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I’m really enjoying reading thrillers at the minute. Rabbit Hole was the first book I’ve read by Mark Billingham, and after reading it I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Rabbit Hole follows the story of Alice, an ex-police officer who is admitted to a psychiatric facility after suffering a mental breakdown after the death of her partner on the job, of which she blames herself. And now a fellow resident on the ward has been murdered, and Alice can’t help but try and solve the case.
I have to admit, Rabbit Hole wasn’t a ‘love at first page’ kind of book. Actually, up until about 100 pages in, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish it. I really struggled with Alice’s voice at the beginning. I totally get that she was a northern brit, but her dialogue felt so over-exaggerated that it sometimes became a little bit too much for me and I just felt like telling her to shut up. At times, it borderlined a bit caricature, which does make sense in the end. Perhaps it was intentional, as Alice definitely is not a likable character, but I found it got better and more enjoyable as the book went on. I can’t tell if the dialogue became more normal as the tension built as the story went on, or whether i just got used to it, but by the second half of the book I couldn’t put it down and was fully engaged with Alice and her story.
Alice is about as an unreliable narrator as they come, you never fully trust her, what she’s saying, or her opinion of others. This naturally makes you suspicious of every character in the book, as well as Alice herself. I was constantly on my toes reading Rabbit Hole, analysing every word, trying to figure out who the killer was myself as well as trying to figure out Alice and whether I trusted her or not.
I actually didn’t figure out who the killer was until right before it was revieled. I actually suspected every character at one point which I thought is one of the things that made Rabbit Hole so readable.
But there was a second twist to Rabbit Hole, which I guessed pretty early on. For me, it was pretty obvious but may come as a surprise to others. Without too many spoilers, it did make me question whether the ending would actually be realistic.
Rabbit Hole wasn’t a perfect book, but I really did enjoy it despite the things I didn’t. It was engaging, and I absolutely raced through the second and third acts of the book, definitely worth a read!
Here are some books I’m looking forward to in 2022.
