The Wreckage

May 2, 2011
In Robotham's high-octane fifth thriller to be published in the U.S. (after Shatter), foreign correspondent Luca Terracini is covering a series of bank heists in Baghdad that have resulted in the loss of half a billion U.S. dollars over four years. Luca thinks he's hit on a big story, especially when he meets a fellow American hired by the U.N. to conduct an audit of Iraq's questionable financial structure. Meanwhile in London, ex-cop Vincent Ruiz is robbed by a young woman, Holly Knight, and her boyfriend after he intervenes in a staged domestic dispute. But when Holly's boyfriend turns up dead, the killers turn to Ruiz and Holly, certain that she's stolen whatever they're after. Using his old connections on the force, Ruiz tries to piece together the increasingly complex puzzle, which soon points him to Richard North, a wealthy financier whose bank, Ruiz discovers with Luca's help, has ties to Iraq. Robotham, a former investigative journalist, weaves current events and white-knuckle suspense with a practiced hand.

An international banker disappears in London. His notebook, revealing banking scandals in more than 50 countries, is missing. Listeners will swear Sean Barrett has invited all the flesh-and-blood characters of THE WRECKAGE into the recording booth with him. He creates a crusty, likable hero in retired cop Vincent Ruiz, who gets mugged in London by a lovely, young grifter. Barrett is perfect as American journalist Luca Terracini in Baghdad, who is searching for billions stolen from Iraqi banks, and chilling as a nasty assassin called "The Courier." When Ruiz and Terracini come together in an explosive collision of terrorists, bankers, MI6 personnel, and CIA agents, Barrett never strikes a false note. The chess-game plot is first-class listening, and Barrett is simply amazing. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine


A well-performed thriller is a particular pleasure in audio, and Sean Barrett brings a rich, value-adding performance to Michael Robotham's complex new tale. Ever wonder how zillions in aid money wind up in the hands of corrupt regimes or in private pockets? Robotham's plot comes at the subject from two angles. In one, a retired British police detective, Vincent Ruiz, is trying to learn why a young grifter who robbed him was assassinated. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a journalist is determined against all advice to find out why millions of pounds did not rebuild a derelict stadium, but instead crossed the border and disappeared. Barrett handles a UN Assembly of accents with effortless polish, and his pacing as the two plots race side by side is irresistible. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

June 15, 2011

Taut, swiftly paced thriller involving big money, big business and big government, a promising trifecta that Robotham (Shatter, 2009, etc.) works to good advantage.

Long retired from the Metropolitan Police and now widowed, Vincent Ruiz (last seen in Robotham's Night Ferry) has seen enough of life to be world-weary—and now he's got to see his daughter off into wedlock to a lawyer ("He votes Tory, but everybody does these days") and, worse, buy a new suit in the bargain. Enter a femme fatale—or is she?—and a good clocking, in which Ruiz is relieved of his briefcase, containing rings and a comb that belonged to his late wife. But why? Ruiz theorizes that it's a case of mistaken identity, but there's something more to it than all that. Meanwhile, American journalist Luca Terracini is poking around in Baghdad, tracking the 18th bank robbery to strike that city in a few months, mostly relieving the vaults of American reconstruction funds in crisp green dollars. Generals, soldiers, guards, civil servants—no one seems to have the answers, though a judge speaks wisely when he says, "There is a war on, Luca. Perhaps you should ask the Americans where their money is going." Well, their money, it seems, is winding up in London, where it most certainly should not be. Enter Ruiz again, indefatigable if easily bruised, and Robotham's neatly constructed plot gathers speed and strength, an elaborate game of cat and mouse that involves some unusual suspects, and with explosions to boot.

About the only thing to fault Robotham for in this neat thriller is an unfortunate allusion to a Brad Pitt film best left unmentioned. That desperate slip aside, a satisfying confection, equally good for beach and airplane.

 

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

Banks in Baghdad are getting bombed, an ex-cop in London is relieved of his briefcase, and a leading financier disappears. Of course, these events are all connected, and they come together in a debut thriller that's said to tell us lots about Iraq--without actually dwelling on the war. The publicist declares that it's amazing. Watch.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2011
In London, a pretty young woman scams and robs retired police detective Vincent Ruiz, and he sets out to get his possessions back. In Baghdad, war correspondent Luca Terracini begins tracking millions of U.S. dollars being robbed from Iraqi banks, while a top London banker disappears under a cloud of suspicion. If these events are connected, Robotham isnt spilling the beans early. The stories spin out in brief chapters alternating between the different stories. The reader knows the three plots must intersect, but thanks to Robothams skill at characterization and the momentum he generates within each thread, the whole cloth of this fine and ambitious thriller isnt fully apparent for hundreds of pages. Vincent, Luca, and a handful of additional characters, including Holly Knight, the young scammer, are wonderfully humansmart, determined, decent, and flawed. The serpentine plot is rooted in truth; tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions in cash shipped into Baghdad in the days following the U.S. occupation did disappear. The CIA, MI6, Iraqi bagmen, disaffected London Muslims, and a creepy West Bank assassin all attempt to thwart our protagonists, and some of them have a nearly compelling rationale for their actions. All those factors, plus the almost palpable fear of violence in Baghdad after the U.S takeover, makes The Wreckage thoroughly compelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)