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Buried (Hardcover)

by Mark Billingham (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown (4 May 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316730505
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316730501
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 262,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The fashion in which Mark Billingham has climbed his way to the top of the British crime writing fraternity should cause no one any surprise. His secret (as his latest book, Buried, comprehensively proves) is simple: Billingham's work is always utterly reliable, delivering gritty and authoritative crime fiction writing in which the sense of locale is always spot-on.

Here, DI Tom Thorne is asked to help in the case of a teenage boy who has disappeared. He is the son of a once high-ranking police officer (now retired), and Thorne’s first endeavour is to ask the father, ex DCI-Mullen, to draw up a list of all those in his past who might have reason to hold a grudge. But then Thorne discovers that there is an omission from the list: a man who has made serious threats to Mullen and his family. And as Billingham's beleaguered hero strains every sinew to track down the boy before he is killed, he has to find out why his ex-police colleague has lied to him.

As so often before with Billingham, it's the steady accumulation of disturbing detail that makes this novel so compelling. The author eschews easy thrills, and prefers to involve the reader at a more realistic pace. This is not to say that the book lacks excitement (even Billingham's enemies could hardly accuse him of that), but just that the tension is dispensed in a way that never seems meretricious. Another solid entry in the growing Tom Thorne canon.

--Barry Forshaw



Herald

`With BURIED we're plunged back into the dark side with a
vengeance . . . Billingham's plotting is as taut as ever'
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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (7)
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2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Lifeless !, 17 May 2006
By M. Peters "Michelle Peters" (Liverpool/ London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought 'Buried' as soon as it hit the bookshelves. Read it within the day. The story is great, and I still like Tom Thorne and am pleased for him (you'll find out why in the book). I was also quite pleasantly surprised at the first and second twist in the book, I did not see either coming.

On the other hand, the final twist can be seen almost as soon as you finish around three quarters of the book. I am still having mixed feelings about the ending, I think it relied too heavily on co-incidences and I thought it just ended up being too melodramatic... the book could have been tautened and concluded about 20 pages before it actually does.

My conclusion, 'Buried' does not have the same 'zing' as 'Lifeless' or 'The Burning Girl' did. On the other hand, Tom Thorne is beginning to be really likeable (from an Arsenal fan, this is high praise indeed). I would have liked to have seen more of Phil Hendricks in this book, though, I find him a fascinating character (and not because he's an Arsenal fan)

Overall, not brilliant, but a good book for the beach/ mountains !
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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars BURIED : TREASURE, 25 Jul 2006
By OEJ (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
A teenage boy goes missing - the son of a former police officer who might have had some enemies with scores to settle.

This is Mark Billingham's sixth and latest novel featuring London-based DI Tom Thorne, and in my considered opinion, it's also the best yet.

You may have heard the saying that it's better to see an average film with a great script than a great film with a bad script. In a way, BURIED is an example of why it's better to read a well-written book with a so-so story line than an interesting story that's been poorly written. I have a feeling that some of the criticism that this novel has received has been a result of its less than sensational plot and story-line; some people possibly expected another serial killer tale (which this is not) with dead bodies discovered every other chapter. No, BURIED is a more intelligent story, a more realistic one if anything, and as someone who has read all of the authors five previous novels I would suggest that he has put the greatest amount of thought and research into this latest story even if it lacks some of the bells and whistles that some of Mark's fans might have expected. A great deal of care and planning has gone into the structure of every single page, and with regard to the bigger picture of the entire book, it is a considerably more multi-layered piece of work than Lifeless, for example, which only had me thinking in one direction throughout.

The only weakness of BURIED was its ending, which of course I cannot really describe here but in this regard it bears comparison with several books I have read this year which had endings that failed to live up to the promises created earlier. With less than 100 pages to go I was enjoying this book enormously and eagerly looking forward to giving it the highest of accolades here on Amazon, but to my (slight) frustration it didn't quite deliver the knockout punch that I felt it could have. I have still given it the full 5 stars though, because the first 300+ pages deserved it on their own. Perhaps the key message for me is that Mark Billingham is back at his best after something of a dip in his performance, he's definitely a better writer than he ever has been and if he can come up with a smash-hit story-line for the next in the Thorne series, then he will have a major success on his hands. He has now proved that he has genuine depth of ability in his writing structure, and we know he has great imagination thanks to his debut novel Sleepyhead; if he can combine those two rare skills in one book next time round then we are all in for a real treat.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Confirms Billingham's status as one of the best, 13 Jul 2007
By Ray Blake (Hemel Hempstead, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Buried (Tom Thorne Novels) (Paperback)
In a crowded marketplace for grumpy police detective series, Mark Billingham's books about DI Thorne sweep aside most of the competition and stand alongside Ian Rankin's Rebus books easily.

As usual, Billingham finds a very different angle from the usual straightforward murder. This time, it is a kidnap which requires his involvement.

Billingham again gets everything right. Thorne is a recognisably real character, but usually a few steps ahead of the reader when it counts. The odd mix of rivalry and genuine co-operation between different parts of the force is again convincing. And his descriptions - of London, of houses and workplaces - are thoroughly evocative.

The book ends with a certain amount of ambiguity, which I always see to be the sign of a mature writer willing to take a risk and make the reader think.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent story from Billingham!
I got started on the Mark Billingham/Tom Thorne books after a recommendation on Amazon. And now I'm well and truly addicted. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Jenny

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced thriller that doles out annoying clichés in the B-plot - but above average for tension
I am torn about Buried because it was the first Billingham book I happened to read, also the first novel that I ever bought based on TV advertising rather than just the massive... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Born Again Bookworm

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful
Hard bitten Detective based stories are ubiquitous in the land of fiction. It's the plot and characterisation that seperates the good from the dregs. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Carolyn O'brien

2.0 out of 5 stars Too slow
I found this a slog and contemplated giving it up but persevered purely because I already have the next book in the series and didn't want to miss any links that might trace back... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Helen Simpson

3.0 out of 5 stars Good mysery, weak character development
First Sentence: You think about the kids.

DI Tom Thorne and his team are searching for the son of a retired, formerly-high-ranking police official. Read more
Published 15 months ago by L. J. Roberts

1.0 out of 5 stars i am confused!!
why? because I really liked Scaredy Cat, and couldn't wait to read my second. It happened to be Buried, and I could scarcely believe it was by the same writer. Read more
Published 15 months ago by pompeyman

2.0 out of 5 stars His Worst So Far.
I have enjoyed the Tom Thorne series of books, but, I found Buried a bit of a struggle to read. After the initial kidnapping, the characters seem to plod along, and there is no... Read more
Published 18 months ago by J.Flood

1.0 out of 5 stars One star too much.
Finally, after 200 hundred pages, I gave up and binned this most dreary of books. I wouldn't disagree with another reviewer's comment that this was Billingham's most thoroughly... Read more
Published 19 months ago by T. Sweeney

5.0 out of 5 stars Full points for this one
An ex-cop's son is kidnapped and Thorne and Co. are called in to help.

The tale is well-structured and is written with colour, good insights and a little humour. Read more
Published 19 months ago by johnverp

4.0 out of 5 stars Every Rose......
DI Thorne is back and in good form in this tale of kidnap and racially motivated murder. Previous books didn't live up to the early promise of this series but this one marks a... Read more
Published 22 months ago by R. Ward

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