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***THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER***
***THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR***
My name is Alice. I'm a police officer.
I'm trying to solve a murder on a psychiatric ward.
But I'm also a patient...
They were meant to be safe on Fleet Ward: psychiatric patients monitored, treated, cared for. But now one of their number is found murdered, and the accusations begin to fly.
Was it one of his fellow patients? A member of staff? Or did someone come in from the outside?
DC Alice Armitage is methodical, tireless, and she's quickly on the trail of the killer.
The only problem is, Alice is a patient too.
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'Fast-paced and twisting'
Paula Hawkins
'At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize'
The Times
'A deeply compelling read'
Harriet Tyce
'The most cunning, complex, claustrophobic mystery'
Louise Candlish
'Immense skill and heart'
Eve Chase
'Brilliant, suspenseful, poignant, heartbreaking, surprisingly funny'
Linwood Barclay
'One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today'
Gillian Flynn
'A world-class crime writer'
Karin Slaughter
'Mark Billingham is a master of psychology'
Ian Rankin
'Billingham is always a must read'
Harlan Coben
About the author
Mark Billingham has won numerous awards, being one of only two authors to twice win the Theakston Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel of the Year. Each of his novels has been a Sunday Times bestseller, including all those in his two series, Tom Thorne and Declan Miller. Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1, and a series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death was broadcast on BBC1. Mark lives in north London with his wife and two children.
Summary
The shocking, original and completely unpredictable new novel from multi-million selling master Mark Billingham is a standalone thriller to keep readers up at night.
Foreword
The shocking, original and completely unpredictable new novel from multi-million selling master Mark Billingham is a standalone thriller to keep readers up at night.
Additional text
When the solution comes it's perfectly satisfying. My guess, though, is that what most readers will remember more intensely is . . . Alice's voice: by turns funny, broken, chatty, defiant, bewildered-but always utterly convincing and compelling.
Report
A gripping, twisting murder mystery and a blackly comic indictment of the way we treat psychological illness today. At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize. The Times
