Saxton Reads! & Reviews

****bas bleu

Move Over James Patterson! Shatter by Michael Robotham

I don't know about you, but I have been searching for a "new" author of psychological thrillers. My old stand-bys, including James Patterson, Thomas Harris, and Patricia Cornwell, have disappointed me in recent years, and I had begun to despair of finding a worthy replacement. Happily, I have found that author in Michael Robotham, who comes recommended by no less than the king of mystery and suspense himself, Stephen King. Joe O'Loughlin is a clinical psychologist and professor of behavioral psychology at the University of Bath. He and his family move from the stresses of London to a quieter environment in England's West country when Joe's physical condition continues to deteriorate due to his battle with Parkinson's disease. Soon after their arrival, the plot begins to unfold when Joe tries to save a woman who ultimately jumps from a bridge. Originally thought to be a suicide, the event is the first of several incidents that involve the antagonist, a military interrogator who uses his special training to coerce women into killing themselves. As the stakes grow higher, Joe's marriage flounders, and his own family is put into jeopardy. In addition to the sharp dialogue, another plus of this novel is the well-developed secondary characters, including Detective Inspector Veronica Cray, retired detective Vincent Ruiz, and Darcy Wheeler, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the first victim. A couple of quibbles: I was surprised that the killer's identity was revealed as soon as it was. I would also like to have had the character of the villain more fully developed. For example, one of the reasons I find Hannibal Lecter so fascinating is because he is a fully realized character. The antagonist in "Shatter" could have been even more terrorizing were he not so one-dimensional. A few kudos: Robotham does a fine job with the setting of the novel, the explanation of cell phone technology (upon which the solution hinges), behavioral profiling, and demonstrating the impact that Parkinson's disease can have on an individual. I love novels that teach me something new about varied subjects, and "Shatter" did this for me. One of my favorite passages from the novel: "There is a moment when all hope disappears, all pride is gone, all expectation, all faith, all desire. I own that moment. It belongs to me. That's when I hear the sound, the sound of a mind breaking. It's not a loud crack like when bones shatter or a spine fractures or a skull collapses. And it's not something soft and wet like a heart breaking. It's a sound that makes you wonder how much pain a person can endure; a sound that shatters memories and lets the past leak into the present; a sound so high that only the hounds of hell can hear it. Can you hear it? Someone is curled up in a tiny ball crying softly into an endless night." If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, you should add Michael Robotham's name to your list of "must read" authors.