Chapters (73)
- Rabbit Hole
- Also by Mark Billingham
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Preface
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- PART TWO
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- PART THREE
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Back Cover
FYI, I haven’t bothered giving any of this lot nicknames because they have their names on their badges, like I used to have mine on my stab vest. Oh, and as far as job titles go . . . well, the doctors are obviously the doctors, but I still don’t really know the difference between a nurse and a healthcare assistant. I mean, in theory an assistant would be assisting a nurse, because they’re probably a bit less qualified, but most of the time that doesn’t seem to matter and everyone just mucks in. I suppose that, when the only thing there’s no shortage of is patients, it’s all hands to the pump.
OK . . . let’s get ready to rumble!
Dr Bakshi is the consultant psychiatrist, so she’s the big cheese around here. Her first name’s Asma, or maybe Asha, and I’m guessing she’s Indian. She’s always been nice to me; reassuring, you know? Says that there’s no reason I shouldn’t get well again, but that I do need to be careful with the psychosis, because any further drug use could bring it on again. It’s like breaking the seal on a bottle, she said, or once the genie’s out of the bottle . . . something along those lines. All scary stuff, but only if you believe that you were properly unwell to begin with. I’m not saying I was behaving what you’d call normally through the whole thing, but there are shades of grey, you know? Shades of crackers.
She doesn’t use too much medical gobbledegook and she listens a lot – I guess that’s just being good at her job – but I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with her, because she’s the one with the power to send me home, or, if not, to make my life in here a lot harder than it is. She’s also the one member of staff I try not to be too much of a smartarse with – even if I can’t help myself, sometimes – because she’s the only one I know is cleverer than me.
Bakshi’s a bit older than the others and she doesn’t strike me as much of a scrapper, so to make things a bit fairer when the fighting starts I’m pairing her with someone, two against one. I need to partner her up with one of the nurses and it’s a fairly obvious choice.