Rabbit Hole: The new masterpiece from the Sunday Times number one bestseller

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Billingham's picture of the ward and its staff is full of humanity, leaving us with a clear sense that this kind of illness could affect any of us, and the story offers an excellent twist. He gets better and better. * Literary Review * A unique scenario and place, some dry humor and a character one can't help but pull for make this an interesting, though albeit long read. I seem to be having problems with ending lately in the books I've read and the who in this who done it I felt rather anticlimactic. There was one revelation though that surprised me and made sense of what came before. So, mixed for me but worth reading for the novelty of the setting and characters. Winner of this month’s contest for Most Unreliable Narrator (sorry, no prize) is Alice “Al” Armitage, who woozily guides readers down Rabbit Hole, a novel of suspense by English author Mark Billingham . . . a one-of-a-kind narrative and a finale that resolves most matters but preserves a measure of tantalizing ambiguity.”— Wall Street Journal When one of her fellow patients is murdered, Alice becomes convinced that she has identified the killer and that she can catch them. Ignored by the police, she begins her own investigation. But when her prime suspect becomes the second victim, Alice’s life begins to unravel still further as she realizes that she cannot trust anyone, least of all herself.

Mark is also a regular contributor to radio and TV and is a member of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a combo of bestselling crime and thriller writers who performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2019. The book was interesting and some of the quirky characters were fun. The plot was different in that it was told from the psychiatric patient's point of view - I liked that.

Mark Bellingham has pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this one. The Rabbit Hole is told in a way that strikes a perfect balance between sensitively dealing with PTSD and murder whilst injecting tasteful humour throughout the book. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Alice (Al) Armitage previously worked in law enforcement but is currently confined to a psychiatric facility as the pressures of the job and the loss of her partner culminated in her abusing drugs and alcohol. A patient on the ward is murdered and Alice convinces herself that the police are in need of her help in the investigation. This is a stand alone novel by Mark Billingham, with a slight nod to “Alice in Wonderland,” with the main character being called Alice Armitage and the suggestion that she has fallen down the rabbit hole. In this case, the rabbit hole is an acute psychiatric ward, or Fleet Ward, to be exact. Alice has been sectioned and is a patient on the ward and her musings, as she explains her surroundings and the cast of characters – both other patients and staff – are darkly funny.

With each of his books, Mark Billingham gets better and better. These are stories and characters you don’t want to leave.”— Michael ConnellyOverall, I guess this won’t be everyone’s cuppa but I think it’s extremely good. There’s a well balanced mix of humour combined with the state of a persons mind and a crime. It flows well considering the narrators condition and kudos to the author for that. Set in the DI Thorne universe this is a complex and clever book written from the point of view of unreliable narrator Alice; who shares the Ward with multiple unreliable sources the other patients; the hospital is run by staff that are all unreliable sources as they have to manage what they share due to patient confidentiality; and to top it all off the police are unreliable sources as they can't share certain case details with anyone! Billingham creates a claustrophobic and fascinating mystery as the reader 'lives' the book through the perception and interpretations of mentally compromised Alice, shadowing her down her self perceived rabbit hole of a an enquiry.! It all got a bit repetitive towards the end, so despite a cool concept and tidy execution this was a 7 out of 12, Three Star read for me. Despite the suffering that goes on in the ward we witness so many strange and hilarious antics both before and after the murder of the patient but then a couple of weeks later a nurse is murdered....