Storm Child
Discover the smart, gripping and emotional thriller from the No.1 bestseller
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4.4 • 438 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
'Storm Child is a riveting and absorbing masterpiece - a cancel-your-social-plans and ignore-your-family kind of book. Michael Robotham never lets me down!' CHRISTIAN WHITE
SOME MEMORIES ARE BURIED FOR A REASON. . . The compulsively readable new thriller by the #1 bestselling and award-winning master of crime
The most painful of Evie Cormac's memories have been locked away, ever since she was held prisoner as a child - a child whose rescue captured hearts and headlines.
Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven's mission is to guide her to something near normality. But today, on a British beach, seventeen bodies wash up in front of them. There is only one survivor, with two women still missing. And Evie's nightmares come roaring back . . .
Whatever happened all those years ago lies at the core of this new tragedy. Because these deaths are no accident. The same dark forces are reaching out, dragging her back into the storm.
Evie must now call upon Cyrus's unique skills, and her own, in their search for the missing pieces of this complex and haunting puzzle. But will that be enough to save them? And who will pay for the past?
'Robotham is not just among the world's top thriller writers, he is without question the best when it comes to characters whose pain we feel. Storm Child is a great read with something important to say' LINWOOD BARCLAY
'Robotham has yet again delivered a brilliant tale, fizzing with fascinating characters and shocking plot twists. I couldn't take my eyes off the page' ROSE CARLYLE
'A razor-sharp and emotionally charged thriller that explores both the darkness of men's hearts and the resiliency of human spirit' LISA GARDNER
'I couldn't put this down. Complex characters, plenty of twists and turns, Storm Child left me breathless' SIMON McCLEAVE
'Tension and tenderness - Michael Robotham is that rare thing, a writer who does both brilliantly. And that makes Storm Child an utterly thrilling emotional ride. I enjoyed it hugely' WILLIAM SHAW
'Robotham is one of our best crime writers' WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN
'One of crime's smartest practitioners' THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY
'The guy can't write a bad book' STEPHEN KING
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Robotham's stirring fourth mystery featuring forensic psychologist Haven (after Lying Beside You) is the best yet. Four years earlier, Haven was called in to interview teenager Evie Cormac, whom Nottinghamshire police had found hiding in a house with the corpse of a murdered man. After Haven learned that Evie was trafficked into the U.K. from Albania, he informally adopted her, and now occasionally leans on her skills as a human lie detector to help him crack cases. During a visit to the beach one afternoon, Haven and Evie witness the bodies of 17 migrants wash ashore. Most are dead, but the lone survivor suggests that their boat was deliberately rammed. The incident sends Evie into shock, rendering her unable to speak or move, and Haven wonders if the tragedy might somehow be connected to her past. Seeking answers, Haven learns of a master criminal called "the Ferryman," a trafficker one of his National Crime Agency contacts calls "a Keyser Söze or a Lex Luthor or a Moriarty." Soon, Haven discovers that the Ferryman is even more powerful than the rumors suggest. Robotham adds moving new dimensions to the dynamic between his well-developed leads, and shrewdly connects the central mystery to Evie's backstory. This series continues to impress.
Customer Reviews
The Boatman’s Fall
The author is an Australian journalist turned multi-award winning, and best selling, crime novelist. As he notes in the Afterword, this is his 20th year, and 18th title, in the genre, and the 4th in a series centred around a 30-something forensic psychologist from Nottingham with a tragic family history of his own.
Evie, the psychologically disturbed waif Cyrus has been sleuthing with since Volume 1, is now 22 but looks younger. She lives as a non-paying tenant in his house, which would be dodgy ethically if she was his patient. Fortunately, Cyrus is a good guy, and she’s seeing a another therapist. They go for a holiday to the seaside where, wouldn’t you know it, dead illegal refugees wash up on the shore after their boat goes down in the North Sea. There’s one survivor, an Albanian like Evie. This triggers our gal to recover the previously repressed memories of her own near fatal experience as an asylum seeker. And sends her and Cyrus off to small Scottish fishing port where they risk life and limb tracking down bad guys and unravelling a larger, more sinister people smuggling ring.
First person narrative by the two protagonists unfolds in alternating chapters, filling in backstory as it goes. The manifold and complex issues related to illegal immigration are canvassed non-judgementally, or an non-judgementally as is possible for such a testy issue. The characters continue to develop nicely under the sure hand of Mr R. The plot came together a bit too neatly by the end IMO, but readers who have been following these two from the outset and been frustrated by the holes in Evie’s backstory should be satisfied. Plus, everyone likes a happy ending, right?
Thought provoking.
Interesting approach to the characters to have both points of view to consider. Thoroughly good read, it must have been interesting to write too.
A great read and finale to this series!
What a wonderful ending to the various stories of each character! A gripping story, a real page turner!