Scardey Cat, the second of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne novels, was shown on Sky 1 over the last three weeks, but I watched all three episodes in one sitting after recording each episode to my Sky+. And although I have some misgivings about the way this story was carried off on the screen, it was another enjoyable and thrilling crime story.
The problem here was that whilst the story about two serial killers working in tandem, with an unexpected twist worked well in the novel, it doesn't have the same effect on the screen and almost feels like a cheat. Once the twist is delivered on screen things start to unravel. And it all seems rather contrived. Maybe the fact that on screen we don't get the inner lives of characters in much the same was as with a written narrative, is the problem.
Still David Morrisey is excellent as DI Tom Thorne and I especially like the style of this series, but unlike the unique aspect to the first story, Sleepyhead this one comes across as standard serial killer nonsense. And as I've said on TV the twist seems ridiculous.
