I haven't read any of Mark Billingham's work before so was interested to read this one which is a stand alone book. Having spent some time on a placement in an acute psychiatric unit the story rang true and I felt the author was sympathetic to the staff, which was great as they often seem an easy target for writers.
I enjoyed the very dark humour and the gradual revealing of the plot, but I did find it over complex at times and I'm not sure the epilogue was quite the surprise it needed to be.
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for an advance copy of this book

A tricky read, where we're never quite sure who to trust or exactly what's happening.
Our main character is Alice, currently resident in a psychiatric hospital. She maintains she was a police officer - and we are never quite sure if this is true, or whether it is part of her delusional behaviour - and when one of the patients is found murdered Alice is determined to help solve the investigation.
From the outset I found Alice was presented as a most elusive character. It becomes clear why this is done - eventually - but it meant most of my reading time was spent in a state of uncertainty as I was second-guessing what might be going on.
The voice of Alice was irreverent and refreshingly blunt about the mental health issues faced by the patients, herself included. However, the actual story highlighted some of the problems with how mental health issues are treated in this country.
When there is a second murder and nobody seems any closer to working out what is going on, I was convinced Alice might have more of a role in events than she believed herself to have.
Eventually we get answers. They were not quite what I expected.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of Rabbit Hole, a stand-alone thriller set in an English psychiatric ward.

When Kevin Connolly, a patient on the Fleet ward, DC Alice Armitage takes on the investigation, except there are two problems with this, Alice is no longer a DC and she’s a patient, sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

I enjoyed Rabbit Hole, which is a most unusual novel that treads a fine line. It is told from Alice’s first person point of view, so apart from her being an obviously unreliable narrator, it tells a straightforward story of her asking questions and, apparently, finding a solution. Well, maybe not. She has some kind of PTSD and psychosis and the drugs to treat it make her memory fragmented and unreliable. Nevertheless, she has a strong voice with the cynical and sardonic humour readers associate with people who have seen the darker side of life. She made me laugh.

The actual plot is very slim, so the novel is more about Alice, her mental illness and how she interprets events. It is interesting at first as she has such a fresh, in terms of crime fiction, approach to life and the investigation and an amusing take on them too. It sags a bit in the middle where nothing much happens, apart from Alice re-evaluating everything, and that gets a bit repetitive and then there is the ending, which throws a couple of curve balls and makes the slog through the middle very worth while. I loved it.

This is not a novel for the reader who wants action, reveals and forward momentum, but for those who like a character driven novel. Ok, Alice probably wouldn’t be my first pick as a protagonist, but she’s strongly depicted and I admire the author for taking on such a difficult subject and doing it successfully with no pandering or faux concern. Just the facts, or rather the facts as Alice’s fractured mind sees them.

Overall Rabbit Hole is a good read that I can recommend.

I enjoyed this and it bought to mind my time working in psychiatry wards. Luckily, reality was much less action packed than the reality of this book. I have struggled a bit as to whether I find the descriptions of those with mental illness are appropriate or not. I'd be interested to know whether people with these conditions and who have spent time on psychiatry wards are ok with them.

Overall I found Alice a very interesting character and a compelling narrator.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Alice, a patient in a psychiatric ward, has suffered PTSD. She wants to solve the murder of a fellow patient as the police are no help. As things unravel she realizes she can't trust anyone, not even herself. Inside Alice's mind is a dark place but you have to read on to find out what happens next. Addictive.

Mark Billingham is one of the finest exponents of crime fiction today. His Tom Thorne series is never less than excellent. Rabbit Hole is a standalone thriller and it is brilliant. It is set in the psychiatric ward of a hospital and narrated by an ex-cop who is herself a patient. When one of her fellow inmates is murdered, Alice takes it upon herself to investigate. The descriptions of the other patients are superb, the writing is fluent and humorous and the novel is an absolute delight!

This was a bit different from the other books by this author. Difficult to get into at the start but worth persevering when I got the MCs unique voice pinned down.. Full of complex twists.

Yet another great book and a stand a lone book. Mark does it again with Rabbit Hole and he has you hooked from the 1st page. The story line is about Alice who is a patient on a mental ward who turns her hand trying to solve some murders on the ward.
We seem to have a stigma in talking about mental illness in this country but Mark has to be congratulated on his tackling of the subject. It is a great story ,Alice is a lovely character and the story keeps you on edge and wanting more.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the early read

Fleet Ward is where psychiatric patients are monitored, treated and looked after. It is a safe space, one where you can be yourself – if being yourself means walking the corridors to maintain your weight, or waiting each day to be collected by your family (who never come). It is definitely not a place where one of the patients is found murdered… until it happens. Who is responsible? Is it a member of staff, someone from the outside or worse still, someone already living in the ward? DC Alice Armitage is a current patient and undertakes to solve the crime. After all, she’s got the best knowledge of what goes on in Fleet Ward, and an understanding of her fellow patients. Methodical, careful and tireless, she’ll stop at nothing to find out the truth, even if it means getting in trouble to do so. I haven’t read many of Mark’s books but I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty read where you’re never quite sure who is telling the truth. The fact that it’s set somewhere so claustrophobic is also ideal; you get a sense of the walls closing in as time runs out for Alice to discover the truth.

Mark Billingham takes a rest from his excellent Tom Thorne series with Rabbit Hole which is a stand-alone thriller set on a psychiatric ward where the investigator is a patient.

The concept is fairly unusual and Billingham’s wit does still show through however it did feel like a drawn out novella or long short story and meandered in parts. I also had guessed the majority of the outcome.

Overall it was ok

Alice is a patient in a Fleet Ward, a psychiatric ward, experiencing a breakdown and PTSD following the death of her partner at work as a Police Officer. One of the patients is found dead and she think she knows who the killer is until they are murdered just days later, as she has no idea who she can or can't trust.
I thought the author got inside the mind of Alice really well, really felt her paranoia and warped way of thinking. A lot of twists that keep you guessing and often very funny!

Alice Armitage is on the scene soon after Kevin's murder on an Acute Mental Health ward and she is itching to investigate.

The only two problems are that Alice is no longer a copper and she is on the ward as a sectioned inpatient.

Despite this she investigates her fellow inpatients and the ward staff to find the killer.

Well written as all Billingham books are, she describes everyone on the ward and gives them amusing nicknames.

But is the killer turning their attention to Alice....?

Having read all of Mark Billingham's books Rabbit Hole was a departure from his normal books.Although it is a good thriller as all Mark's books are i just thought this was a bit repetative,it features Alice who is sectioned under the mental health act after suffering from PTSD and here we get to meet the various patients and staff and when a patient is found murdered and soon after a member of staff Alice finds herself looking into the murders.The book is laced with some funny moments as well as sad and is well written as are all Mark Billingham's books.It is a different type of book but it is still a good read,a good 4 star read.

A murder almost of the locked room variety, set in a psychiatric ward with so many struggling long term patients, one of whom is ex-police and embroils herself into the investigation into a murder in the hospital.
Alice is frustrated that noone is listening, she has theories and she wants to be heard.
Through Alice we meet the many and varied other patients, each with thier own problems an personalities and each with their own secrets and lies as well as learning mroe about the awful situation that sent Alice to the point of requiring sectioning herself.
I thought this was a very clever book, definitely a departure from Billinghams normal writing style of which am a long term fan, but nonetheless an excellent novel.

DC Alice Armitage is on the hunt for a killer but there is a problem the killer is a resident on a psychiatric ward. Some off you may think why is that a problem as the people on the ward can't leave. Well the issue is that Alice is also locked away on the Fleet Ward but not as a serving police officer but as a patient!
This book gives a terrifying insite into a psychiatric hospital where the patients suffer from all kinds of mental illness, each with their own stories to tell.
Can Alice find out who murdered her fellow resident and can she stop it from happening again.
Everyone talks about twists in books but Mark has excelled in this one it will keep your head spinning.

Outstanding! A murder in a mental health ward with one of the patients doing the detective work - it's an original concept, a unique voice and a remarkable setting. Mark Billingham is never predictable, but this is his most surprising book yet. Saying too much risks giving something away, so I will simply say this is Mark Billingham at his best and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I have read a lot of Mark’s books and enjoyed them all especially the Tom Thorne series so was looking forward to reading this stand-alone book. I wasn’t disappointed, gripping storyline as always, I liked the characters and the nicknames she gave them all. Although not as thrillerish as his Thorne series it was still a great read.

3.5 rounded up to 4

There’s been a murder on the ward of a psychiatric hospital. Alice Armitage, a sectioned patient, is our unreliable narrator. She’s suffering from PTSD which lead to a breakdown for which she’s now in hospital. . But, as she tells us, she is a police detective and feels the need to solve the murder.

It was an interesting idea, setting the murder on the psychiatric ward with a patient as Storyteller. But for me it didn’t quite work, it was overly long with not much momentum in places. The cast of characters was confusing at times for me Lauren and Lucy, Debbie and Donna, nicknames for the patients used inconsistently. Throughout as the reader you’re aware that Alice is unreliable but you’re not quite sure how much of what she tells us is true. There are some interesting ideas and I would read others from the author but this wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped.

Brilliant book as always from Mark!!! Loved the characters and the nicknames she gave to her “inmates” Tho I did guess the bad guy it didn’t spoil my enjoyment, loved Alice and I really enjoyed this one even though it didn’t seem as scary as some of his previous offerings, a stomper of a good read!!! 5 ⭐️ from me!!!

Mark Billingham is usually a good bet for a reliably gripping story told in a distinctive voice, and this standalone novel is no different. For existing readers of the author, this is not a Tom Thorne novel but is set squarely in the Thorne-iverse - there are references to one or two of Thorne's previous cases, and a fleeting cameo from one character as well as reference made to another.

The book is written from the first person perspective of unreliable narrator Alice, a patient on a psychiatric ward who makes the most of her previous career with the Met to investigate a murder on the ward. Almost all of the action takes place in the closed psychiatric ward, references to the world on the other side of the 'airlock' are largely only tangential, but Billingham builds the confined world excellently - the almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the ward is well defined. However, what is less well drawn is the supporting cast. The patients, despite all their idiosyncrasies, are almost interchangeable, and certainly the 'informals' are not differentiated from each other. One thing that does not work is the epilogue - the big reveal therein does not come as a surprise and was somewhat of a letdown.

Nevertheless, this is a very entertaining novel with an unusual premise, and one that most readers of this type of writing will enjoy.