What I have always loved most about Michael Robotham's writing is the voice that he gives his characters and the honesty with which he explores them: their virtues, flaws, fears, hopes, motivation. He delves into the inner lives that we all have and in doing so raises a mirror to the reader.
Through nine novels featuring clinical pyschologist Joe O'Loughlin we learn his deepest secrets and his fondest desires. We share his pain and suffer his grief. And there is a profound sense of loss when a much-loved character disappears, as O'Loughlin did in 2018 when he most recently featured in The Other Wife.
Happily, Robotham returned with two equally compelling characters the following year in Evie Cormac and Cyrus Haven in their debut Good Girl Bad Girl. They're back this year in Lying Beside You, their third outing, and all the mastery of character and the authenticity of voice that so characterised the O'Loughlin novels is on full display.
Cyrus is a forensic psychologist who works with the Nottinghamshire police helping them solve crimes, while also running a private practice. Scarred by the murder of his family by his ilder brother when a young teen, Cyrus carries demons of his own, but these help him understand and empathise with others have suffered. Cyrus, as the series developes, proves to be a collector of damaged souls, and Evie, with her own terrible back story (no spoliers here, read Good Girl Bad Girl), eventually becomes his ward.
Evie, volatile and unpredictable, is a good foil to Cyrus, who is steady and reliable and the chemistry between the two of them drives the books.
In Lying Beside You, both become embroiled in the investigation of the murder of Rowan Kirk and the disappearance of his daughter, Maya.
Robotham carefully and skilfully unpeels the layers of a complex plot as the police investigate the crimes, with Cyrus poking them in the right direction. And while the mystery of the fate of the Kirks is satisfying enough in itself, it is the inner lives of Cyrus, and, in particular, Evie that give the story its soul and make it very difficult to put down.
Robotham doesn't attract the attention of some of his peers for his work, but he has put together a bibilography that's up there with anyone else writing thrillers right now, and I can't recommend these books highly enough.
I also learned at the start of the book that Joe O'Loughlin is going on television later this year with Aidan Turner in the title role. Turner is not who I'd have imagined in the role, but that won't stop me tuning in. Something to look forward to.
And in researching this piece, I'm surprised to discover I've not reviewed a Robotham book since 2009 - when we were all young - despite the fact that I've read everything he's written since. So here's The Night Ferry, also excellent.