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    Rush of Blood
    Rush of Blood
    Rush of Blood
    Audiobook9 hours

    Rush of Blood

    Written by Mark Billingham

    Narrated by Toby Longworth

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Perfect strangers. A perfect holiday. The perfect murder.
    Three British couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on Easter Sunday, the last day of their vacation, tragedy strikes: the fourteen-year-old daughter of an American vacationer goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves. When the shocked couples return home to the U.K., they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find. Buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some unusual kinks and unpleasant vices. Then, a second girl goes missing, in Kent-not far from where any of the couples lives. Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?
    Ambitiously plotted and laced with dark humor, Rush of Blood is a first-rate suspense novel about the danger of making new friends in seemingly sunny places.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateFeb 7, 2017
    ISBN9781681684147
    Rush of Blood
    Author

    Mark Billingham

    Mark Billingham is the author of nine novels, including Sleepyhead, Scaredy Cat, Lazybones, The Burning Girl, Lifeless, and Buried—all Times (London) bestsellers—as well as the stand-alone thriller In the Dark. For the creation of the Tom Thorne character, Billingham received the 2003 Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British writer, and he has twice won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. He has previously worked as an actor and stand-up comedian on British television and still writes regularly for the BBC. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

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    Reviews for Rush of Blood

    3.5/5

    82 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves. When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find: buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices... Then, a second girl goes missing. Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?My Thoughts:Mark Billingham is one of my favourite authors with Tom Thorne being one of my favourite characters. This book is a stand alone thriller but Tom Thorne does make a brief cameo appearance.This story is about three couples who meet on holiday. There’s plenty of sun , sea, sex, drink and a murder. What was clever about this book is that you get to know the couples and it is obvious that one of the six is the killer but you just cannot make out which one. There are plenty of red herrings and as I was reading it I did keep changing my mind who it could be.This book kept me on my toes till the big reveal and then there is a twist. I wish Tom Thorne could have been on this case and it would have bought together a great story with a great characterMark Billingham has previously churned out a stand alone but it wasn’t half as good as this one. I would highly recommend this book and all of the Tom Thorne novels. I have also met Mark Billingham and would recommend going to see him if you could.
    • 5/5
      Inhaltsangabe:Drei Paare aus England machen in Florida Urlaub. Sie lernen sich dort kennen und obwohl sie sich nicht so wirklich mögen und jedes Paar so seine Eigenarten hat, verbringen sie Zeit miteinander. Am letzten Abend ihres Urlaubs verschwindet ein Mädchen und erst, als sie schon längst wieder zuhause sind, wird das Mädchen tot gefunden.Zurück in England besuchen sie sich gegenseitig. Und während dieser Dinner kommen wieder und größere Lügen zum Vorschein. Vieles ist mehr Schein als Sein und kein Paar zeigt sein wahres Gesicht.Die Situation eskaliert, als auch in England plötzlich ein Mädchen verschwindet. Und das dritte Dinner steht ihnen bevor – mit ungewissem Ausgang!Mein Fazit:Auf dieses Buch wurde ich vor Jahren aufmerksam, als eine Rezensentin im Radio darüber sprach. Ihre begeisterten Worte hatten mich sehr beeindruckt. Und ich wollte nun endlich wissen, wie das Buch nun wirklich ist.Und ich muss sagen: Ich wurde nicht enttäuscht. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von den drei Paaren, die sich in Florida im Urlaub kennen lernen. Unterschiedliche Charaktere treffen aufeinander und die Unterschiede zwischen ihnen fallen schnell auf. Doch wie es tatsächlich um sie steht, offenbart sich dem Leser erst im Laufe der Geschichte, was wirklich sehr eindrucksvoll und präzise beschrieben wurde.Der eine prahlt mit seiner Potenz und seinem Geschmack für aufreizende Frauen, der andere hadert heimlich mit seiner Impotenz. Die Frauen tragen ebenso viele Geheimnisse mitsich herum wie die Männer und zeigen nur zögerlich, wenn überhaupt, ihr wahres Gesicht. Und immer wieder schwebt das Verbrechen über sie, das verschwundene Mädchen, das später zufällig in den Sümpfen Floridas tot gefunden wird.Während sich die drei Paare in England gegenseitig zu Dinner einladen, ermittelt die Polizei von Florida und auch in England in alle Richtung. Als auch in England ein Mädchen vermisst wird, ist schnell klar, dass der Täter bei den englischen Touristen zu suchen ist. Denn die verschwundenen bzw. toten Mädchen haben eines gemeinsam: sie sind minderbemittelt und daher besonders vertrauenseelig.In kurzen, aber knackigen Kapiteln erhält der geneigte Leser tiefe Einblicke in die menschlichen Abgründe. Hin und wieder erzählt der Täter, warum er das Mädchen mitnahm und tötete, ohne ein Hinweis auf sich zu geben. Auch die ermitteltenden Beamten erhalten Raum und bilden den Kontrast zu den Ehepaaren, die sich gegenseitig belügen und was vormachen. Viele Dialoge werden beschrieben und oft weiß man ohne weitere Einzelheiten ziemlich schnell, wie die Protagonisten wirklich ticken. Und wenn man denkt, man hat nun für sich den Täter auserkoren, kommen neue Informationen und Zweifel. Die Auflösung ist überraschend und genial – dabei spielen auch wieder Lügen eine große Rolle!Ein intelligenter Krimi, der ohne Blut und Gewalt auskommt, dabei jedoch die Abgründe der menschlichen Psyche ausleuchtet. Ich wurde wunderbar unterhalten und es war spannend bis buchstäblich zur letzten Seiten. Fünf Sterne und eine klare Leseempfehlung!
    • 4/5
      Rush of Blood by Mark Billingham is a captivating mystery about a teenager who goes missing on vacation and the three couples who "knew" her. Upon their return home, the couples resume their vacation friendship and eventually begin discussing the girl's disappearance. When local police begin questioning them and another teenage girl goes missing, suspicions begin to arise that one of the six is responsible.

      British couples, Angie and Barry Finnegan, Sue and Ed Dunning, and Marina Green and Dave Cullen are all staying at the same resort while on holiday in Sarasota, FL. They strike up a vacation friendship and they enjoy hanging out together around the pool and dining with each other at local restaurants. On their last night in town, their idyllic vacation is marred by the disappearance of a fellow vacationer's fourteen year old daughter. Not letting the unfortunate incident ruin their last night in town, the couples exchange e-mail addresses and promise to keep in touch once they are back in the UK. Back home, Angie arranges the first of three increasingly tense dinner parties. Not long after each of the couples are re-interviewed by Detective Constable Jenny Quinlan, another young girl goes missing in the local area. Certain the same person is responsible for both the kidnappings, FL detective Jeff Gardner liaises with British detectives in hopes of catching the kidnapper/killer.

      On the surface, each of the couples appears to be quite happy with their lives and relationships. However, once they return to their normal lives, they begin to see the cracks beneath the surface. Angie is a stay at home mom with plenty of time on her hands while her contractor husband Barry flies off the handle both at home and at work. Sue and Ed are long married but Ed has a wandering eye and he is not exactly being truthful about what he does while traveling for his work. Dave Cullen and Marina Green are the only couple who are not married but they seem to have a secure relationship even if they do appear to be a little mismatched. Marina is a beautiful woman who works part-time while she pursues her acting career whereas Dave somewhat of a computer geek.

      DC Quinlan's interviews with the couples reveal what the reader already knows: not everyone was honest when they were questioned by the police in FL. Some of these untruths were lies by omission while others were not so innocent efforts to conceal information. Unable to provide solid information about some of their movements on the afternoon the teenager went missing, Detective Gardner digs a little deeper and uncovers some very surprising information. Closer to home, DC Quinlan doggedly continues looking into each of the vacationers' backgrounds and what she discovers definitely warrants further investigation.

      Rush of Blood is a slow building whodunit where Mark Billingham provides very intimate peeks into the private lives of three British couples who meet by happenstance while vacationing in the US. When they return to their everyday lives, they begin to notice one another's imperfections but does this mean one of them is a murderer? The truth about who is responsible for the kidnappings emerges at one of the diner parties but there are still plenty of unexpected twists and turns ahead as the novel comes to a very shocking conclusion. Another brilliant mystery that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend to fans of the genre.
    • 5/5
      3 couples: Angie and Barry, Sue and Ed, Marina and Dave, meet at a Florida resort, and on their last day at the hotel the intellectually challenged daughter of another holiday maker goes missing. The three British couples are questioned about their whereabouts at the time the girl went missing, and nothing seems suspicious and they are allowed to fly home.The structure of the book is interesting: emails arranging dinner parties once they are home, chapters exploring how each couple happened to take that holiday along with other details of their marriages, interspersed with the occasional chapter in the voice of the murderer.At their first meeting back in London the conversation inevitably turns to whether the missing girl in Florida has been found. Back in Florida We are introduced to Detective Jeffrey Gardner, in charge of the investigation. Six weeks after she disappeared the body of the young girl is found, and in London the Lewisham CID room gets a request from the Florida detective for follow up interviews of the British tourists. The task is handed to Trainee Detective Constable Jenny Quinlan who is determined to make her mark. And then a second girl goes missing, but this time in Jenny's territory.This was a really well plotted story. It had me asking who the murderer was- trying to identify him or her from those very short chapters that kept popping up.As it turned I was very nearly right, but the author inserted a couple of real twists at the end.
    • 4/5
      Everybody is hiding something, is kind of the premise of this book.
      3 seemingly normal British couples meet on holiday in Siesta Key Florida, and as often happens kind of bond because of their shared home.
      They make the usual polite promise to stay in touch.
      The day before they all depart, a woman from Georgia, who is also staying at the resort with her daughter, becomes panicked when the daughter goes missing.
      Back in England is when most of the story is told, and the 3 seemingly normal couples do reluctantly stay in touch, and as the reader gets to know them and they get to know each other, it is revealed they all have various aspects or traits about them that they hide. Making all of them prime candidates for being responsible for the missing girl.
      The story is well told, and there is not really any part of it that wasn't believable.
    • 3/5
      I am surprised by the predominantly unfavorable reviews. I liked this mystery story!Three British couples meet by chance while vacationing in Florida. As might be expected, they pal around together due to their common circumstances. On the last day of their holiday a mentally challenged teenage girl staying at the resort goes missing. The Brits can provide no significant observations to the cops’ routine interview questions. Back home they go. Back in London the couples maintain casual contact. Their dinner conversation always seems to revert to the tragedy of the missing girl, who is ultimately found dead. On top of that British authorities are enlisted by their American counterparts to ask a few follow up questions, a seemingly mundane request. The British investigation is led by a detective in training anxious to prove her meddle. She dissects each detail of the couples’ statements, sparking more than a little suspicion among the new friends as well as the reader. Then, an almost identical crime occurs in proximity to London raising the stakes on both sides of the Atlantic.The story is a classic whodunit. Multiple characters have questionable traits – one with an explosive temper, one skirt-chaser with a criminal history, another a boor who considers himself smarter than police. Even the women are questionable. Billingham dribbles clues using innuendo or a turn of phrase. I am proud that I guessed correctly about three quarters of the way through, and I NEVER guess right!I have only two criticisms. First, putting a face to a character enhances my reading experience. Six major characters and a couple of really important minor ones made it awfully hard to remember all those faces consistently. Second, while I did guess the murderer correctly, I thought Billingham’s reveal was a little hokey. Nevertheless, a very satisfying read!
    • 2/5
      Rush of Blood by British thriller writer Mark Billingham is a competent mystery that's a bit too long, tries a little too hard to be tricky, and breaks no new ground in the writing department. It's OK, but I'd hoped for a lot more. The plot was interesting and things moved quickly in the beginning. 3 British couples who didn't know one another were vacationing at a resort in Florida when a young mentally challenged girl disappears. It just so happened that they'd become fast friends and had actually encountered the girl and her mother prior to the kidnapping. They're questioned by the local police and eventually return to their homes in the London area. The couples decide to keep in touch via a series of rotating dinners at their respective abodes, while the police in Florida contact the Brit authorities and ask them to do some followup questions with the couples. The body of the girl in Florida is found and a young, similarly challenged youngster is abducted in metro London, leading to speculation by the police that a Brit who'd been in Florida when the original murder took place had repeated the process in Britain. So, the story proceeds through a series of dinner parties and other meetings intended to develop the characters and provide ammunition to readers to guess as to whether any of them are involved. It's pretty standard stuff with caricatures thrown in: there's a nerd, a ladies man, a blue-collar guy, an artistic woman, a blue-collar gal, and a level headed teacher. About midway through the book the 'murderer' begins to narrate certain chapters. It was obvious to me that the author was really aiming for an unexpected result. That's as far as I'll go on the story line....My main problems with Rush of Blood were that the pace was too slow and the writing was so 'mystery generic' in nature. The author was so intent on confusing readers that he spent way too many pages throwing out red herrings and dealing with characters that eventually didn't even participate in the conclusion. The writing seemed to be at the 7th grade level, with trite and inconsistent dialogue to boot. After I passed the midway point I wanted so badly for it to conclude that I powered through to the end in one sitting. Rush of Blood isn't a bad book, just an overly wrong, generically written one that tries too hard to keep the reader guessing.
    • 4/5
      I still haven't read any of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne books, but this is the second standalone novel that I've read following Die of Shame last year. In a similar fashion, Rush of Blood is about a small group of people, their dysfunctional relationships, their secrets, and enactments of pretence.Here, we have three British couples who meet while vacationing in Florida. On the last day of their vacation, a young girl goes missing from their resort. We hear from different people including the young girl's mother, the Florida detective in charge of the case, and a young British trainee detective. But the focus is on the three couples who continue to meet up back in Britain. It is clear that one of them is guilty of abducting the girl. I kept changing my mind several times as to who that was and the plot provided a couple of good surprises. The final twist was a little too obvious though. None of these characters had any endearing features. There is a lot of quite mundane stuff going on. Dinner parties, exchanges between the couples at home etc. This isn't an electrifying crime thriller or intricate police procedural, but Mark Billingham is such a great people observer, I truly enjoyed following these flawed characters and their antics. If you enjoy stories about complex relationships and the sometimes odd dynamics between people, you'll like this. If you need characters you can feel sympathetic towards or you can relate to, forget it. My only minor niggle, it took me quite a while until I was able to differentiate between the three women and three men and I could finally remember who was married to whom etc.
    • 2/5
      Two things put me off this book, besides my growing dislike of psychological thrillers. First, that the victim is a mentally slow child, a plot choice I find distasteful, and second that the British tourists in the story are the sort of people who give the British a bad name. I have lived in the UK for a long time and I know this group and I want nothing to do with them, even in fiction.I received a review copy of "Rush of Blood" by Mark Billingham (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
    • 4/5
      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.Three British couples find themselves holidaying at the same complex in Florida and socialize together during their stay. The day before they are all due to fly home, a teenage girl with special needs, who has been staying with her mother at the same complex and with whom they have had brief interactions, goes missing. Weeks later, back in the UK, the couples meet for dinner parties (with increasing reluctance) and learn that the missing girl's body has been found; she was strangled. It is clear from the narration that one of the six British holidaymakers is the murderer and then another special needs girl goes missing, this time in England...This was an easy read and I found it a page-turner, although not a lot really happened, apart from the couples socializing together, getting drunk and squabbling. I worked out the final twist, which made the ending slightly underwhelming. It got a bit long in the middle, although Joanna's investigation of the couples meant that things picked up again to an extent.There were various red herrings, intended to make the reader wonder if each of the six in turn was the guilty one, and some of these were left hanging: SPOILERS What happened between Barry and his ex-wife? What were we supposed to make of Dave and Marina? - I couldn't work them out at all.Also, I felt that the leap the Florida police made that the disappearances of the two girls were in some way linked, seemed unrealistic - there just wasn't enough there to justify international co-operation. I found none of the characters was terribly likeable and I didn't really understand why they persisted in getting together when they didn't seem to like each other much either
    • 4/5
      Billingham tries again to write a not part of the Thorne series - and this time he is a bit more successful in making it an independent story (Thorne does not show up for a second but it looks more like an attempt to put the story in the correct timeframe than anything else). Three British couples end up in the same resort in Florida for their vacation. And being Brits, they stick together - around the pool and at meals. It is a nice and calm vacation until the last night when a girl disappears - a girl that all 6 had met. They all have sound alibis and fly home as planned. And that should have been the end of it. Except that Angie, one of the women, decides that the usual exchange of mails had not been just for form and invite everyone to dinner. And so it starts - 3 dinners in the three homes; and between the veneer over their lives start cracking. By now Billingham had pulled one of his favorite tricks and had given some of the chapters to the responsible partner. The fact that it is one of the 6 is obvious but he manages to hide well not just who the person is but even the gender. Not that one cannot have suspicions of course - I was pretty sure about the gender because it felt like the narrative was pulling in the other direction. But it could have gone either way. And while we are seeing the problems of our 6 characters and they get better and better described and more and more alive, the body of the US girl is found and another girl disappears. This time in UK -- and as both the girls had had learning difficulties so the connection is done fast. And the police start investigating again - a murder cop on Florida (Jeff Gardner) and a trainee Detective Constable in London - Jennifer Quinlan. Except at the start, before the UK girl disappears, everyone is convinced that there is nothing to be investigated in London. Except Jennie - who finds the cracks in alibis. Throw a few more red herrings, a dead girl (dead for a while) and an old arrest and the things get complicated. By the time the novel start get closing, all seems to become clear. The murders are solved, the killer is found (and Thorne makes an appearance). And then the last chapters turns everything on its head. In a way it is unsatisfying ending. But it fits the story. Underestimating anyone caused issues for everyone and that is what leads to the final reveal.It is a strange format for Billingham - not just because of the lack of the usual team but also because of the way the characters are built. They all start as normal, decent people and then things start getting revealed. It is similar to the way you learn about people when you meet them in real life. Because of the need of the story, there was too much foreshadowing - some of it annoying. It's not his best novels but it is readable and once you get through the first 100 pages or so, the story grips you. And does not let you go until the last page. If you expect another Thorne novel (or a novel in the same style), you will be disappointed. But as a thriller, it is decent. And Billingham is a good storyteller.
    • 2/5
      Mark Billingham says that this is a different book to the others he has written. Yes, it is, but whilst I applaud the attempt to break out of the "Tom Thorne" mould (yes I do know that one only featured marginally; I was very disappointed by "Rush Of Blood".
      The key problem is.a lack of pace; there are plotting flaws, but I do not want to comment on them, given that the effect could be to spoil others' enjoyment.
      It is easy to read and interesting in parts, but I'd rather he stick to what he does best.
    • 4/5
      I had a 12 hours flight yesterday, and read "Rush of blood" from beginning to end. I think with "Rush of blood" Billingham wanted to write a traditional "whoddunit" novel, with a modern twist. I got the impression that he wanted to recreate that type of classic crime story from several elements:

      1) the intense, deep carachterization. Watch as the 6 main carachters gradually grow in 3D in your mind, until they become real and totally believable.
      2) the attention to the constant "hint-dropping" story telling. Almost every chapter is told with a smirk, purposelly putting every carachter under different lights and offering the reader clues to their potential involvement in the crime. You catch yourself saying "oh well this one must be the murderer then!", only to realize a few pages later that the writer is just toying with you.
      3) the multiple dinners. In the classic crime story, dialogue and carachters interaction are crucial, and the dinner situation is perhaps the most conducive of these important tools. By the way, who didn't think of the tv show "Come dine with me" while reading this?

      As for the ending, I have a personal issue. Many reviewers said "predictable ending". Really? I was totally off track. The 6 carachters were all developed in depth, and out of the three couples, only one seemed to me completely and purposefully "off and creepy": Marina and Dave. They don't have a personality of their own (this is why they buy the same clothes that they see others wearing), and they don't sound healthy at all, they are different from most sane people I know. The other two couples have big flaws and dysfunctions, but they seem fairly regular to me. So when the murderer was revealed in Sue, I was disappointed. The "dead daughter" issue looked like a final addition to corroborate her motive. I would have preferred, in such a carachter driven story, that the murderer jumped out from the actual carachterization, for his/her own behaviour and personality. But then again, in real life you have scores of creepy people who never commit a crime, and regular people who actually do. There, Mr Billingham, I've already given you the counterargument to my comment.

      Good old-fashioned crime story, well written.

      ps: why 90% of the people who read this book are women??
    • 4/5
      Rush of Blood is a welcome change from Billingham's detective inspector Tom Thorpe and also somewhat of a change of pace for this master of the police procedural. What the book lacks in polish it more than makes up for in intrigue and red herrings.Three middle class British couples become friendly on holiday in Florida: apart from their nationality they have little in common and there is no reason for their friendship to outlast their return to the UK. But then a child disappears. A mentally disabled adolescent staying at their resort goes missing on the last day of the holiday, rather spoiling their trip.The story is written from the points of view of each of the couples but although it becomes apparent one of them must be the killer, the narrative is carefully structured to reveal nothing while exposing opportunities for everyone. The American child is found dead some months later, and an English child of the same age vanishes, suggsting a serial killer.The path to revelation is a slow one but the book is more about the characters, the human interactions and various psyches as the couples are kept connected [somewhat unwillingly] through the murder and the ongoing investigation. On the whole, they are dreadful people, entirely lacking in charm, and the reader is ready to believe the worst of any of them. In a way, the killings are almost incidental: remove them and the story would still be compelling despite the sour taste it leaves in the reader's mouth. The book is not as sure as most of his previous work and the unhappness and casual cruelty of most people is a little hard to stomach. Thorpe has become a little tired however and it's grand to see Billingham stretch his writer's muscles in something new.
    • 4/5
      This might prove to be a rather chilling holiday read. It is the first book by Mark Billingham I have read and he is certainly a very competant author of mystery/crime fiction. The premise behind the book is that 3 British couples who don't know one another are all staying at a small holiday resort in Florida. On their last day a 13 yr old girl who has some intellectual difficulties goes missing. Back in the UK after the holiday the 3 couples meet for dinner three times and the case is always discussed. It becomes more serious when a similar girl goes missing in the UK. Billingham builds up the tension with chapters written from each couple's POV, plus anonymous mini sections written by the killer. The reader knows it is one of the six individuals, but which one? Many twists and turns. My biggest problem with this book was that I found all six individuals absolutely ghastly, really unpleasant people in every way, so by the end I could hardly care less who was the killer.