In The Dark - Mark Billingham

So how does Mark Billingham cope in his first (almost) standalone novel outside of his D.I. Thorne series? Pretty good, actually. On the surface the subject matter might not appear all that different – London mobs and gangsters and police procedural (or lack of it since his police officers often tend to work in an "unofficial" capacity) – but freed from the restrictions of the lead D.I.'s troubled private life and the increasing banality of the supporting characters over the last few Thorne novels, In The Dark is able to take Billingham's dark exploration of the criminal underbelly of London much further.

It may not always make for pleasant reading, but Billingham's representation of the dangers on the streets of the UK today seems to be pretty accurate. Drive-by shootings, drug deals, street gangland initiations and larger scale criminal activities are all handled by the author with characteristic authenticity for both character and situation. Again, with a strong ear for realistic dialogue, Billingham's strength is in picking up all the aspects of everyday limited hopes and aspirations, revealing the underlying social factors that drive ordinary people into crimes and gangs. His book shows the impact this has, not only on the police officers who have to deal with this on an everyday basis, but also its consequences for the wider community.

Billingham weaves each of these realist elements extremely well into a thrilling storyline which is not short of twists and surprises. The novel might end on a somewhat dark, bleak note, and there might not be any neat epilogue to wrap everything up the way some viewers might like, but the In The Dark is stronger and all the more realistic for it.