Michael Robotham, Drowning Man aka Lost (2005)

[Ikke oversat til dansk]

This thriller is Australian writer Robotham´s second. Again it takes place in London, and the psychologist Joe O´Loughlin features, but this time the main protagonist is DI Vincent Ruiz (second fiddle in the first novel).

Robotham succeeds in catching the reader from page one. Vincent Ruiz survives but has lost his memory and has a hard time convincing the police (and some quite insistent criminals) that he is not just pretending.

It seems that the shooting incident is related to a little girl who disappeared three years earlier in what is a variation of a closed room case. Though a paedophile has been imprisoned, Ruiz has never been able to let this case go, especially because there was no body. Is little Mickey really alive, or is this only wishful thinking by Ruiz and her desparate mother? Ánd how important are his own childhood experiences for his involvement in this case?

I did enjoy the story quite a lot, but to be honest I don´t need any more conspiracy-like plots right now. (Robotham, Stieg Larsson, even Louise Penny has a touch of it).

Language: I read Robotham´s debut in Danish, and liked it, but reading him in English is far better!

Michael Robotham, Den Mistænkte (Modtryk 2004)

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".