Die of Shame by Mark Billingham

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on June 7, 2016

Nicola Tanner and Dipak Chall investigate a murder. The victim has been dead for more than two weeks before the body is found. The victim’s identity is concealed for a short time so I won’t give it away here, but it is immediately clear that the victim was a member of Tony De Silva’s addiction support group.

When he is not touring with a well-known musician as a “lifestyle coach” (e.g., he keeps the musician sober), Tony works as a therapist. Tony is a former addict whose daughter belittles him for living a boring life, knowing that he misses the good times he once had.

The other key characters are the members of Tony’s weekly group. Robin is a doctor who took too many self-prescriptions. Diana, a recovering alcoholic who is now a compulsive shopper, can’t stop obsessing about her ex-husband’s younger girlfriend. Caroline, the newest addition to the group, is a compulsive eater who is trying to give up pain pills. Heather, a “skinny junkie” with a gambling addiction, feels alone in the world, although she has developed a strong attachment to Tony. Nobody much likes Chris, a drug addict who insults other group members and belittles their woes.

After the meetings, the group members (without Tony) typically gather in a pub where they socialize over soft drinks. Events occur at various points during and after group sessions that create escalating tension among the members. The book’s title comes (in part) from Tony’s prompting each group member to discuss something shameful that they did, in the belief that they might have adopted addictive behaviors to hide from their shame.

Die of Shame is told in a series of flashbacks that alternate with scenes of the murder investigation. The flashbacks reveal the personalities of the group members and their relationships with each other. The current investigation frustrates Tanner and Chall, since the group members are unwilling to discuss anything that happens in group, and for the most part won’t talk about their interactions with each other outside of the group.

Mark Billingham does a good job of creating sympathy for troubled characters. In fact, Die of Shame works better as the story of addicts in therapy than it does as a murder mystery. The killer’s motivation is concealed for most of the novel, making it impossible to deduce the killer’s identity, despite the false clues that Billingham plants. Once that motivation is revealed, it seems contrived. Still, the strong characters and Billingham’s literary prose style kept me interested, if not engrossed, as the story moved toward its climax. A final twist at the end, resolving a minor plot element, is a clever cap to a story of people who will continue to be troubled in surprising ways long after the novel ends.

RECOMMENDED