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Audiobook10 hours
The Demands
Published by Hachette Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
The Crime The customers in a London convenience store are taken captive. Among them is young mother, Detective Helen Weeks. She is told her life depends on the co-operation of one of her colleagues - detective Tom Thorne.
The Demand Akhtar is desperate to know what really happened to his beloved son, who died a year before in prison. He is convinced the death was not an accident and forces the one man who knows more about the case than any other, Thorne, to re-investigate.
The Twist What Thorne discovers will upend everything he thought he knew about the fate of those he's put away...but will it be enough to fulfill the wishes of a grieving and potentially violent father?
The Demand Akhtar is desperate to know what really happened to his beloved son, who died a year before in prison. He is convinced the death was not an accident and forces the one man who knows more about the case than any other, Thorne, to re-investigate.
The Twist What Thorne discovers will upend everything he thought he knew about the fate of those he's put away...but will it be enough to fulfill the wishes of a grieving and potentially violent father?
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Reviews for The Demands
Rating: 3.762626161616162 out of 5 stars
4/5
99 ratings13 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent and unusual storyline. DI Tom Thorne tries to find out if a young prisoner in a Young Offenders' Institute committed suicide and if not who killed him and why. The pressure is on though as the father of the dead boy is holding Sgt Helen Weeks hostage in his newsagents until Tom Thorne brings him details of his son's killer. In his quest to find the answers he needs, Thorne ignores procedure and protocol, coming under heavy pressure from colleagues and superiors alike as a consequence. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoy Mark Billingham's books. Tome Thorne is a great character - a detective, and yes, flawed, but not a chliche. There is thankfully none of the morose alcoholism or inability to form relationships that seem to adorne so many detective novels; Thorne is a likeable maverick with unpredictable cases to solve. As usual with Billingham's novels, I found this a real page turner. Thorne's ex makes a comment about the perfect case for him - someone to catch and someone to save and that's the main premise of this book. A newsagent, a grieving father is holding two people hostage at gunpoint until Thorne can demonstrate that justice can be seen to be done by finding out who killed the hostage-taker's son. The problem for Thorne is that the newsagent's son was found dead in a Young Offender's Insitution after having an overdose of Tramodol and an inquiry has reached a verdict of suicide. The book centres around Thorne's re-investigation of the case - is it possible the boy could have been murdered or is it just a case of a grieving father unable to accept the truth?There are plenty of twists and turns in the book and I really disagree with the previous reviewer who said the book was predictable. Only the author could possibly have known all the plot turns. I am a real fan of Billingham's characterisation - his books are populated with believable people interacting in unpredictable ways as the case unfolds. A highly recommended read for fans of thrillers and crime fiction.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have read a few Tom Thorne books and I like this character. Tom is a tough, no-nonsense cop wth an extreme sense of justice. He is never afraid to push things to the limit to get his man so to speak. This book is about a hostage takig but the reason behind the hostage-taking is that of a grieving father trying to prove that his son did not kill himself while he was incarcerated in a juvenile detention centre. This father places the onerous task on Thorne to prove that his son's death was not a suicide. While Tom is busy trying to find out this information, the hostage situation is playing out and we get glimpses into what is going on within the building-a distraught father with a gun, an off-duty police officer and a bank employee, all thrown together into an impossible situation. The twist is the reason why this boy's "suicide" occurred in the first place. Tom discovers the truth behind all the lies and shakes up the justice system in London in the process. And he does it in the usual bull in a china shop Thorne fashion. This book is wonderfully written and Billingham, in my opion, should find himself in with the likes of other very well-known procedural writers such as Reginald Hill, Elizabeth George and Ian Rankin.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Race, class, gender . . . seems like Billingham was trying to get a little bit of everything into the latest entry in the Tom Thorne series. It's all bound up in a page-turning hostage situation, which is spun around a suicide-or-not? mystery involving a teenage prisoner. Needless to say, between all these themes and the two plot lines (the "suspense" plot and the "mystery" plot), it's a pretty tightly packed novel. It will keep you turning the pages, but, even as this happens, Billingham swiftly closes off avenues of possibility in the murder plot, quickly narrowing the number of possible suspects and thus not making the outcome a tremendous surprise. The novel raises a lot of questions about justice and fairness, equality and opportunity, and explotation. In such a short span of time, it does raise more questions than it answers, but ambiguity is not really a bad thing-- it prevents the novel from becoming a moral fable, which would have just been preachy and tiresome. Nonetheless, there is an overriding sense that Thorne is the "good guy" cop pitched against society's evils, going with his gut and doing his best to redress society's wrongs.This would probably read well as a stand-alone in the Thorne series, because the supporting cast does not come into play much (which was a minus for me, as I enjoy these other characters). Newcomers to the Thorne series could easily jump in here, though I'd still probably recommend beginning somewhere nearer the beginning unless you particularly like high-suspense narratives.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have been an ardent fan of Mark Billingham from book one in his Detective Tom Thorne series. The Demands is the tenth offering in this British crime series. Detective Sergeant Helen Weeks stops regularly into Javed Akhtar's corner shop for her morning paper and gum. Akhtar has just chased some young hooligans out of his store when he abruptly turns, locks the door on Helen and a male customer....and pulls a gun. Helen and Stephen are now his hostages. His demands? For Detective Tom Thorne to investigate his son Amin's death while in custody. It was ruled suicide but Akhtar doesn't believe it. Thorne is in a race against time - and an unstable man - to re investigate a closed case. Why do I enjoy this series so much? Billingham always comes up with an arresting plot that provides some unexpected turns. The tension ratchets higher as Thorne discovers truths that Akhtar may not want to hear. We are privy to the drama in the shop through Helen's eyes. Helen has appeared in a previous book and is another strongly drawn character I was glad to see return. Billingham's plot also includes some relevant social commentary. But of course the real draw is Tom Thorne. Thorne is ornery, obstinate and driven to solve his cases at almost any cost. This lands him on a fine line between right and wrong many times. His single mindedness has cost him in many ways, both professionally and personally. But his persistence usually pays off. I loved the ending and cannot wait for the next installment in this gritty, gripping series Who else is reading and recommending Mark Billingham? Michael Connelly, Lee Child and Gillian Flynn. And me!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The last 100 pages of "Good as Dead" are excellent, the usual top notch stuff from Mark Billingham, in the 10th(?) Tom Thorne novel - but it's a bit of a slow, tiresome journey to get to that point. A slow, every-day-the-same-routine morning suddenly morphs BAM! into a hostage situation, at a newsagent's shop of all places (think 7-11). The two hostages are a woman cop, and the other customer in the store at the time with her. To free them, Thorne must solve a murder officially ruled a suicide. Tick, tick, tick. Great climax. But overall not as interesting as the usual Billingham stuff. Lots of scenes in correctional facilities for youth, and it has a heavy abused, gay youth theme. Interesting commentary on armed cops in BG throughout the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thought this was quite good - a worthy addition to the series, if not, perhaps, the best of the bunch.The setup seems a rather ho-hum affair: a shopkeeper suddenly snaps and shuts down his shop with two hostages held at gunpoint within. His price for their freedom: proof of his son's murder, not suicide, at a local Young Offenders' Institution. Tom Thorne to deliver.At first, there appears to be little at stake, but the bodies do indeed begin to mount up, and the pacing is perfect.What makes this especially stimulating reading, though, is its exposure of the casual corruption we imagine pervades the top of the British establishment, and what somebody else in a different context once called the banality of evil: it certainly is banal, but it is also, just as certainly, evil.A novel seemed to start unpromisingly in fact gathers steam and powers towards a terrific climax.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A first-rate mystery with interesting characters. Police officer Helen Weeks is taken hostage by a shopkeeper whose son, he is told, has committed suicide in prison. He is not convinced, and Detective Tom Thorne must find the truth, which turns out to be pretty twisted. Highly recommended!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Mark Billingham's The Demands, Detective Sargent Helen Weeks is a new mom whose life has already been touched by personal violence with the murder of her child's father. When teenage thugs harass a local newsagent, Javed Akhtar, she hesitates when it comes to getting involved- hoping he can resolve the issue without her help. Little does she know that the newsagent, a grieving father, has an agenda of his own. It involves holding her and another customer hostage while demanding that Detective Tom Thorne investigate the alleged suicide of his son in prison. Thorne races to find answers for Akhtar before either of the hostages can come to harm.
Sigh. I have found another mystery series to add to the growing list of detective series where I have some catching up to do. Thorne is pretty much all that both women and men love in their hero detective. He's smart, doesn't play by all the rules and he cares about the people involved in his cases - he wants to find justice for them. I also got the feeling that he was probably pretty easy on the eyes. Never a bad thing.
Anyway, the case is complex and Billingham touches upon ethnic and religious tensions in London as Akhtar is convinced that the country to which he has dedicated his life has rushed to the easy conclusion in the death of his son. There is definitely evidence of discrimination as Thorne re-investigates all the angles of the altercation that led Akhtar's son to be imprisoned in the first place, but other troubling angles arise in which privilege and sexuality play important roles. Accompanying the tense hostage scenes and the action of the developing investigation are the interior lives of both Thorne and Weeks. Thorne is pondering the aftermath of his latest failed relationship and Weeks is still lost and grieving over her own partner's death before they were able to resolve their troubled relationship.
While it's hard to feel empathy for a man who would take hostages to achieve his aims, Billingham manages to make Akhtar understood, if not championed. The Demands is deftly plotted and well-written and makes for a read that is both thoughtful and suspense filled. Readers who are new to the Thorne series will have no problems jumping right in. Highly Recommended. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I liked this book a little better than the last one in the series (Bloodline). I didn’t dislike that one, but I thought The Demands had a much quicker pace. The chapters are rather short, and it helps move things along. I think that most of that is due to the circumstances of the story: it’s a hostage situation, which puts a clock on Thorne’s investigation.Helen is a character that appeared in another of Billingham’s books, In the Dark. She and Thorne make a connection in this book that is sort of out of nowhere. I’m hoping it’s set up in the previous book that I haven’t read.While I liked the story, the “procedural” part of this police procedural is rather weak. I’m not sure there’s much of anything here that’s by the book. The justification for it is the shortened time span (though Thorne has a bit of a reputation for working outside of the lines).This is a series I’d eventually like to get to from the beginning.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When thugs harass newsagent Javed Akhtar once too often, he snaps and takes two customers hostage, police officer, Helen Weeks,and bank employee, Stephen Mitchell. Akhtar’s youngest son has apparently committed suicide in a youth training facility, but his father believes he was murdered. Unless Detective Tom Thorne can find the murderer, both hostages may die.Well-plotted and suspenseful with an exciting climax. A good read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Race, class, gender . . . seems like Billingham was trying to get a little bit of everything into the latest entry in the Tom Thorne series. It's all bound up in a page-turning hostage situation, which is spun around a suicide-or-not? mystery involving a teenage prisoner. Needless to say, between all these themes and the two plot lines (the "suspense" plot and the "mystery" plot), it's a pretty tightly packed novel. It will keep you turning the pages, but, even as this happens, Billingham swiftly closes off avenues of possibility in the murder plot, quickly narrowing the number of possible suspects and thus not making the outcome a tremendous surprise. The novel raises a lot of questions about justice and fairness, equality and opportunity, and explotation. In such a short span of time, it does raise more questions than it answers, but ambiguity is not really a bad thing-- it prevents the novel from becoming a moral fable, which would have just been preachy and tiresome. Nonetheless, there is an overriding sense that Thorne is the "good guy" cop pitched against society's evils, going with his gut and doing his best to redress society's wrongs.This would probably read well as a stand-alone in the Thorne series, because the supporting cast does not come into play much (which was a minus for me, as I enjoy these other characters). Newcomers to the Thorne series could easily jump in here, though I'd still probably recommend beginning somewhere nearer the beginning unless you particularly like high-suspense narratives.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A 40-something curmudgeon with a pedantic affection for correct English and an inexplicable enthusiasm for country and western music, DI Thomas Thorne has had an excellent innings but there are signs in this, his 10th outing, that perhaps it is time for him to retire. Hostage office Helen Weeks [from Billingham’s stand-alone book In the Dark] is herself taken hostage by her local newsagent who is determined to find out the truth behind his son’s so-called suicide while in a Young Offender’s Institute. As the original arresting officer, Tom has just three days to solve the murder while tensions mount and people die. Twists abound, sexual exploitation and racism are manifest, the rather predictable anti-gay prejudice complicates lives and there is an overwhelming stench of high-level cover-up. A good read but not his usual standard.