I don't remember where or how I heard of this book/author, but I found it on Hoopl;a and decided to give it a listen.

More a mystery than a thriller, former cop Alice Armitage is in a mental ward after a breakdown of some sort following the death of her partner while on duty. When a murder occurs on her ward, she decides she will help investigate.

This book was weird. There is a second murder. And after 10 hours of narration, the final half hour is crazy. You find out who the murderers are, but with the second in particular, there is not explanation. (I guessed wrong, but honestly you are truly guessing as the reader does not have enough info.)

And then you get a final twist that doesn't really help with anything, so just WHAT?!

The narration took me a bit to get used to, as the narrator has a very pronounced English accent but also talks slowly. I wanted to speed it up, but then the accent was too much. I'm sure people in the UK do not have this issue. ( )

Mark Billingham has earned his reputation as one of Britain’s best crime writers due to his series featuring Tom Thorne, a detective serving with the Metropolitan Police. From time to time, he writes books that are not part of that series, and sometimes these feature Thorne and other characters from his series in walk-on roles. Rabbit Hole is that kind of book. If I were to choose one word to describe it, that word would be ‘claustrophobic’. Set entirely inside a closed mental health ward in a north London hospital, the characters are pretty much all either hospital staff or patients who have been ‘sectioned’ (forcibly hospitalised) under the Mental Health Act. A murder takes place and one of the patients, a former police officer named Alice (she of ‘rabbit hole’ fame) decides to investigate. In his final remarks, Billingham mentions how difficult it was to write a book like this, and it sounds like he knows a bit about what life is like in these wards. Or rather more than a bit. Claustrophobic for sure, but also brilliant story telling and a wonderfully-drawn character in Alice. ( )

Mark Billingham pens one of my favourite crime series - the Tom Thorne books. But he also writes standalones - the latest is Rabbit Hole.

Now, what do think when you hear the title? Merriam Webster defines a rabbit hole as "a complexly bizarre or difficult state or situation conceived of as a hole into which one falls or descends."

Alice Armitage find herself in a rabbit hole. She's a "medically retired" police officer. After witnessing the death of her partner, she develops PTSD and starts self medicating with drink and drugs. Which lands her sectioned into a secure psychiatric unit.

"A murder isn't really anything to write home about in a place like this, not when you think about it. It's almost inevitable, I reckon, like the noise and the smell. You ask me, a murder's par for the course."

Uh huh, a patient is murdered and Alice, as police, decides to work the case from inside. Great premise! Oh, Alice is a wonderfully unreliable narrator! She has memory issues, is paranoid and takes a boatload of meds every day - as does everyone she lives with. The killer could be any one of the residents.

There are a number of supporting players in Rabbit Hole - both residents and staff. The book is told from Alice's point of view and that's how we get to know the others. I have to applaud Billingham's description of those residents and their illnesses, as well as the setting and the every day life on the ward. We learn bits and pieces of what came before for Alice from interactions with some ex colleagues, friends and family. There's some dark humour scattered thoughout.

As to the 'investigation - I was just as stymied as Alice. I was with her as she pieced together answers that seemed quite logical, but changed often with new observations, memories and occurrences. I truly (and happily) had no idea who the killer would be. I thought things were being wrapped up in the run up to the final pages, and was caught off guard by an unexpected twist. Nice ending!

In my opinion, the idea for Rabbit Hole was really different (in a good way), the setting jumped to life, the characters were intriguing and really well drawn and I couldn't solve the mystery myself. Well done Mark Billingham! I'll be waiting for your next book. ( )

In an unusual change of pace, Mark Billingham places his detective in a locked ward. Alice (Al) has been relieved of her duties as a Detective Constable in the Metropolitan Police after a traumatic incident in which her partner was stabbed to death, leading to a psychotic break. When one of the other patients is murdered, she feels its her duty to investigate, calling on a friend on the outside to occasionally help her with information, but generally relying on her own observations and understanding of the setting. But once she's settled on a suspect, there's another murder.

The story is told in Alice's snarky, funny voice, but along with the humor we feel her anxiety as she tries to sort out what happened and redeem herself as a detective. But, of course, she's a classic unreliable narrator. What's real, and what has been spun up out of her illness?

It's an interesting concept, and Alice's voice is fun, but the pacing works against suspense and the snark doesn't always pair well with creating an accurate picture of what it's like to suffer from a debilitating illness. Overall, enjoyable at times but not (for me) entirely successful.

After her partner is killed during what should have been a simple assignment, Detective Constable Alice Armitage (Al) suffers severe PTSD, resulting in her being committed to a Psychiatric Hospital. When Kevin, another patient on the same ward, is murdered, she is determined to help the police solve the case even if they aren't all that keen on her help. But she continues her investigation anyway and soon thinks she has uncovered the culprit, that is, until the next murder.

Rabit Hole is the latest standalone thriller from Mark Billingham and it's, for the most part, a compelling read due mainly to the patients and, of course, Alice who is witty, smart, and likeable. But, above all else, she is an unreliable narrator so, as we follow her down the rabbit hole, we have no idea how much, if anything, she tells us, we should believe. This kept me guessing throughout and I was engaged up until the end and the big reveal which, unfortunately, seemed rushed and didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the story. As a result, what had been easily a 4-star book became at best, a 3-star. Overall, I did enjoy the story and would still recommend it but perhaps, I'd suggest borrowing it from the library.

Thanks to Edelweiss+ & Atlantic Monthly Press for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review ( )