Book Review: Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody
By doreen sheridan.
Kate Brody’s arresting debut novel delves deep into the heart of a modern young woman trying to make sense of a life of tragedy with its unrelenting tides of grief. When Teddy Angstrom’s father kills himself on the tenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, Teddy and her mother Clare are almost too numb to react. Angie Angstrom hadn’t been her father’s favorite daughter, exactly, but he had been the only person capable of handling the teenage girl in the years before she vanished. Teddy had certainly relied on him to help protect her from her volatile elder sister:
When she did shake me awake so that she could yell at me for some perceived slight, some way that I thought I was better than her or ignored her at school or whatever, I would tune it out and wish for Dad. And most of the time, he heard me calling for him in my head. Most of the time, he was there within a minute or two to whisk Angie downstairs for a pot of coffee and a serious talk and a lot of crying. Mom thought he was too soft, too sympathetic. She thought Angie was getting caught on purpose, so that she could get his attention.
Dad and Angie had both suffered from substance abuse issues, a problem that was only exacerbated for Dad after Angie went missing. Teddy had known that her father was damaged, but only discovers the extent of his grief after Clare asks her for help sorting through his personal effects and their bills. Teddy is horrified to discover how broke her mother is now, and mystified by the puzzling expenses her father had incurred before he died. As she seeks to close his accounts and make life easier for her mother, she finds that he had been involved with various online communities still seeking answers as to what might have happened to Angie.
Unable to resist carrying on his work, Teddy starts calling the numbers on his burner phone and making posts on the websites he frequented. Her inquiries soon bring her not only to a romantic entanglement with a figure from her past, but also into the orbit of a disarmingly quirky teenager named Mickey, who reminds her uncomfortably of Angie. And while, at first, her sleuthing is in service of her father’s memory, she quickly comes to the realization that this is all her way of dealing with her still unresolved anguish over both his death and Angie’s disappearance. At least she knows why her father died. No one in her family has yet been able to figure out what happened to Angie and why.
Because of this, Teddy is still tormented by her memories of her sister, and by her own actions ten years prior:
Other times—most of the time—I felt good about keeping Angie’s meaningless secrets. Angie— I would think, back when I still almost-prayed to her— Ange, I told them next to nothing . And in my prayers, she would pat my head appreciatively. I imagined her coming back and realizing how seriously I took our confidence. I imagined us growing closer than we’d ever been. Angie taking me seriously. Both of us in our twenties, in our thirties—best friends. Angie realizing that I was the only one who cared about who she was. The two of us living like sisters in a movie, laughing and giggling in the daylight together, crying with each other at night.
Haunted as much by the loss of her sister as an actuality as she is by the loss of her sister as a possibility, Teddy is driven to make increasingly risky choices in her pursuit of the truth. But when her own survival is at stake, will Teddy be able to prioritize her present instead of chasing after a shadowed past or a fantasy future that looks ever less likely with each of her impulsive moves?
Pensive and grave, Rabbit Hole examines how the Internet allows the emotionally unstable to not only escape from reality but also to find community, for better or worse. Instead of processing her grief, Teddy allows modern technology to distract her with hits of dopamine, in much the same way that older generations used mind-altering substances or other dissociative devices to cope with their pain. While this book doesn’t provide definitive answers as to what happened to Angie, the aftereffects of her disappearance are clearly outlined, with both unflinching realism and an almost painful level of empathy. Teddy is a disaster, but she’s also very human and vivid, the perfectly portrayed protagonist of this dark psychological thriller.
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Book review: Rabbit Hole
BY James Walton
5th Jul 2021 Book Reviews
Mark Billingham returns with a compelling whodunit that takes Alice down the rabbit hole
Mark Billingham’s new stand-alone novel (i.e. one that doesn’t feature his long-standing detective, Tom Thorne) is a whodunit set on a psychiatric ward .
The book carries out its whodunit duties—a shifting series of credible suspects, plenty of neat twists, a conclusion that’s both plausible and unguessable—with undeniable skill. Nonetheless its main interest, for Billingham and the reader alike, perhaps lies elsewhere: in the brilliantly realised setting and particularly in the richly nuanced character of its narrator.
The suitably named Alice has entered the rabbit hole of life on the ward after a major breakdown . Among other things, this caused her to smash her boyfriend Andy over the head with a half-empty wine bottle. Then again, the way she saw it that night, she didn’t have much choice. Andy was refusing to help her defend herself against some person or persons unknown (and indeed non-existent) who were coming to kill her as part of a vicious conspiracy involving her parents and most of her friends.
"The suitably named Alice has entered the rabbit hole of life on the ward after a major breakdown"
As she now understands it, her paranoia was triggered by the post-traumatic stress disorder she suffered when a fellow police officer in the Met was stabbed to death in front of her—and by her consequent ingestion of large amounts of drink and drugs.
But does she understand it rightly? This is the question that Billingham keeps beautifully, tantalisingly unanswered for most of the novel. At times, Alice seems a lucid guide to the ‘craziness’ around her, describing the other patients with a mix of irritation, pity and dark amusement.
At others, she takes the concept of the unreliable narrator to such heights that it’s not certain she was ever in the Met at all. Might she, in fact, be the killer that she thinks (or pretends) she’s helping the definitely-real police to find
As I say, when the solution comes it’s perfectly satisfying. My guess, though, is that what most readers will remember more intensely is the collection of touchingly troubled souls we meet and, above all, Alice’s voice: by turns funny, broken, chatty, defiant, bewildered—but always utterly convincing and compelling.
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RABBIT HOLE
by Mark Billingham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
A great premise generates some powerful episodes. Only the identification of the culprit is a letdown.
The creator of DI Tom Thorne presents a stand-alone whodunit with a most unusual setting: the psychiatric ward of a northwest London hospital.
DC Alice Armitage, who suffered an acute case of PTSD when her partner was stabbed to death during a routine search for a culprit, became so disturbed that she conked her boyfriend, Andy Flanagan, with a wine bottle and was committed to the Shackleton Unit of Hendon Community Hospital. At least that’s the story she tells everyone who’ll listen. Though it’s clear that Al is a patient in the Fleet Ward, however, it’s far from clear to anyone else that she was ever with Met homicide; it may be that she’s just as delusional as posh drug abuser Lucy, bipolar chess player Ilias, compulsive singer Lauren, kilt-wearing Tony, needy young Shaun, or Graham, who bangs his head so frequently against a wall that the staff keeps having to repaint the spot. Ordinarily the question of Al’s professional employment would be moot, but when Shaun’s lover, Kevin Connolly, is smothered with a pillow and drugs are discovered in his room, Al swings into gear even though no one else accepts her bona fides—not the other patients, not Debbie McClure or any of the other nurses and staffers, and certainly not DC Steve Seddon or any of the other officers tasked with investigating. Al must launch an investigation on her own even as she’s confined to the ward, doped with medications, and treated to the opposite of cooperation from the officials.
Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8021-5870-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | CRIME & LEGAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE
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BOOK REVIEW
by Mark Billingham
HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE
by Jeneva Rose ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
SUSPENSE | THRILLER | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE
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by Jeneva Rose
A CONSPIRACY OF BONES
by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection , 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER
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by Kathy Reichs
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Crime: Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham review: cunning, complex and claustrophobic
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Crime fiction embraces its cliches like no other genre - every year old stories resurface for retelling in new novels, from drunken detectives with failing private lives to bodies littering the drawing rooms of posh country houses.
Best seller Mark Billingham has decided to take on those traditions with a vengeance in his latest novel Rabbit Hole.
An unreliable narrator? Well they don’t come much more unreliable than Alice - a former police officer prone to memory loss and currently sectioned and stuffed full of drugs after witnessing a violent assault left her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
A closed circle of suspects? Billingham‘s potential murderers and victims are locked away in a secure mental health ward when the bodies start to mount up.
The book is full of pitch black humour with Alice’s constant commentary on her fellow patients and her glee at being able to flex her old detective muscles providing some unexpected laugh out loud moments.
But as in the story of her name sake, who ended up in Wonderland, there is a dark thread running through the book not least in the individual sad stories that left the patients locked away.
The result is a surprisingly funny book that also has plenty to say on the serious subject of how mental health is treated in this country and where it meets the law.
But most importantly as Alice tries to find meaning in her new life, Rabbit Hole is a bracing lesson in the human price paid for violent crime whose ripples reach out and destroy lives far beyond the immediate victim.
Alice is the heart of the book which is set up to keep you guessing whether she is the killer, the next victim or just a delusional woman who has seen two many cop shows on TV but it in the end it does not matter.
As a reader you might not trust Alice, but I guarantee you will enjoy her company.
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham (Little Brown, £20)
Buy it here
Mark Billingham is a speaker at our ES Stories Festival next month.
WRITING KILLER CHARACTERS WITH MARK BILLINGHAM AND BELLA MACKIE
Friday, September 24 6:45pm – 7:45pm
Mark Billingham and Bella Mackie join forces to talk about writing killer characters. Mark’s latest novel ‘Rabbit Hole’ is cunning, complex and claustrophobic, centering on Alice, who is trying to solve a murder on a psychiatric ward. Problem is she’s also a patient. Bella’s dark and twisted new tale, ‘How to Kill Your Family’ features the murderous ‘heroine’ Grace, hell-bent on revenge.
For more information and to book tickets see https://www.stories.standard.co.uk/programme
Our Stories Festival celebrating the brightest stars of page, stage and screen
Jen Med's Book Reviews
Musings and Ramblings of a Disorganised Blogger
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
Today I am delighted to share my thoughts on the brand new novel from Mark Billingham, Rabbit Hole. I always look forward to seeing a new Mr Billingham book in the new release listings as you know you’re assured of a few entertaining hours. My thanks to publishers Sphere for providing an advance copy of the book for me to read. Here’s what it’s all about:
About the Book
My name is Alice. I’m a police officer. I’m trying to solve a murder on a psychiatric ward. But I’m also a patient… They were meant to be safe on Fleet Ward: psychiatric patients monitored, treated, cared for. But now one of their number is found murdered, and the accusations begin to fly. Was it one of his fellow patients? A member of staff? Or did someone come in from the outside? DC Alice Armitage is methodical, tireless, and she’s quickly on the trail of the killer. The only problem is, Alice is a patient too.
My Thoughts
Well this book is a step away from the norm … Not in a bad way at all, and to be fair, if you are used to the author’s Tom Thorne series then you will recognise nods to not only some of the characters (including a brief cameo), but also the sense of humour that is infused throughout the books. Now it is more than ‘infused’ in this tale – it is well and truly embedded in Rabbit Hole , a books whose setting in a secure psychiatric unit gives readers not only a whole host of potential suspects, but also a whole range of characters who will make you smile even though, in truth, you know you probably shouldn’t. At the centre of everything is out protagonist, Alice Armitage, who used to work for the police but who has found herself sectioned for the safety of both herself and those around her. A traumatic event ‘on the job’ led to a complete breakdown and a number of worrying occurrences which mean that, whilst being incredibly forthcoming and forthright as the narrator, also lead you to take all that she says with a pinch of salts. Afterall, few people are sectioned without due cause, and the more we learn about Alice, the more reason we have to doubt that everything she sees, everything she tells us, is entirely on the level. I love the way in which Mark BIllingham has developed her character and the use of first person narration to tell Alice’s story. You can’t help but like her, the nicknames she gives all her fellow patients, and the nursing staff too, and whilst you know that at least as part of her is as mad as the rest of them, there is a certain amount of credibility to her assertions too. Sorry. Mad probably isn’t the most politically correct way of phrasing it but I’m not sure how else to describe Alice or her actions. The increasingly erratic and sometimes manic behaviour is without a doubt a symptom of her condition (PTSD – definitely no laughing matter) but the way in which the author has framed the story is with the perfect blend of humour and empathy. Yes, some of the conditions of Alice’s fellow patients may feel exaggerated, maybe not, but you feel as though you are laughing with them, not at them, and I loved them all, even toughnut Lauren. Each one had their quirk, their reason for being there, but there were few if any characters I didn’t feel some affinity for by the end of the book. And, all of that aside, there is a serious undertone to the book too. Murder, afterall, is no laughing matter. I don’t want to go into too much detail of the story – you know all you need to know from the blurb. This is not simply a (air)locked room murder mystery, nor is it a straight up story about psychiatric hospitals and patients a’la Cuckoos Nest. Alice’s conversational, almost confessional narration keeps the mystery mysterious and the humour flowing, as well as allowing us a brief glimpse of some of the more sobering elements of life in care. The fears, the paranoia, the endless cycle of food, meds, sleep repeat that the patients undertake giving the whole book a sense of authenticity. It certainly added to the sense of the terribly unreliable narrator and meant that in terms of the who the why and the how (well – okay not actually the how), readers are kept guessing to the end. A refreshingly original read that left me with a smile on my face. What are you waiting for?
About the Author
Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and has also won the Sherlock Award for Best Detective Novel Created by a British Author. His books, which include the critically acclaimed Tom Thorne series, have been translated into twenty-five languages and have sold over six million copies. He lives in London.
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9 thoughts on “ rabbit hole by mark billingham ”.
This sounds fantastic, right up my alley, and is now one I’ll be keeping my eye out for. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful review, Jen!
Like Liked by 1 person
Thank you. I really enjoy Mark’s books and this captures his humour so well
You’re welcome! I checked out some of his others books, as well, and a lot of his stuff sounds like they’ll be great reads!
This sounds really good, definitely adding to my TBR.
Hope you enjoy
I have this on my shelf, Jen. After your excellent review, moving my reads around so that this will be next! ❤📚
Hope you enjoy it. It did make me chuckle as Alice is a fab character if a little eccentric
I like eccentric, Jen. And I love Billingham. ❤📚
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Review: Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
A gripping standalone thriller from the “first-rate British crime writer” and internationally bestselling author of the Tom Thorne novels ( The Washington Post ).
Alice Armitage is a police officer. Or she was .
Or perhaps she just imagines she was.
Whatever the truth is, following a debilitating bout of PTSD, self-medication with drink and drugs, and a psychotic breakdown, Alice is now a long-term patient in an acute psychiatric ward.
When one of her fellow patients is murdered, Alice becomes convinced that she has identified the killer and that she can catch them. Ignored by the police, she begins her own investigation. But when her prime suspect becomes the second victim, Alice’s life begins to unravel still further as she realizes that she cannot trust anyone, least of all herself.
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham is a clever mystery with a likeable, albeit unreliable, narrator.
Alice “Al” Armitage is the narrator of this brilliant mystery which takes place in the Shackleton Unit’s Fleet Ward. Al is a former Met detective constable who began suffering from PTSD following the shocking incident on the Job. Using dubious means to cope, Al’s downward spiral culminates with her walloping her boyfriend Andy Flanagan with a bottle of wine. In the aftermath of said walloping, Al is now sectioned to Fleet Ward. She is on a cocktail of prescription drugs that are only partly helping her.
Al’s assessments of her fellow patients are witty and sarcastic. Everyone is on edge and it sometimes does not take much for any or all of them to tip over into anger. Al can be especially volatile when she is frustrated which is why she has yet to convince her doctor she is well enough for release. Despite the different personalities and issues, everyone on Fleet Unit gets along for the most part. Which is why everyone is shocked when one of their own is murdered.
Al decides to put on her DC hat as she investigates the murder. Without the usual resources, she relies on her own observations and opinions as well as favors from a former colleague. Al quickly zeroes on a suspect and nothing she learns will shake her conviction she has found the killer. When another murder occurs, what will happen to Al and her fragile grip on reality?
With a sensitive portrayal of mental illness, Rabbit Hole is a creative mystery with a unique setting and memorable narrator. Al is suffering from a variety of PTSD symptoms and side effects from her medication. She has lucid moments but she also contends with troubling blackouts. Al is extremely irritated no one is taking her investigation seriously and her reactions are not always rational. Fearing the worst when Al learns an arrest is imminent, Mark Billingham brings this mesmerizing mystery to an unexpected, yet uplifting, conclusion.
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Rabbit Hole Hardcover – January 2, 2024
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- Print length 384 pages
- Language English
- Publisher Soho Crime
- Publication date January 2, 2024
- Dimensions 5.88 x 1.22 x 8.57 inches
- ISBN-10 1641294876
- ISBN-13 978-1641294874
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- Publisher : Soho Crime (January 2, 2024)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1641294876
- ISBN-13 : 978-1641294874
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.88 x 1.22 x 8.57 inches
- #3,093 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #3,693 in Amateur Sleuths
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Rabbit Hole
$ 25.95
The experience of losing a sister left a lasting impression on Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom. The worst part was not knowing what happened to her sister Angie. Ten years later, this void was compounded with the suicide of her father. Teddy and her mother had become emotionally numb at this point, as Mark Angstrom had dove into a pit of intense despair in the subsequent years after Angie’s vanishing. Teddy is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, sorting through the detritus of her father’s fragile existence. Teddy finds a few hints to what her father was up to through bank statements and phone calls, and she decides to explore on her own. She enters the labyrinthine world of the website Reddit where theories about her sister abound. Soon, she is hooked in the search for answers to the mystery that tore her family asunder.
Rabbit Hole is the spellbinding debut from author Kate Brody. Brody’s talent is her ability to make the reader question many things during the often intense narrative, from who to trust to what type of person Angie was and Teddy is. This is a book that redefines the mystery genre and proves a fulfilling read.
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Book review: Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
I tend not to buy books if I don’t get them for review because I just have too many books in my TBR pile. I’m also usually either bitterly disappointed if I’ve missed something I’ve requested; or petulant to the point I decide I’m never going to review another book again. #realmature
The blurb for Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham leapt out at me when I saw it advertised but I was very worried I’d missed it until I had it in my fat little (well, medium-sized) hands. It certainly seemed to be offering something quite new and as soon as I started reading I fell in love with the way Billingham has written this book – from the point-of-view of Alice – who’s resplendent with quirks and a smidge of ‘crazy’.*
They were meant to be safe on Fleet Ward: psychiatric patients monitored, treated, cared for. But now one of their number is found murdered, and the accusations begin to fly. Was it one of his fellow patients? A member of staff? Or did someone come in from the outside? DC Alice Armitage is methodical, tireless, and she's quickly on the trail of the killer. The only problem is, Alice is a patient too.
I’ve read a few of Billingham’s books including some of the series featuring Detective Tom Thorne. I also VERY much enjoyed a previous standalone, Die of Shame .**
It’s impossible not to be drawn to Alice. She’s honest and fastidiously obsessed with ensuring her account of events is factually correct. Of course she also implies she’s not always truthful and often forgetful so, she’s the perfect flawed protagonist.
Although Alice is the star of this book it’s Billingham’s writing that allows her to be. His prose (ie. her storytelling) is informal, droll and irreverent but insightful at the same time. I was hooked from the moment she introduces herself to us.
As for the plot, it probably lost me a smidge at the end although I’m not quite sure what I would have done differently. There are several twists – in terms of the whodunnit and then… after.
I wouldn’t have expected the final twist HOWEVER the blurb about this book from Goodreads (NOT used above) hinted at the scenario, so I was a bit more suspicious throughout the book than I would have otherwise been. It’s disappointing really as I don’t think it would have occurred to me otherwise so would have made that final twist more shocking. I didn’t mind the revelation but of course the pragmatist (and former undergraduate psych student) in me didn’t think it would/could have panned out that way… in a therapeutic sense.
It’s hard to say much about this book without giving stuff away. Alice is determined to investigate her fellow patient’s murder but is most certainly a tad obsessive and wonderfully subjective. She’s also told of many things she does that she has no recollection of doing and alternates between being overly cocky, muddled and quite afraid. All of which means when there’s a second death – of someone she suspected of the first murder – the finger’s being pointed at her.
I noted Billingham mentions in the Acknowledgements that this was difficult to write and then says something again later, implying it was tougher than usual. I worked in mental health but don’t really have any experience with in-patient units but I appreciated the way Billingham portrayed the patients. We’re given some information about them and their backgrounds in a way that felt respectful and viewing them as individuals rather than case studies; in addition to Alice’s irreverent thoughts about them, their illnesses and issues. Of course she’s not being judgemental, as she’s the same towards the staff and not one to beat about the bush or suffer fools gladly.
This is an excellent read and I was particularly taken with Billingham’s writing – his portrayal of Alice’s world, and of her every thought. As I said, I was hooked from the beginning and happy to remain there.
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham was published in Australia by Hachette and is now available.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.
* I know this is derogatory / inappropriate but in deference to Alice and her own irreverence and sense of humour I’ve gone with it. ** See also my review back in the days I was reviewing for Queensland APN (regional newspaper chain)
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Hi, I’m Deborah… a seachanger living on Australia’s Fraser Coast, in Queensland. I write about books and life in general.
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Once Upon a Time, the World of Picture Books Came to Life
The tale behind a new museum of children’s literature is equal parts imagination, chutzpah and “The Little Engine That Could.”
By Elisabeth Egan
Photographs and Video by Chase Castor
Elisabeth Egan followed the Rabbit Hole as it was nearing completion. She has written about several of its inhabitants for The Times.
On a crisp Saturday morning that screamed for adventure, a former tin can factory in North Kansas City, Mo., thrummed with the sound of young people climbing, sliding, spinning, jumping, exploring and reading.
Yes, reading.
If you think this is a silent activity, you haven’t spent time in a first grade classroom. And if you think all indoor destinations for young people are sticky, smelly, depressing hellholes, check your assumptions at the unmarked front door.
Welcome to the Rabbit Hole, a brand-new, decade-in-the-making museum of children’s literature founded by the only people with the stamina for such a feat: former bookstore owners. Pete Cowdin and Deb Pettid are long-married artists who share the bullish determination of the Little Red Hen. They’ve transformed the hulking old building into a series of settings lifted straight from the pages of beloved picture books.
Before we get into what the Rabbit Hole is, here’s what it isn’t: a place with touch screens, a ball pit, inscrutable plaques, velvet ropes, a cloying soundtrack or adults in costumes. It doesn’t smell like graham crackers, apple juice or worse (yet). At $16 per person over 2 years old, it also isn’t cheap.
During opening weekend on March 16, the museum was a hive of freckles and gap toothed grins, with visitors ranging in age from newborn to well seasoned. Cries of “Look up here!,” “There’s a path we need to take!” and “There’s Good Dog Carl !” created a pleasant pandemonium. For every child galloping into the 30,000 square foot space, there was an adult hellbent on documenting the moment.
Did you ever have to make a shoe box diorama about your favorite book? If so, you might remember classmates who constructed move-in ready mini kingdoms kitted out with gingham curtains, clothespin people and actual pieces of spaghetti.
Cowdin, Pettid and their team are those students, all grown up.
The main floor of the Rabbit Hole consists of 40 book-themed dioramas blown up to life-size and arranged, Ikea showroom-style, in a space the size of two hockey rinks. The one inspired by John Steptoe’s “ Uptown ” features a pressed tin ceiling, a faux stained-glass window and a jukebox. In the great green room from “ Goodnight Moon ,” you can pick up an old-fashioned phone and hear the illustrator’s son reading the story.
One fictional world blends into the next, allowing characters to rub shoulders in real life just as they do on a shelf. Visitors slid down the pole in “The Fire Cat,” slithered into the gullet of the boa constrictor in “ Where the Sidewalk Ends ” and lounged in a faux bubble bath in “ Harry the Dirty Dog .” There are plenty of familiar faces — Madeline , Strega Nona , Babar — but just as many areas dedicated to worthy titles that don’t feature household names, including “ Crow Boy ,” “ Sam and the Tigers ,” “ Gladiola Garden ” and “ The Zabajaba Jungle .”
Emma Miller, a first-grade teacher, said, “So many of these are books I use in my classroom. It’s immersive and beautiful. I’m overwhelmed.”
As her toddler bolted toward “ Frog and Toad ,” Taylar Brown said, “We love opportunities to explore different sensory things for Mason. He has autism so this is a perfect place for him to find little hiding holes.”
A gaggle of boys reclined on a bean bag in “ Caps for Sale ,” passing around a copy of the book. Identical twins sounded out “ Bread and Jam for Frances ” on the pink rug in the badger’s house. A 3-year-old visiting for the second time listened to her grandfather reading “The Tawny Scrawny Lion.”
Tomy Tran, a father of three from Oklahoma, said, “I’ve been to some of these indoor places and it’s more like a jungle gym. Here, my kids will go into the area, pick up the book and actually start reading it as if they’re in the story.”
All the titles scattered around the museum are available for purchase at the Lucky Rabbit, a bookstore arranged around a cozy amphitheater. Pettid and Cowdin estimate that they’ve sold one book per visitor, with around 650 guests per day following the pink bunny tracks from the parking lot.
Once upon a time, Cowdin and Pettid owned the Reading Reptile, a Kansas City institution known not just for its children’s books but also for its literary installations. When Dav Pilkey came to town, Pettid and Cowdin welcomed him by making a three-and-a-half foot papier-mâché Captain Underpants. Young customers pitched in to build Tooth-Gnasher Superflash or the bread airplane from “In the Night Kitchen.”
One of the store’s devotees was Meg McMath, who continued to visit through college, long after she’d outgrown its offerings (and its chairs). Now 36, McMath traveled from Austin, Texas with her husband and six-month-old son to see the Rabbit Hole. “I’ve cried a few times,” she said.
The Reading Reptile weathered Barnes & Noble superstores and Amazon. Then came “the Harry Potter effect,” Pettid said, “where all of a sudden adults wanted kids to go from picture books to thick chapter books. They skipped from here to there; there was so much they were missing.”
As parents fell under the sway of reading lists for “gifted” kids, story time became yet another proving ground.
“It totally deformed the reading experience,” Cowdin said. Not to mention the scourge of every bookstore: surreptitious photo-snappers who later shopped online.
In 2016, Cowdin and Pettid closed the Reptile to focus on the Rabbit Hole, an idea they’d been percolating for years. They hoped it would be a way to spread the organic bookworm spirit they’d instilled in their five children while dialing up representation for readers who had trouble finding characters who looked like them. The museum would celebrate classics, forgotten gems and quality newcomers. How hard could it be?
Cowdin and Pettid had no experience in the nonprofit world. They knew nothing about fund-raising or construction. They’re ideas people, glass half full types, idealists but also stubborn visionaries. They didn’t want to hand their “dream” — a word they say in quotes — to consultants who knew little about children’s books. Along the way, board members resigned. Their kids grew up. Covid descended. A tree fell on their house and they had to live elsewhere for a year. “I literally have told Pete I quit 20 times,” Pettid said.
“It has not always been pleasant,” Cowdin said. “But it was just like, OK, we’re going to do this and then we’re going to figure out how to do it. And then we just kept figuring it out.”
Little by little, chugging along like “ The Little Engine That Could ,” they raised $15 million and assembled a board who embraced their vision and commitment to Kansas City. They made a wish list of books — “Every ethnicity. Every gender. Every publisher,” Pettid said — and met with rights departments and authors’ estates about acquiring permissions. Most were receptive; some weren’t. (They now have rights to more than 70 titles.)
“A lot of people think a children’s bookstore is very cute,” Pettid said. “They have a small mind for children’s culture. That’s why we had to buy this building.”
For $2 million, they bought the factory from Robert Riccardi, an architect whose family operated a beverage distribution business there for two decades. His firm, Multistudio, worked with Cowdin and Pettid to reimagine the space, which sits on an industrial corner bordered by train tracks, highways and skyline views.
Cowdin and Pettid started experimenting with layouts. Eventually they hired 39 staff members, including 21 full-time artists and fabricators who made everything in the museum from some combination of steel, wood, foam, concrete and papier-mâché.
“My parents are movers and shakers,” Gloria Cowdin said. She’s the middle of the five siblings, named after Frances the badger’s sister — and, yes, that’s her voice reading inside the exhibit. “There’s never been something they’ve wanted to achieve that they haven’t made happen, no matter how crazy.”
During a sneak peek in December, it was hard to imagine how this semi-construction zone would coalesce into a museum. The 22,000 square foot fabrication section was abuzz with drills and saws. A whiteboard showed assembly diagrams and punch lists. (Under “Random jobs,” someone had jotted, “Write Christmas songs.”) The entryway and lower level — known as the grotto and the burrow — were warrens of scaffolding and machinery.
But there were pockets of calm. Kelli Harrod worked on a fresco of trees outside the “ Blueberries for Sal ” kitchen, unfazed by the hubbub. In two years as lead painter, she’d witnessed the Rabbit Hole’s steady growth.
“I remember painting the ‘ Pérez and Martina ’ house before there was insulation,” Harrod said. “I was bundled up in hats, gloves and coats, making sure my hands didn’t shake.”
Leigh Rosser was similarly nonplused while describing his biggest challenge as design fabrication lead. Problem: How to get a dragon and a cloud to fly above a grand staircase in “ My Father’s Dragon .” Solution: “It’s really simple, conceptually” — it didn’t sound simple — “but we’re dealing with weight in the thousands of pounds, mounted up high. We make up things that haven’t been done before, or at least that I’m not aware of.”
Attention to detail extends to floor-bound exhibits. The utensil drawer in “Blueberries for Sal” holds Pete Cowdin’s mother’s egg whisk alongside a jar containing a baby tooth that belonged to Cowdin and Pettid’s oldest daughter, Sally. The tooth is a wink at “ One Morning in Maine ,” an earlier Robert McCloskey book involving a wiggly bicuspid — or was it a molar? If dental records are available, Cowdin and Pettid have consulted them for accuracy.
“With Pete and Deb, it’s about trying to picture what they’re seeing in their minds,” said Brian Selznick , a longtime friend who helped stock the shelves in the Lucky Rabbit. He’s the author of “ The Invention of Hugo Cabret ,” among many other books.
Three months ago, the grotto looked like a desert rock formation studded with pink Chiclets. The burrow, home of Fox Rabbit, the museum’s eponymous mascot, was dark except for sparks blasting from a soldering iron. The floor was covered with tiny metal letters reclaimed from a newly-renovated donor wall at a local museum.
Cowdin and Pettid proudly explained their works-in-progress; these were the parts of the museum that blossomed from seed in their imaginations. But to the naked eye, they had the charm of a bulkhead door leading to a scary basement.
When the museum opened to the public, the grotto and the burrow suddenly made sense. The pink Chiclets are books, more than 3000 of them — molded in silicone, cast in resin — incorporated into the walls, the stairs and the floor. They vary from an inch-and-a-half to three inches thick. As visitors descend into the Rabbit Hole, they can run their fingers over the edges of petrified volumes. They can clamber over rock formations that include layers of books. Or they can curl up and read.
Dennis Butt, another longtime Rabbit Hole employee, molded 92 donated books into the mix, including his own copies of “ The Hobbit ” and “ The Lord of the Rings .” He said, “They’re a little piece of me.”
As for the metal letters, they’re pressed into the walls of a blue-lit tunnel leading up a ramp to the first floor. They spell the first lines of 141 books, including “ Charlotte’s Web ,” “Devil in the Drain” and “ Martha Speaks .” Some were easier to decipher than others, but “Mashed potatoes are to give everybody enough” jumped out. It called to mind another line from “A Hole is to Dig,” Ruth Krauss’s book of first definitions (illustrated by a young Maurice Sendak ): “The world is so you have something to stand on.”
At the Rabbit Hole, books are so you have something to stand on. They’re the bedrock and the foundation; they’re the solid ground.
Cowdin and Pettid have plans to expand into three more floors, adding exhibit space, a print shop, a story lab, a resource library and discovery galleries. An Automat-style cafeteria and George and Martha -themed party and craft room will open soon. A rooftop bar is also in the works.
Of course, museum life isn’t all happily ever after. Certain visitors whined, whinged and wept, especially as they approached the exit. One weary adult said, “Charlie, we did it all.”
Then, “Charlie, it’s time to go.”
And finally, “Fine, Charlie, we’re leaving you here.” Cue hysteria.
But the moral of this story — and the point of the museum, and maybe the point of reading, depending on who you share books with — crystallized in a quiet moment in the great green room. A boy in a Chiefs Super Bowl T-shirt pretended to fall asleep beneath a fleecy blanket. Before closing his eyes, he said, “Goodnight, Grandma. Love you to the moon.”
Elisabeth Egan is a writer and editor at the Times Book Review. She has worked in the world of publishing for 30 years. More about Elisabeth Egan
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Down the rabbit hole, common sense media reviewers.
Suspenseful, intense Mexican drama has violence, language.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
Kids are capable and aware of more than they are o
Tochtli is loved and cared for by the adults in hi
The film is set in a drug cartel compound in Mexic
There's a sense of menace throughout this film, be
Yolcaut has different women staying over and sleep
Some Spanish swear words and in the English subtit
Some car brands. Characters make a lot of money il
A man is a known drug dealer. Adults drink alcohol
Parents need to know that the book-based Mexican film Down the Rabbit Hole (Fiesta en la Madriguera), which turns on a boy whose father is involved in drug trafficking, contains significant violence and threat, as well as swearing in both English and Spanish. A child is slowly becoming aware of his father's…
Positive Messages
Kids are capable and aware of more than they are often credited with. A person can make bad choices as a parent but still love their children.
Positive Role Models
Tochtli is loved and cared for by the adults in his life, but those same adults are engaged in criminal activities and violent or dangerous behavior. His teacher betrays the family but protects Tochtli. His father tells him people in gangs don't lie, and to know he can always rely on his dad, but neither of these things turn out to be true.
Diverse Representations
The film is set in a drug cartel compound in Mexico. A character says, "Centuries of culture, and the world sees us as a mix of Cantinflas and Speedy Gonzalez." This film offers a nuanced portrayal of complex characters; however, the character of a drug lord could also be considered a stereotype of Mexicans. Same goes for the regular talk among the male Mexican characters of "pansies" versus "real men" or "machos." On display as well are aspects of local life such as fiestas, foods, and styles. Some characters have indigenous names or characteristics. Mexicans go on safari in Namibia and hunt wild animals to bring home and live on their property in cages. There's a discussion of the dark skin of the Africans they meet.
Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.
Violence & Scariness
There's a sense of menace throughout this film, beginning with seemingly innocent conversations about things like guillotines, atomic bombs, or what gun wounds will and won't kill a person. A boy plays with a sword and a gun. These evolve into increasingly more serious threats, like a man being beaten and tortured, a news report showing a mass grave and the body of a female friend, a discussion of whether human meat is being fed to the family's tigers, the discovery of a basement full of weapons, the killing of wild animals, a person's decapitated head, and a deadly gun battle. A father yells at his son. A boy wets his pants from fear.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Sex, Romance & Nudity
Yolcaut has different women staying over and sleeping with him. A lackey jokes, "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am" about one of them. A woman wears lingerie. Adults kiss.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Some Spanish swear words and in the English subtitles: "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "hell," "damn," "goddamnit," "bitch," "ass," "a--hole," "d--kheads," "bonehead," "pansy," "moron," "idiot," "poop," "good lord."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
Products & Purchases
Some car brands. Characters make a lot of money illegally.
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
A man is a known drug dealer. Adults drink alcohol and smoke. Characters get drunk. A father looks for underarm hairs on his son to see if he's old enough to try alcohol.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the book-based Mexican film Down the Rabbit Hole (Fiesta en la Madriguera), which turns on a boy whose father is involved in drug trafficking, contains significant violence and threat, as well as swearing in both English and Spanish. A child is slowly becoming aware of his father's violent profession, and the film has a sense of menace that grows from conversations about killing to actual deaths. A man is beaten and tortured, a news report shows a mass grave and the body of a female friend, a boy asks whether human meat is being fed to the family's tigers, wild animals are captured then killed, a person's decapitated head is discovered, and a deadly gun battle takes place. A boy wets pants from fear. Language in the English subtitles includes "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "hell," "damn," "goddamnit," "bitch," "a--hole," "d--kheads,"and more. Adults drink alcohol and smoke. Characters get drunk. A father looks for underarm hairs on his son to see if he's old enough to try alcohol. A main character has different women staying over and sleeping with him. The film offers a nuanced portrayal of complex characters; however, the character of a drug lord could also be considered a stereotype of Mexicans. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .
Where to Watch
Videos and photos.
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What's the Story?
Ten-year-old Tochtli (Miguel Valverde) lives in an opulent castle with his father, Yolcaut ( Manuel García-Rulfo ), and his father's servants and cronies in DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. He has a tutor to school him, caged wild animals to play with, and all the toys a kid could want. But he's also alone, without friends, and he's starting to notice some strange and potentially scary things happening in his father's world.
Is It Any Good?
This offbeat and disturbing yet enthralling drama constructs an imagined world that displays a continued solidification of the distinctive personal voice and style of Mexican director Manolo Caro . The premise of Down the Rabbit Hole is the life of a 10-year-old boy raised entirely within the confines of his drug-lord father's sprawling compound. But none of that is spelled out for us. Rather, Caro reveals the realities of this world piece by piece, from a spoiled child with an oddly shaved head and no friends his own age, to his father's seething intimidation of a dinner guest, to symbolic wild animals locked up in cages in the yard, to a basement full of weapons.
We are along for the ride, and the film -- co-written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu 's regular collaborator Nicolás Giacobone, based on a novel by Juan Pablo Villalobos -- masterfully holds back key pieces of information to both arouse our curiosity and increase the tension. It's clear something is off from the very opening scene, when the boy sits alone in a long hall of taxidermized animals and a tall wall of hats. The composition and setting feel reminiscent of Wes Anderson , but the story goes off in much a darker and more sinister direction. It's as if we are becoming aware of the evils that lurk, and losing our innocence alongside Tochtli. Besides the unique look of the film, the tale also works thanks to exceptional performances by the underappreciated García-Rulfo ( The Lincoln Lawyer ) and child actor Miguel Valverde.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the look of Down the Rabbit Hole. Does it remind you of any other films you've seen? What feelings does the setting evoke in you?
How does the film use music to build suspense?
One of the main characters is known to oversee a drug cartel. What does that involve? Where could you find more information?
A character suggests that despite "centuries of culture," the world still sees Mexicans in stereotypes. Could this film help change that? Why or why not?
The film is structured into acts based on imaginary characters Tochtli is playing. How do these also work to reveal what's happening in his life? Do you think his stomach troubles also suggest something is not right in his world?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : May 3, 2024
- Cast : Manuel Garcia-Rulfo , Miguel Valverde , Debi Mazar
- Director : Manolo Caro
- Inclusion Information : Latino actors, Female actors, Latino writers
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Book Characters , Wild Animals
- Run time : 102 minutes
- MPAA rating : NR
- Last updated : May 5, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
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Nightly news, rabbit hole museum brings classic children's books to life.
A new museum in Kansas City, The Rabbit Hole, brings a new dimension to beloved children's stories with dozens of immersive exhibits. NBC News' Maya Eaglin reports. May 7, 2024
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6,876 ratings733 reviews. Alice Armitage is a police officer. Or she was. Or perhaps she just imagines she was. Whatever the truth is, following a debilitating bout of PTSD, self-medication with drink and drugs, and a psychotic breakdown, Alice is now a long-term patient in an acute psychiatric ward. When one of her fellow patients is murdered ...
Despite a few ham-fisted metaphors and egregiously unbelievable moments, the dizzying pace mixed with introspective passages (not to mention very short chapters) keep readers turning pages so the book flies by. A timely rumination on true crime, internet obsession, and paranoia. 5. Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2024. ISBN: 9781641294874.
Read on for Doreen Sheridan's review! Kate Brody's arresting debut novel delves deep into the heart of a modern young woman trying to make sense of a life of tragedy with its unrelenting tides of grief. When Teddy Angstrom's father kills himself on the tenth anniversary of her sister's disappearance, Teddy and her mother Clare are almost ...
Mark Billingham's new stand-alone novel (i.e. one that doesn't feature his long-standing detective, Tom Thorne) is a whodunit set on a psychiatric ward. The book carries out its whodunit duties—a shifting series of credible suspects, plenty of neat twists, a conclusion that's both plausible and unguessable—with undeniable skill.
RABBIT HOLE. by Mark Billingham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021. A great premise generates some powerful episodes. Only the identification of the culprit is a letdown. The creator of DI Tom Thorne presents a stand-alone whodunit with a most unusual setting: the psychiatric ward of a northwest London hospital. DC Alice Armitage, who suffered an ...
Book Information Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody is a 374-page mystery published on January 2, 2024. Rebecca Quinn Robertson narrates the audio version which spans 12 hours and 45 minutes. Thank you to RB Media for providing me with an Advance Readers Copy for review. Summary A decade ago, Teddy Angstrom's sister Angie vanished, leaving a cold case ...
Rabbit Hole. by Kate Brody. Kate Brody blends true-crime obsession, late-night Reddit binges and the day-blending, mind-fracturing effects of grief in her twisty debut, RABBIT HOLE. Ten years ago, Theodora "Teddy" Angstrom said goodbye to her sister for the last time. A wild child with addictive tendencies, Angie was always at the center of ...
RABBIT HOLE takes place almost entirely inside a psychiatric hospital, which is remarkable in and of itself. Aside from two successful books made into classic movies --- ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS --- psychiatric hospitals don't play much of a role in the popular mindset.
Friday, September 24 6:45pm - 7:45pm. Mark Billingham and Bella Mackie join forces to talk about writing killer characters. Mark's latest novel 'Rabbit Hole' is cunning, complex and ...
KATE BRODY's debut, RABBIT HOLE, is the next powerhouse book that started my 2024 reading year. The premise of this story absolutely intrigued me - a missing sister, a study in grief and an obsessive deep dive into the true crime world of Reddit threads and chat boards.
Rabbit Hole: A Novel. Hardcover - August 3, 2021. by Mark Billingham (Author) 3.9 7,353 ratings. See all formats and editions. Alice Armitage is a police officer. Or she was. Following a debilitating bout of PTSD, self-medication with drink and drugs, and a psychotic breakdown, Alice is now a long-term patient in an acute psychiatric ward.
Alice's conversational, almost confessional narration keeps the mystery mysterious and the humour flowing, as well as allowing us a brief glimpse of some of the more sobering elements of life in care. The fears, the paranoia, the endless cycle of food, meds, sleep repeat that the patients undertake giving the whole book a sense of authenticity.
Review: Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham is a clever mystery with a likeable, albeit unreliable, narrator. Alice "Al" Armitage is the narrator of this brilliant mystery which takes place in the Shackleton Unit's Fleet Ward. Al is a former Met detective constable who began suffering from PTSD following the shocking incident on the Job.
The book carries out its whodunit duties—a shifting series of credible suspects, plenty of neat twists, a conclusion that's both plausible and unguessable—with undeniable skill. Nonetheless its main interest, for Billingham and the reader alike, perhaps lies elsewhere: in the brilliantly realised setting and particularly in the richly ...
978-1-64129-487-4. A father's suicide shakes loose family secrets, reigniting interest in a cold case, in Kate Brody's engrossing thriller Rabbit Hole. A decade past her older half-sister's disappearance, Teddy teaches in the high school where her last name became infamous. There's still local sympathy—and judgment—around her family ...
Books. Rabbit Hole: A Novel of Suspense. Mark Billingham. Atlantic Monthly Press, Aug 3, 2021 - Fiction - 200 pages. A gripping standalone thriller from the "first-rate British crime writer" and internationally bestselling author of the Tom Thorne novels (The Washington Post). Alice Armitage is a police officer. Or she was.
Rabbit Hole. Hardcover - January 2, 2024. by Kate Brody (Author) 3.4 262 ratings. Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. See all formats and editions. A page-turning debut mystery that's as addictive as a late-night Reddit binge, about a grieving woman obsessed with solving her sister's cold-case disappearance via the true crime ...
Rabbit Hole is the spellbinding debut from author Kate Brody. Brody's talent is her ability to make the reader question many things during the often intense narrative, from who to trust to what type of person Angie was and Teddy is. This is a book that redefines the mystery genre and proves a fulfilling read.
Rabbit Hole is a novel of suspense that takes the reader inside an acute psychiatric ward, where a former police officer, Alice Armitage, tries to solve a series of murders among the patients. But Alice is not a reliable narrator, as she suffers from PTSD, addiction, and psychosis, and she doesn't know who to trust, including herself.
A psychological thriller that also thoughtfully explores social media culture and the dangers of obsession, Rabbit Hole is a heart-wrenching reminder of the complex humanity behind every true crime story." —Chicago Review of Books "Teddy's world—and therefore the book—is dark and tinged with loss . . .
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. * I know this is derogatory / inappropriate but in deference to Alice and her own irreverence and sense of humour I've gone with it. Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham is about a murder in a psychiatric facility. But it's okay because the police have someone on the inside.
The main floor of the Rabbit Hole consists of 40 book-themed dioramas blown up to life-size and arranged, Ikea showroom-style, in a space the size of two hockey rinks.
Despite a few ham-fisted metaphors and egregiously unbelievable moments, the dizzying pace mixed with introspective passages (not to mention very short chapters) keep readers turning pages so the book flies by. A timely rumination on true crime, internet obsession, and paranoia. Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody has an overall rating of Positive based ...
Parents Need to Know. Parents need to know that the book-based Mexican film Down the Rabbit Hole (Fiesta en la Madriguera), which turns on a boy whose father is involved in drug trafficking, contains significant violence and threat, as well as swearing in both English and Spanish.A child is slowly becoming aware of his father's…
A new museum in Kansas City, The Rabbit Hole, brings a new dimension to beloved children's stories with dozens of immersive exhibits. NBC News' Maya Eaglin reports.