Well what can I say - The title certainly lives up to it's name. Full of suspense and takes you this way and that way . Mark Billingham you've wrote a fantastic novel ! DC Alice Armitage is a great character, and I loved the way she is slotted into the story line. She finds herself on Fleet ward in a psychiatric ward firstly as a patient and then her day job kicks in when there is a murder on the ward. It's twisty , tense , and unputdownable, and has everything about it to become yet another best seller.

Alice, a patient in a psychiatric ward, has suffered PTSD. She wants to solve the murder of a fellow patient as the police are no help. As things unravel she realizes she can't trust anyone, not even herself. Inside Alice's mind is a dark place but you have to read on to find out what happens next. Addictive.

4-5 stars In this stand-alone psychological thriller from the talented Mark Billingham we go down the rabbit hole into the mind of Alice Armitage. She’s currently in an Acute Psychiatric Ward suffering from PTSD following a traumatic event. As Alice informs us herself, it all starts with a mêlée, three days before the body is discovered. In some ways this is a tough read as you are inside Alice's mind which has been hijacked by PTSD. However, the author handles all that Alice sees with sensitivity and portrays her well. It’s extremely well written and is a good mixture of dark with the murders and with the state of Alice's fluctuating mind, delusions and memory. She tells her story, frequently with humour and as to whether it’s truthful or not we can’t know for sure for obvious reasons but that’s what makes it so immersive. I love her assessments of those on the ward with her, they are suffering from a variety of conditions and her acuteness of observation and commentary is good. All the characters are conveyed well and are easy to visualise. This is a mystery wrapped up inside a troubled mind and it poses some good philosophical questions with Alice the vehicle. You get a strong sense of place too and an idea what it may be like on just such a ward. The tensions build well both with the police investigation and between the patients and staff and via Alice you get a sense of foreboding and fear. Her thoughts, sensations and feelings come across in a powerful way. There are some clever misdirections because of Alice’s state of mind and so the big reveal and ultimate ending is a surprise. You feel a whole range of emotions for Alice and the others. Overall, 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.

Quite different from Mark Billingham's other books, this was a locked room mystery rather than a police procedural, but the solving of the mystery mostly took a backseat to the exploration of Alice's mental state and her interactions between the other residents of the psychiatric facility where she is located. I thought it was an excellent book and a welcome diversion from Billingham's usual style (which, I'll add, are also brilliant.)

A body has been found on Fleet Ward psychiatric unit and everyone is a suspect. DC Alice Armitage is on the case - a diligent hard working cop that is determined to find out the truth. The only problem is she is one of the patients too. This a highly entertaining book with a great main character and a brilliant twist of humour throughout. Mark Billingham continues to write novels that showcase why he’s as good as any writer out there. Rabbit Hole is a marvellous example of his outstanding talent. I highly recommend it.