Say You're Sorry - Michael Robotham

[Luanne Ollivier]

Oh boy! I'm a big fan of Michael Robotham and his latest book - Say You're Sorry - is absolutely one of my top thriller reads for 2012.

I was hooked from the opening chapter....

"My name is Piper Hadley and I went missing on the last Saturday of the summer holidays three years ago."

In Say You're Sorry, Robotham brings back recurring character Joe O'Loughlin, a clinical psychologist, in the sixth entry of this series. Joe is in Oxford to give a lecture to his peers. "Only in the last few years have we begun to investigate the psychopaths who hide successfully among us."

Joe is asked to stay on to assist when a snowstorm turns up not two, but three bodies. A married couple in a farmhouse have been brutally killed. A young man with mental illness seems to be the likely suspect. Another body is found beneath the ice, just beyond the house. And when this body is identified as that of Tash, a young girl who went missing three years ago with her friend Piper, all the stops are pulled out  - could Piper be possibly still alive?

Robotham cuts the narrative between the current search for Piper and the journal she has been keeping during her captivity. We become privy to the details of the girls' imprisonment, but we also come to know Piper herself. Robotham has done a fantastic job of bringing this character to life. I had a hard time stopping for the night as I wanted to get to the next entry in Piper's story.

Joe's personal story is engrossing as well - his battle with Parkinson's Disease, his failing marriage and a teenage daughter determined to live older than her fifteen years. Joe is especially well drawn and comes across as a real person, not a character in a book.  Retired cop Victor Ruiz is also back, but in a supporting role. These are both characters I've really come to like.

This was a breakneck read for me - I literally couldn't put it down. The plot is great, the action never lets up, the suspense is palpable and and I adore twist endings! If you love suspense/thrillers you've got to add Robotham to your must read list.  Trust me - you won't be sorry......Read an excerpt of Say You're Sorry.

You can find Michael Robotham on Twitter and on Facebook.