The Drowning Man (Lost)
On a cold London night, homicide detective Vincent Ruiz is fished out of the Thames with a bullet in his leg and an even bigger hole in his memory. He has no recollection of the shooting or how he finished in the river. The only clue is a photograph found in his pocket of Mickey Carlyle, a seven-year-old girl who went missing three years earlier. A man was convicted of her murder.
But what if the police got it wrong? Ruiz’s only hope of unravelling the puzzle is to retrace his steps and re-create the night of the shooting. Under investigation by his colleagues and accused of faking amnesia, he turns to Joe O'Loughlin, a clinical psychologist, who he hopes can unlock his memories. Step by step, they piece together a story of grief, vengeance, and the search for redemption.
Want to read more? Download the first chapter of The Drowning Man (pdf format).
Reviews
Daily Mirror (UK)
'Vincent Ruiz is found clinging to a buoy in the River Thames. He's been shot in the leg and is losing blood and consciousness fast. When he starts to recover he finds he's lost his mind. Or is he feigning amnesia? Robotham tantalisingly ties the loose ends together in his second highly accomplished novel.’
Shots Magazine (UK)
A first rate mystery thriller…It gets violent, dirty and dangerous. Great, satisfying stuff.
www.reviewingtheevidence.co.uk
‘[THE DROWNING MAN] is dark and exciting, and you will want to read it all in one sitting!'
Manchester City Life (UK)
'Tautly written, full of fine characterisation and leavened with sardonic humour, this certainly confirms Robotham as a crime writer to watch'
Peterborough Evening Telegraph (UK)
'With a clever plot encased in suspense, [THE DROWNING MAN] is gripping to the very end.'
The Miami Herald
A satisfying and intricate tale of deception, double crosses, murder and twisted familial love.
PEOPLE Magazine
Deftly mixes sentiment and noir to create a complex mystery.
The Tampa Tribune
[Robotham’s] style is reminiscent of James Lee Burke with a decidedly British tinge, never fails to entertain and creates spellbinding suspense.
Orlando Sentinel
LOST works because Robotham doesn’t allow us hero to wave a magic wand to restore his life to order. Ruiz must work at finding answers and at every turn he is confronted by people who want him dead or discredited.
Australian Bookseller & Publisher
'With the velocity and wit of an American thriller and the emotional complexity and characterisation of a British mystery, the author has captured the best of the genre. If Michael Robotham isn't a star already, he will be.
Carol George, Australian Women's Weekly
'An electrifying mystery from the author whose dazzling debut, THE SUSPECT', raised the bar for whodunits.'
Globe and Mail, Canada
'This is a second novel by the author of SUSPECT and it's simply terrific. If you haven't already discovered Robotham, one of Britain's best new authors, then now's the time.'
Chris Brice, Adelaide Advertiser
'[THE DROWNING MAN] is a whip-cracking thriller, gritty, authentic and crisply written, and with a plot that has more twists in it than a strand of barbed wire.'
Lucy Clark, Sunday Telegraph, Sydney
'Robotham shows the mastery necessary to churn out a good thriller - pace, tension and chicanery - but he is also a standout writer.'
The Age, Melbourne
'[THE DROWNING MAN] is a page-turner with a lethal twist.'
Clara Iaccarino, The Sun-Herald, Sydney
'Robotham has pulled the character of Detective Inspector Ruiz to the forefront, weaving a gripping thriller set in the streets and sewers of London'
Crimezone (Netherlands)
'Nail-biting tension and doses of humour go hand-in-hand [as] Robotham reaches into his character’s lives, giving them sufficient baggage and credibility…He is a real acquisition for the genre.'
Trouw (Netherlands)
'After his surprising debut, 'THE SUSPECT’, Michael Robotham
has again produced a convincing thriller, stretching and spiritual, with
beautifully drawn characters. Let's hope we hear much more from Ruiz and
O'Loughlin in the future.'
La Stampa (Italy)
'It is useless to describe what happens in THE DROWNING MAN because it is a lot and always amazing. It is enough to emphasise the remarkable quality of the writing, the never decreasing tension and the continuous desire to keep reading.'
Thriller Magazine (Italy)
'A great beautiful novel, THE DROWNING MAN is able heighten and maintain
the tension…with an exquisite inner voice and convincing multi-ethnic
characters. What more can be asked of a thriller?'
Handelsblatt (Germany)
'What raises this book above the mass of Anglo-American crime fiction is the figure of the searching protatogist. Vincent is not one of the your unusual superheroes, who solve one crime after another. He is driven by sheer desperation - about the world, about forgetting and about himself.'
Buch-Markt (Germany)
'His debut already cost me precious sleep. With 'AMNESIE' Michael Robotham demonstrates that his first wasn't a one trick pony: His second psychothriller is once again a dense and breathtaking page-turner.'
Tagesspiegel (Germany)
'...one of the best thrillers of the season, told with the right mixture of cold fear and macho-coolness. Robotham's novel narrates the exciting journey of a passionate policeman into a dark past. And it does it so freshly that it seems as if there has never been another thriller about amnesia. How nice to discover a brilliant author, who raises hopes for more of these perfectly written thrillers.'
Die Zeit (Germany)
'His second book is intricate, romantic. Pure thrill.
KrimiWelt - die Bestenliste (Germany)
'...a fascinating puzzle about memory and fantasy, dream and reality....gripping until the very last minute and written with a density of language which is unusual for the thriller genre, this novel about a man caught between truth and delusion is a find in the broad field of mystery fiction.'
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