Good Girl, Bad Girl

Starred review from May 27, 2019
Two major cases preoccupy forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven, the hero of this haunting psychological thriller from Edgar finalist Robotham (The Secrets She Keeps). First, the Nottingham, England, police have enlisted him in their effort to catch the killer of 15-year-old Jodie Sheehan, British junior figure skating champion. Second, Cyrus has to assess the fitness of a troubled but achingly vulnerable teenage girl for release from a high-security children’s home. Six years earlier, the media dubbed her Angel Face when she was discovered abused and malnourished hiding inside a north London house, where the body of a murder victim had been found a few weeks before. She now goes by the court-given alias of Evie Cormac, since she has steadfastly refused to reveal her true identity or age. Despite Jodie and Evie’s obvious differences, they are sisters under the skin in many respects. Beneath Jodie’s sparkly princess persona, Cyrus learns, were a host of very adult problems. To succeed, Cyrus must tease out the secrets Jodie may have died for—as well as some of those that could still get Evie killed. Robotham expertly raises the tension as the action hurtles toward the devastating climax. Readers will hope the complex Cyrus will return for an encore. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management.

The hero of Michael Robotham's new audiobook is psychologist Cyrus Haven, a spin-off character from Robotham's wonderful Joe O'Loughlin series. Narrator Joe Jameson dazzles, rendering regional accents, all ages and sexes, suave politicians, and emotionally chaotic children intensely real. While solving the murder of a teenage girl, Cyrus becomes involved with a wild child known as Angel Face, the damaged survivor of a famous crime who has a freakish ability to tell when people are lying. This "unlikely" pair are so effective as a sleuthing team that this seems the obvious setup for a series, especially as major questions are left unanswered, presumably awaiting future installments. If the denouement here is incompletely satisfying, Angel Face is a terrific character, and Robotham is never less than compelling. B.G. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine