Say You're Sorry

 

 

Say You’re Sorry – by Michael Robotham

My third book by Michael Robotham, so it’s too early for me to really have a solid understanding of his writing in terms of styles, subject matter, and whether or not the same people show up in all of the books. I’m pretty sure some of his books (including this one) have reoccurring characters. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can hobble the author in terms of subject matter.  When your repeating characters are a police detective and a clinical psychologist (such as in this book), well, you probably have a general idea of what you’re in for before you open the book or read the inner jacket sleeve.

As far as “police dramas” go, this one was pretty good and very well written. If you’re an American like me, note that Robotham is a resident of the U.K.  This is important because even though the language is the same, there are a lot of mannerisms and colloquialisms that are unique to England, and one might find themselves a bit puzzled by some of the word choices.  (In England, a car doesn’t have a “trunk”, it has a “boot”. In England, you don’t stand in a “line”, you stand in a “queue”.)

However, cop stories are mostly cop stories.  No one who has such a profession in the literary world ever seems to be truly happy nor even content. All of these individuals tend to be overworked, out of shape, and in some sort hopeless “former” romance.  Just once I’d like to read a story where a detective eats health food, has time to exercise regularly, and has been happily married for more than 30 years. Anyway.

In this story, there’s a mysterious disappearance of two teen-aged girls. Were they kidnapped? Or did they run away?  Since the kids in these books aren’t much happier than the adults, the latter option is definitely a possibility, yet all stones must be turned.  After three years, though, the trail goes cold, and the case is pretty much filed away as unsolvable.  However, one day, there’s a new crime that occurs that bears may resemblances and coincidences, so the case is re-opened. Since Joe O’Loughlin (the psychologist) is good at figuring out “crime” puzzles, he’s basically dragged against his will into this reopened case.

So our story is basically a “whodunnit”. One of the most challenging things about these types of mysteries is that the author has to keep his readers guessing.  We have to be introduced to a lot of people in order to make the conclusion more satisfying, yet the transgressor can never be the obvious one. Where’s the fun in that?  I must confess that when the kidnapper was finally revealed, my eyeballs stayed firmly glued, since I really couldn’t recall much about the guilty individual.  Sure, we read about the person earlier in the book, but I never bothered to write down a bunch of meticulous details about the person’s hobbies and habits, so the conclusion was a tad lackluster.

Again, though, the book itself was very well written, and the author does a fine job of keeping his reader in the moment.  I never felt bored, and it was also quite suspenseful at times.  This was an enjoyable read, and I’ve mostly enjoyed what this author has to offer.