The Bones Beneath

Mark Billingham

Formats & Editions

THE DEAL

Tom Thorne is back in charge - but there's a terrifying price to pay. Stuart Nicklin, the most dangerous psychopath he has ever put behind bars, promises to reveal the whereabouts of a body he buried twenty-five years before. But only if Thorne agrees to escort him.

THE DANGER

Unable to refuse, Thorne gathers a team and travels to a remote Welsh island, at the mercy of the weather and cut off from the mainland. Thorne is determined to get the job done and return home before Nicklin can outwit them.

THE DEATHS

But Nicklin knows this island well and has had time to plan ahead. Soon, new bodies are added to the old, and Thorne finds himself facing the toughest decision he has ever had to make...

Tom Thorne returns in this utterly gripping, brilliantly plotted thriller. The Bones Beneath is Mark Billingham's most ambitious and accomplished work to date.

Read More

Praise for The Bones Beneath

  • Brilliantly evoking the spooky island atmosphere, the tension of this macabre thriller is lightened by humour and believable characters - Sunday MirrorAn atmospheric, gripping story with a superb ending - Sunday ExpressStrong plotting and an all-too-plausible villain reveal just how good Billingham is, and confirm Thorne as a memorable, flawed hero - Daily Mail

Read More
Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakston Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel of the Year, the Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British writer and in 2026 he was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for an outstanding lifetime contribution to the genre. Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne, and a series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death was broadcast on BBC1. Mark lives in north London with his wife and two children.

More about Mark Billingham

Related books