Mark Billingham's stand alone thriller, 'Rabbit Hole', departs from the novelists usual formula. Instead of following a murder investigation through the eyes of the investigating officer (often Tom Thorne), this book is narrated by Alice Armitage, a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Alice is a witty observer of the ward, and her previous occupation means she has inside knowledge of police processes. However, over the course of the novel, black outs in Alice's memory mean it becomes unclear whether she might have caused a murder to take place, or indeed be the murderer. I am usually a big fan of Mark Billingham's writing and find his novels acutely observed and the right mix of pace, humour, and tragedy. Whilst 'Rabbit Hole' is a very good read, for me it didn't quite match up to his other work. I think this was partly due to the whole of the novel taking place on the ward (Alice is sectioned in hospital, so can not leave) and therefore the pace felt a little bit off to me. I work in a psychiatric setting, so I also found myself getting distracted by questions regarding whether certain things would happen on the ward, and whether the portrayals of the other patients were too 2D or eccentric. However, I did enjoy the twists in this novel. I also liked all of the little nods to Billingham's previous books and I wanted to read until the end, without finding this a chore. The acknowledgements highlight this wasn't an easy book for Billingham to write and has some personal significance. To be fair, when a Billingham book isn't as good as expected, its still a very good read!

A departure from Mark Billingham's usual style, adopting the voice of Alice Armitage who has been sectioned in a psychiatric ward. Alice, of course, does not think she belongs in this establishment and feels abandoned by friends and family. She describes her fellow detainees, giving each a nickname and she also explores the staff who are there taking care of them. What is a very sad state of affairs for the characters is lifted by the humour Mark Billingham draws from the situation and interaction. Well written, sensitively handled, fascinating story in this setting. Highly entertaining but also thought provoking.

This book was very thought provoking. Alice suffers with a really bad case of PTSD and is sectioned. She obviously feels she is not a bad as she is. It all started with a trauma with her police partner being killed when they went into a drug addict’s home and all went horribly wrong. While in the psychiatric ward one of her inpatients is murdered and she is on a mission to find the culprit bringing in all her police skills. Something is not right about the way she starts the investigation and sometimes she becomes so obsessed that she even bothers the police officers who are investigating the murder. They are not interested in her help and when reading the book you wonder why which eventually comes into the story. The more she investigates the murder the more she spirals down into her PTSD to the point where she is rude and unpleasant as she feels totally ignored. The inpatients are all different in their needs and there is often drama between them. The food on the camera made me smile. Alice cannot seem to recall the names of the police officers and starts giving them names so she can remember them individually. Two police women are donned with the names French and Saunders for example. As you read on you realise how erractic Alice is, her mind playing tricks on her and you begin to feel life will be difficult for her – she has been medically discharged from the police. To add more drama to Alice’s life another murder is committed and this time it is the person who Alice was convinced murdered Kevin. As the story progresses you wonder whether she was in fact in the police or if not what caused the PTSD. The book continues and the conclusion of the story was finished in a very calm and positive way. Enjoyed it

I haven't read any of Mark Billingham's work before so was interested to read this one which is a stand alone book. Having spent some time on a placement in an acute psychiatric unit the story rang true and I felt the author was sympathetic to the staff, which was great as they often seem an easy target for writers. I enjoyed the very dark humour and the gradual revealing of the plot, but I did find it over complex at times and I'm not sure the epilogue was quite the surprise it needed to be. Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for an advance copy of this book

This is a really original read told from the perspective of Al (Alice) a former Police Officer who suffered PTSD from an incident at work that led to her behaviour and mental health spiralling out of control and she ultimately became detained under the Mental Health Act. When one of the other patients on her ward is found dead Al cannot resist investigating. I thought this was told very well from the mindset of a mental health patient with a good balance of humour thrown in and the variances in her level of lucidity worked well. The relationships she had with the other patients were well mixed and her feelings about the staff rang true. It’s not the easiest to read simply because Al’s mind can be variable but that’s what made it all the more compelling.