Lifeless (Hardcover)

I'm undergoing somewhat of a disaffect with serial killer novels right now, so I wasn't too sure about this book, especially after The Burning Girl, which veered away from that sub-genre completely, and broke entirely new and refreshing ground for the series. The fact is that if Billingham sticks with serial killers then he's never going to better his first book (and so far, he hasn't - but his last came close). I was pleased, then, that this book, despite its initial conceit of strings of homeless people being killed, steers away that, and is ultimately better for it. (Though, I suspect, the exposited motivation for some of the killings is less accurate than the simple fact Billingham had to have them in order to maintain a selling point, an original angle.) Lifeless is a clever, topical, intelligent crime novel, another point on Billingham's arc of growing maturity that started with Lazybones.

One of the central problems I have personally with Billingham's series is Tom Thorne. While I like him, and I concede (quite willingly) that the psychological development of the character through recent books - and through this one in particular - is fascinating and excellently wrought on Billingham's part, he is nothing new or special, he is nothing that we haven't seen so, so many times before (and, to be honest, better). He doesn't extend the constant pull of interest that some other detectives do, purely because I don't feel that there's anything new in him: he seems almost to be a likeable composite of so many other detectives. I never anticipate Billingham's book because of the protagonist, as I do with Rankin or Mankell. Fortunately, Billingham's plots are usually enough to keep me riveted anyway.

Aside from the journey Thorne's character seems to be on, the real triumph of this novel is Billingham's portrait of the immense landscape of homelessness. It's superbly done. The general atmosphere, and the characters involved (particularly the young couple Spike and Caroline whom Thorne befriends) are written brilliantly, touching yet not sentimental, always emptily sad. It's never less than clear that this environment is harsh and dangerous, Thorne somewhat crazy for so willingly immersing himself in it.

It's a book that's better than I'd thought it would be, but not quite as good as Billingham has shown himself capable of. Still, it's a surprising, satisfying crime novel, with a nice sizeable dollop of societal analysis.

Thorne’s been on gardening leave since the death of his father last year which also gives him time to recover from his previous experiences detailed in The Burning Girl, the author's fourth novel. In Lifeless, Thorne offers to go undercover and live on the streets of London to help track down a serial killer who kicks dozing dossers to death. It emerges that the link between the murders is an event that took place during the Gulf War in 1991, one that was captured on a videotape and which falls conveniently into the hands of the police. So the storyline is a whodunit along with the motives behind the brutal killings.

I still don’t think that Mark Billingham has bettered his debut novel Sleepyhead. His writing is always readable and worthy of purchase, but he seems to be running out of fresh ideas. Lifeless is quite consistent, never boring but if it comes under the category of suspense thriller then there is little to be found of either – murder mystery would be a safer classification but the only characters I found myself relating to or caring about were the regulars of Thorne, Holland, Brigstocke, Hendricks and Kitson. All the other characters – victims, suspects and backing-crew – are generally forgettable characters which left me unconcerned when another body is found and unmoved when the penny drops and Thorne nails the baddie.

But I suppose I must be considered a fan since I have bought every one of the author’s books and I won’t hesitate to buy his next. It’s just that I have this feeling that he could work harder at the plot and create a more multi-layered work of fiction with more wide-ranging and inter-twining events and characters. I have a feeling that Mark Billingham’s inspiration to write came in part from Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs and in his first book Sleepyhead he made a pretty good attempt of producing something worthy of comparison - it's arguably his only truly original piece of writing. He’s gone off the boil a bit since then, in my opinion, producing relatively mainstream murder mysteries but I think if he really put his mind to it he could emulate and even better his debut novel.