Onyx reviews: Cry Baby by Mark Billingham

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 09/19/2020

Two seven-year-old boys are playing in a London park. Until recently they went to the same school; now, they're making up for lost time together. Their mothers are keeping a more-or-less watchful eye, except they aren't, really. One mother goes to the restroom and the other, Maria Ashton, takes her eye off the boys as they disappear into the park woods to play hide-and-seek.

Kieron's mother Catrin ("Cat") Coyne returns in time to encounter Josh, who is distraught at not being able to find his friend. A quick search of the area doesn't reveal the missing boy and, eventually, the police are brought in to launch an investigation. Leading the case is DS Tom Thorne, a regular in Billingham's crime novels.

However, this is 1996, early in Thorne's career with the Metropolitan Police. Not only does he have 25 fewer years of experience to inform the investigation, many of the resources relied upon by law enforcement aren't available yet, including wide CCTV coverage (there is some, but it is regarded mostly as a waste of time), fast fingerprint or DNA results, and internet searches. One particularly fun aspect of the novel is the way Billingham sprinkles the story with "historical" facts and details from the period: news, sports, and music, for example. And one thing hasn't changed over the years: the media is intrusive and invasive, hounding the missing boy's mother and anyone the police interview.

The incident leads to a falling out between the two mothers. Kieron's supposed father, Billy, is in prison for assault. However, publicity surrounding the case draws another figure out of the woodwork, which causes even more problems for Cat. Josh's parents are recently divorced, which has had an emotional impact on the boy, compounded by the disappearance. He's sufficiently traumatized that he can't provide a description of the kidnapper if, in fact, he saw him. A witness claims to have seen the missing boy being led to a parked car and, to his mind, the boy seemed comfortable with the person who took him.

Marital discord is also an important consideration with DS Thorne. He is freshly divorced but still in the process of dissolving the material part of their relationship: splitting up belongings, selling the house, etc. His obsession with his job was one of the contributing factors to the break-up, and it continues to rankle his ex-wife (and her new partner) because he's dragging his heels.

In addition to a reflection on the different ways broken marriages affect people—the former partners, their children, parents, siblings and friends—the book also explores what it is to be different in society. Cat's next door neighbor attracts suspicion because he is an outsider, and neighbors whisper about the odd man who is the police's main witness. And, speaking of "different," the investigation brings Thorne into contact with a new, young, tattooed and multiply pierced pathologist, Phil Hendricks, who quickly becomes someone to go to pub and watch football with (Britain is currently hosting and contending in the European Soccer Championships). It's the beginning of what will become a long friendship.

There are suspects, of course, and the police, in their eagerness to close this high-profile case, cut some corners: leaking information to the press and ignoring exculpatory evidence. Thorne is particularly aggrieved by his supervisor, whom he holds responsible when the situation with one suspect goes badly wrong. The shadow of an earlier case Thorne mishandled also haunts him.

There are also a couple of possibly related murders, and scenes that hint at what might have befallen Kieron. Just when it seems like the case is going cold, a stroke of luck on one particularly good day sets the team in the right direction, leading to a surprising and exhilarating conclusion.