Advarsel! Efter de første ti sider er det rigtig svært at lægge denne bog fra sig!På første side møder vi den anerkendte professor og psykolog Joseph O´Loughlin på toppen af et hospital, hvor han forsøger at overtale en kræftsyg 17-årig til ikke at springe.
O´Loughlin får imidlertid snart anderledes personlige problemer at slås med, dels fordi han er nødt til at se i øjnene, at han selv lider af en alvorlig sygdom, dels fordi han bliver involveret i opklaringen af et mord på en tidligere patient. For ikke at "blive rodet ind i noget" fortæller han en enkelt lille løgn (eller er det måske et par stykker?), og fra det øjeblik bliver han hvirvlet ind i den totale, mareridtsagtige nedtur. Denne nærmest uundgåelige dødsspiral kunne nemt have været lidt for meget af det gode, men det lykkes Robotham at holde spændingen ved lige indtil sidste kapitel.
"Den mistænkte" er Michael Robothams første krimi. Forfatteren har en fortid som journalist, men klarer fint springet til den skønlitterære genre. Sproget er nuanceret og varieret, personskildringerne troværdige og den ofte kulsorte humor virker. Overbevisende debut, og heldigvis venter der et gensyn med Joseph O´Loughlin i "Drowning Man" (desværre ikke oversat til dansk).
Michael Robotham, The Suspect (2004)
Warning! After the first few pages it is difficult to put this book away!
On the first page we meet professor and psychologist Joseph O´Loughlin on a hospital roof while he is trying to prevent a 17-year-old cancer patient from jumping.
Soon O´Loughlin runs into personal problems, however, partly because he must learn to live with the fact that he also suffers from a serous illness, partly because one of his former patients is found dead. To avoid being involved in anything, he tells one small lie (or perhaps a couple of lies) - and is immediately caught up in a nightmareish deroute. This plot could easily have been too much but Robotham succeeds in keeping up suspense throughout the book.
Considering that "The Suspect" is Michael Robotham´s first crime novel plot and characters are very convincing and his coal-black humour works. Fine debut! I for one am looking forward to meeting Joseph O´Loughlin and DI Vincent Ruiz again in "Drowning Man".
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8 kommentarer:
Dorte, you have got to stop reviewing all those books I think I need to read! I already got the Anne Holt book from the library and this one sounds real good too. And here I was, trying to not read too much crime and I am already about to break that resolution ;-)
As I admitted quite openly ten days ago, my sinister intentions are giving each and every visitor a crime fix. Louise, you will have to come back for more now, - and it will cost you!
But as I think you can see from the review, Robotham´s book is more of a thriller than a whodunnit, so though I liked the book and certainly plan to read the sequels, I do love Anne Holt´s crime fiction more. Hope this addition is useful.
I'm impressed with how many crime novels you've been reading! I can't handle hard-boiled crime books any more, though...they give me nightmares. Isn't that weird?!
Hello Eva & welcome in.
I don´t always read so much. I am overdoing it a bit at the moment (mostly because Louise from "Lou´s pages" keeps tempting me even deeper into the community of bloggers ;))
And I don´t think it is weird that certain books can give you nightmares. In periods of stress & illness I also have nightmares, plus when I was pregnant & had small children.
Dorte, sorry for tempting you all the time ;o) I have awarded you with The Butterfly Award!
Oh, MY FIRST AWARD! - can you see me jumping around & shouting?
Thank you ever so much! Now the next problem is how to grab the butterfly and pin it to my blog (a positive Sunday´s challenge).
I have also received recognition elsewhere, by the way. Maxine from "Maxine´s book reviews" has introduced me to this room for crime fiction fans, http://friendfeed.com/rooms/crime-and-mystery-fiction
and today two of the members called me "an asset" to the room.
See you; I have some serious blogging to get into ;)
I really enjoyed this story, I like all of Robotham's books. Lost is my favourite.
I´d also like to read more. This is one I got from the library, but I will have to buy them myself in the future. It seems his Danish publisher has decided not to translate any more so apparently he has not really caught on here. I wonder why, but perhaps Australia is too far away for most Danes??
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