Review by Booklist Review
Every week, five recovering addicts and their therapist, Tony de Silva, gather for a volatile support group. They've met for years and are enmeshed in each other's lives, but no one thinks twice when Heather Finlay doesn't show up for several weeks; addicts, after all, often scarper off. Then Heather's body is found in her London apartment weeks after her apparent murder, and DI Nicola Tanner is faced with a true whodunit. Heather had no friends beyond the support group, and de Silva invokes confidentiality rules, effectively halting Tanner's progress retracing the victim's last days. But, when a group member lets it slip that the group's last meeting was a revelation of shame that evolved into bitter fights, Tanner relentlessly picks apart de Silva's and the group members' meager statements, revealing the group's devolution into raging distrust. Tanner's investigation plays against the story of the support group's interactions before and after the murder as Billingham (a Theakston's and Sherlock award winner) skillfully layers the deceits and betrayals concealing a satisfying twist. A must-read for Val McDermid fans.--Tran, Christine Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this solid standalone from Billingham (Rush of Blood), London therapist Tony De Silva, a recovering drug addict, leads an often tense weekly session with five clients whose only connection is a history of substance abuse. When the body of recovering heroin addict Heather Finlay is found in her flat weeks after her murder, Det. Insp. Nicola Tanner takes on the case. Tanner-perhaps a less compelling but no less competent copper than the author's series lead, Tom Thorne-learns that Finlay was last seen after an incendiary group meeting and immediately suspects that De Silva's group is linked to the murder, but she's stymied by uncooperative group members such as anesthetist Robin Joffe, who wants to keep his past drug use hidden at work, and jilted housewife Diana Knight, who now shops instead of drinking. Shifting between past group sessions and Tanner's present-day investigation, Billingham builds a complex plot that is as much a whodunit as it is an examination of addiction and the lies people tell themselves to survive. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Six people meet weekly in a London therapy group devoted to overcoming addictions. When one of them is gruesomely murdered, the attention of homicide detective Nicola Tanner puts the remaining members and their therapist in the police spotlight. The novel moves back and forth from "now," the investigation, and "then," the events prior to the murder. Billingham, best known for his series of police procedurals featuring Thomas Thorne, here presents a psychological study of addiction. The characters are mostly predictable and pedestrian, with the exception of Detective Tanner, who could have used more exposure. Billingham, who also acts and does stand-up comedy, reads the work and provides a first-rate professional-level performance. -VERDICT With its red herring, a surprise or two but little suspense, and a low-key denouement, this novel will appeal to those who enjoy psychological crime novels such as The Girl on the Train. ["Billingham draws readers in as he fleshes out each character, ratchets up the tension, and surprises-and then does it again while advancing toward an ending that is tantalizingly not final": LJ 5/15/16 review of the Atlantic Monthly hc.]-Janet Martin, Southern Pines P.L., NC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Billingham sets aside his bestselling chronicles of DI Tom Thorne (Time of Death, 2015, etc.) to train a laser-sharp focus on the world's worst therapy group. There's no such thing as an ex-addict, and North London therapist Tony De Silva knows that the best he can hope for is that the members of his Monday night group learn to manage their addictions well enough to remain functioning adults. But even that seems like a lot to ask of this particular group. Anesthesiologist Dr. Robin Joffe has been reduced to a consultancy since the death of his son, something he refuses to talk about. Heather Finlay is burdened by a sorry history with both drink and drugs. Diana Knight's perfect domestic world came crashing down when her husband took up with a girlfriend who's now triumphantly pregnant. Flamboyant male model Chris Clemence seems less interested in recovery than in striking poses and provoking the other members of the group. Newcomer Caroline Armitage, who clearly has issues with food, seems mainly to serve as a fresh target for Chris' taunts. The hothouse atmosphere turns even uglier when Heather, who's missed several weekly sessions since her birthday party, is discovered brutally murdered. How brutally is hard to tell, since DI Nicola Tanner, who's heading the investigation, doesn't leak many details. Neither does Billingham, who's clearly less interested in Tanner's present-day investigation, presented in a conventional past tense, than the dozens of incendiary flashbacks leading up to the murder, dramatically but perversely set forth in the present tense. The result is to create a boiling Petri dish of alliances forged, strained, and broken amid the background of nonstop, sometimes knife-edged conflict. The solution, when it arrives, is satisfying enough. But it's the group portrait of the Monday-night therapy group, the most mismatched set of intimates since your own last family gathering, that lingers longest in the memory. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
