers are behind it, and he leans hard on them without the evidence to back it up. Thorne’s girlfriend Helen and step-son Alfie are there in the background, with their relationships developing, and with Helen working a suspected child abuse case as she’s a social worker. Billingham builds his characters well, and if you’ve enjoyed previous books in the series you’ll feel right at home.