Lost

October 10, 2005
Det. Insp. Vincent Ruiz (a supporting character in Robotham's debut, Suspect
) is hauled out of the Thames with a bullet wound in his leg and no memory of a shooting, let alone how he wound up in the water in Robotham's fine, moody second thriller. Keebal, a nasty cop from internal affairs, hounds Ruiz from the start, and everyone seems to know something Ruiz doesn't. When psychologist Joe O'Loughlin (the protagonist of Suspect
) shows Ruiz a picture of young Mickey Carlyle—a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years earlier whom everyone but Ruiz thinks is dead—he figures there must be some connection between her case and his shooting. Despite his injuries, Ruiz retraces this investigation with the help of his partner, a young Sikh woman named Ali. The past returns in dribs and drabs and none too gently. Mickey is the daughter of a Russian-born crime lord, Aleksei Kuznet; a cache of diamonds and a man known as a "grooming paedophile" also figure prominently in the splintered plot. The warm relationship between Ruiz and Joe, who suffers from Parkinson's, counterpoints the main story line's grit. Robotham works some good wrinkles into Ruiz's relationship with Ali and an empathetic nurse, too. The result is a thoughtful and subtle thriller, with convincing, three-dimensional characters.

Detective Vincent Ruiz comes to as he is pulled from the Thames; he has a bullet in his thigh and no memory of his activities in recent days. But from the clues that surface, he soon believes he had been trying to recover a child whose presumed murder he had investigated three years earlier. Ray Lonnen's delivery is full of a snap that reflects both Ruiz's regrets as husband, father, and police officer, and his contempt for his superiors' anger when he raises doubts over a case they would prefer remain closed. Those who relish earthy accents from London's most hardscrabble sections will find plenty of entertainment in Lonnen's performance. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 15, 2006
In "Suspect", Robotham's first novel, detective Vincent Ruiz arrests London psychologist Joe O'Loughlin for murder before finding the true culprit. In the Australian writer's second mystery, Vincent is the protagonist, pulled from the Thames with a bullet in his leg and no memory of what happened. Vincent, a tortured soul with a complicated personal life, slowly discovers everything centers around a little girl missing for three years, the daughter of a ruthless gangster. Booted from the police, Vincent enlists Joe's aid, and a team of the psychologist's patients help in tracking down the facts. In recent years, writers from Britain, Ireland, and Australia have been turning out splendid hard-boiled mysteries, building on the strengths of the genre's American origins. "Lost" is one of the best, with surprises leading to even more unexpected twists. Ray Lonnen captures Vincent's no-nonsense personality perfectly. Highly recommended for all popular collections." -Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr."

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