Book Review
Title. Rabbit Hole
Author. Mark Billingham
Published by Sphere
For many readers this will be a gigantic step into the unknown. The experience will be testing. The noises, the behaviours, the spartan feel and the assault on the olfactory side of things are all a challenge. And some choose to work in there and well done for them for doing it.
Mark Billingham’s latest book ‘Rabbit Hole’ is a standalone and is very different from his detective series of the Tom Thorne novels. The title is a curious one and whether it fits or not is irrelevant as it is set almost totally in a psychiatric ward. I heard him speak at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival where he explained how it came about. He visited one and from his observations the ideas came.
There are patients who have no choice but to be in there; others who only come for a short stay and the nurses. Good luck to them as it is must be difficult. On the other hand I know that sometimes being able to identify who is who is not that easy! They are all described through the confused mind of Alice who delights in giving them nicknames. All stories are driven by it’s characters and this one is driven well.
Well what is it about? How can a crime be committed in a secure and supposed safe place? Well it happened. Alice thinks she knows best and uses her limited experience to find the culprit. There is a lot of ‘toing-and-froing’ with the behaviour and dialogue between the inmates being central to the telling. Of course, the police are called in and it is investigated to a conclusion.
I felt, at times, in the early part that it could have had a faster pace but that may have detracted from the actual telling and giving the reader time to get to know them all. I loved it and the strangeness of their everyday lives although far from normal carried mysteries with it. If you haven’t been in an institution then it can be difficult to comprehend.
There are no clues on the cover as to who-done-what and only praise on the back cover from established authors. Maybe if I hadn’t met Mark Billingham or knew of him before I may not have been tempted to read it. Anyway, I like books set in different or even strange locations and that fitted in very well with me. Now the signed copy can sit resting in the bookcase as I open up Greg Buchanan’s ‘Sixteen Horses’. I can assure you that is bloody different!
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