ISBN: 9780316252287
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: 7/14/2015
Format: e-book
My Rating: 4 Stars
Struggling detective Alisha Barba is trying to get her life back on track after almost being crippled by a murder suspect. Now on her feet again she receives a desperate plea from an old school friend, who is eight months pregnant and in trouble. On the night they arrange to meet, her friend is run down and killed by a car and Alisha discovers the first in a series of haunting and tragic deceptions.
Determined to uncover the truth, she embarks upon a dangerous journey that will take her from the East End of London’s to Amsterdam’s murky red light district and into a violent underworld of sex trafficking, slavery and exploitation.
About the Author
Born in Australia in November 1960, Michael Robotham grew up in small country towns that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.
For the next fourteen years he wrote for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Britain and America. As a senior feature writer for the UK’s Mail on Sunday he was among the first people to view the letters and diaries of Czar Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra, unearthed in the Moscow State Archives in 1991. He also gained access to Stalin’s Hitler files, which had been missing for nearly fifty years until a cleaner stumbled upon a cardboard box that had been misplaced and misfiled.
In 1993 he quit journalism to become a ghostwriter, collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities to write their autobiographies. Twelve of these non-fiction titles were bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.
His first novel, a psychological thriller called THE SUSPECT, was chosen by the world’s largest consortium of book clubs as only the fifth “International Book of the Month”, making it the top recommendation to 28 million book club members in fifteen countries.
Michael’s novels have since been translated into 23 languages. He is a twice winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s Crime Novel of the Year and has twice been twice shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers Association Steel Dagger and once for the CWA’s acclaimed Gold Dagger award.
Michael lives on Sydney's northern beaches, where he recently moved house, swapping his 'pit of despair' (basement office) for a 'cabana of cruelty' - a name bestowed by his three teenage daughters, who happily poke fun at the man who feeds, clothes and caters to their every expensive whim. Where is the justice? Website Twitter
My Review
A special thank you to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. After Michael Robotham’s sensational psychological thriller (March, 2015) Life or Death landing on my Top 30 Books of 2015, was thrilled for an opportunity to read THE NIGHT FERRY, which I missed the first publication— a fast-paced intriguing mystery into the dark world of evil human trafficking. As the book opens, Alisha receives a note from an estranged childhood best friend, Cate, requesting her presence at the high reunion. Cate hates Alisha, since 1998; they have not spoken since. Alisha Barba is a Sikh and a London police detective. She's recovering from a serious back injury over a year ago, and she has not returned to work, and now that she is, not what she had in mind. She may now get more action and danger than she imagined. She really does not want to go to the reunion; however, she goes to see what Cate desperately wants. However, before they hardly have a chance to catch up, a car comes out of nowhere and runs down Cate and her husband, Felix and she is pregnant. However, before she dies she whispers to Cate--someone is trying to take her baby and asks for her help to stop them. In addition to the secrets, lies, and past, surrounding Cate's pregnancy, Alisha also has the complications of Cate’s family. Full of suspense, Alisha gets help from retired Inspector Vincent Ruiz as they follow the clues about Cate’s baby to Amsterdam. From human embryos, prostitution, human trafficking, and more in this intense chilling thriller—good versus evil; a story told by the "king of complex and multi-layered", with a unique style all his own--one of my favorite authors, when it comes to crime thrillers. Loved the strong women taking readers from London to Amsterdam with illegal activities and some dangerous people who will stop at nothing! Enjoying Michael Robotham’s writing and trying to make my way to read all his back list, as each is highly recommended for cop and crime thriller fans. In addition to the ARC, I also purchased the audio book, narrated by Clare Corbett, for an engaging and absorbing performance.
“Everyone thinks I'm so strong. They expect me to face autumns and winters like that and bitch-slap them down; make them come to heel. I'm not so strong. I only pretend.” “One of the strange things about friendship is that time together isn't cancelled out by time apart. One doesn't erase the other or balance it on some invisible scale. You can spend a few hours with someone and they will change your life, or you can spend a lifetime with a person and remain unchanged.” ― Michael Robotham, The Night Ferry For those who have not read Life or Death, you get a sneak preview. Meet Audie Palmer . . . Robotham at his finest-- From literary, psychological, crime, mystery, thriller, suspense; conspiracy, drama, murder, racial and social injustice; love and loss—A tour de force of crime writing.
Review Links:
Life or Death Review (Top 30 Book List for 2015)
Close Your Eyes
Coming 8/6/2015 US
(Joseph O'Loughlin #8)
Happiness comes at a price... After six years living alone, Joe O’Loughlin is invited to spend the summer with his estranged wife Julianne and their two daughters. Determined torekindle his marriage, Joe grabs this lifeline like a drowning man, but soon there are complications. A mother and her teenage daughter are found murdered in a Somerset farmhouse, one defiled by multiple stab wounds and the other left lying like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince. Reluctantly Joe is drawn into the
investigation because another psychologist, a former student calling himself the ‘Mindhunter’ has traded on Joe’s name and jeopardised the police inquiry by leaking details to the media and stirring up public anger. With no shortage of suspects and tempers beginning to fray, Joe calls on his old friend former detective, Vincent Ruiz, for help and soon they discover links to a series of brutal attacks where the men and women are choked unconscious and the letter ‘A’ is carved into their foreheads. Nothing is what it seems and Joe will discover that happiness comes at a price ..and not everyone he loves can be saved. Read More
