Shatter (Joe O'Loughlin Book 3)

On the cover of this novel Stephen King is quoted as saying, “The most suspenseful book I read all year.” My first reaction to this was, really? After Robotham’s last book, The Night Ferry, I was skeptical. Now, having read Shatter, I agree with Stephen King.Robotham mixes first person viewpoints between psychologist Joe O’Laughlin and the antagonist. This works well and keeps the plot moving at a fast pace. The mind of the villain is unnerving to say the least. This is not a book for the squeamish or faint-hearted.While the twists and turns are fairly predictable, the ride to the end is worth the read. Robotham is able to build tension that keeps you turning the page even though you are sure of were he is heading. It has been a while since a book evoked emotion in this reader.The basic idea of the story revolves around what you would do if you thought someone had your child. Robotham takes the idea of the phone call where someone says your child needs money to get bailed out of a situation, and pushes it over the top, the situation now life threatening and the request is for more than cash.This is the most suspenseful book I have read all year, but then it is only February, so hopefully not the last.This one gets four stars. Four, not five, for being predictable.

If you like stories that keep you on the edge of your seat this is for you

The villain of this book prides himself on his ability to walk through walls and break people's minds. Our hero is Joseph, a psychologist, who prides himself on being able to penetrate peoples' minds to help them mend. This book is a contest of wills.I had gotten this book after reading the last book with Joseph, "Say You're Sorry". I enjoyed it enough to want to read more. My one criticism is that the author holds tight to the sexual sadism theme with his villains; there are other types of villains with whom a psychological understanding would be useful.Other than that, I did enjoy the book. A couple of times I thought it was heading towards formula writing, but the author avoided that. Questions that I had about believability were usually resolved. The character development is in depth, and perceptive. The plot is intriguing.Robotham adds a dimension of meaning with this plot in addressing the role of returning soldiers. After a man is trained to deliver "stress questioning", how does he return to our world? I think the author made some telling points.Overall I would reccomend the book. Crime novels are not my daily choice, but I do enjoy a good one with well generated characters. This book is one of those.

Other reviews have ably provided an outline of the plot. The main character (Joe - a psychologist with early stage parkinson's disease) is someone Robotham introduced as the chief protagonist in his debut novel. That novel(Suspect) by far was, and continues to be, his best. The two that followed (Lost and A Night Ferry) left me feeling flat, as the incisiveness and complexity, as well as the quality of the plot, were below par to Suspect (I didn't care about what went on in Lost, and A Night Ferry I struggled to finish). I am a very eclectic reader, poring through anything from your quick and dirty Grisham to the likes of Milan Kundera (right now I am reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- a very nice read so far). I like breadth and so appreciate the right read at the right time. Therefore, I was pretty thrilled with Robotham's Suspect, since here I felt was someone who could write and tell a good, intriguing yarn. But alas, I have been disappointed with his progress.With 'Shatter' there is some return to what initially attracted me to Robotham. The writing is still strong, and it does serve to propel the story, which moves along at a clip. However, other than the consideration of how someone can place doubts in your head that might leave you feeling helpless, it really is, in the end, a disappointing piece. We read it hoping for some invigorating revelations, as well as some intellectual sword play that leaves us satisfied and the hero victorious. I am not advocating that there be traditional endings and such, as we are all accustomed to get in the thriller/mystery genre. However, one still deserves better, when the set up (somewhat implausible, but only because it hasn't happened to you!) is so well constructed. It is possible that Robotham wrote himself into a corner that he didn't have the heart, time nor energy to remodel - or he simply wanted the "monster" to be evident in Joe, thereby twisting things about so that we ask ourselves who really should be judged (i.e. do our actions create the circumstances?). In any case, whichever way you look at it, the result was a predictable march to a neat and tidy ending. In fact, as you read the first few chapters, you can determine how the final set of chapters are going to proceed. At that point, when you begin a book, one's suspicions of where things are heading is only an inkling. It reflects poorly on a writer in this genre that one is not left stranded in a fascinating place, made a fool of, for daring to think you had it worked out.So overall, while I stayed with it, and actually looked forward to what was coming up, the end result was deflating. I think Robotham is trying to be a writer, while also trying to give us some kicks. Unfortunately, I think he only managed to merge the two elements in his first novel. In the current one, he went for something deeper, and shattered our expectations. I will, nonetheless, continue to open up a Robotham book, expectant of a kick in the head that leaves me as woozy as the first time.

I discovered the Joseph O'Loughlin series when I received a daily e-mail regarding bargain Kindle books. It was for the fourth book by Michael Robotham, Shatter. I have now gone back and read the first book, Suspect; the second book, Lost, the third book (which really isn't about Joe), The Night Freight. All were good books because this author is a fantastic writer. He has a style of writing that holds your interest throughout all of his books. My only suggestion, is that folks might want to read his earlier books before this one. While the books can stand alone, I am recommending to all my friends that they read them in order (maybe skipping The Night Ferry) because once you read one of his books, I think you may just fall in love with his style of writing, like I did. To date, there are 7 books. I have not read the sixth book, The Wreckage, yet (because it isn't about Joe either), but I have read his latest "Say You're Sorry". I truly enjoyed all six books. and am looking forward to reading more of his books in this series.

I'm in that glorious period when the next book is a Platonic ideal, built up in my imagination, but I haven't actually started the work of writing it yet. I'm plotting, and finding character names, and staring at geography and, in this particular instance, watching boxed sets of 'Spiral', the fantastic French police thriller series that's like Lewis on steroids, laced with a strong Burgundy and a lot more sex. Yes, I am in love with Laure. And yes, my beloved knows this...In amongst all of this, I'm reading around the subject and in this case, that's a pretty wide scope because the new book will not only be set in a new historical period (fifteenth century France) but will have a contemporary thriller thread - hence the Spiral-watching. Hence also the request to my agent for recommendations of good, solid, well written, sharp, cutting-edge thrillers. 'Who's going to be huge in 2-3 years' time?' I need to see where we're at.In amongst some others, he recommended 'Shatter' by Michael Robotham - whom he also represents: that's the full disclosure coda at the start. But I'm not into writing reviews for people simply because we share an agent: that way lies disaster and an end to review-integrity. I'm writing this, because, yet again, I was up until after 2am finishing this and woke this morning glad that I did because otherwise I'd have lost half a working day having to finish it (when, instead, I could be watching series 2 of Spiral and calling it work).This is the book blurb:*****A naked woman in red high-heeled shoes is perched on the edge of Clifton Suspension Bridge with her back pressed to the safety fence, weeping into a mobile phone. Clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin is only feet away, desperately trying to talk her down. She whispers, 'you don't understand,' and jumps.Later, Joe has a visitor - the woman's teenage daughter, a runaway from boarding school. She refuses to believe that her mother would have jumped off the bridge - not only would she not commit suicide, she is terrified of heights.Joe wants to believe her, but what would drive a woman to such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?******If I had blurb this unexciting, I'd sack my editor and find a new one, but that apart, it does give the gist of the book: Someone is talking women to their deaths - their fates become more elaborate and nastier as the plot unfolds - and our hero is Professor Joe O'Loughlin, a forensic psychiatrist who has Parkinson's disease as his added interest. Dragged unwilling into the case, he has to find out who's doing this and why before his own family falls apart under the pressure.I have to say that none of this sounds overly promising: every single police procedural these days seems to have a psycho-acadamic at loggerheads with the police and there are only so many variations on human wounded-ness you can manage: drink, drugs, depression, divorce... before they all seem to blend into one another.But this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. As with all good books, it's the characterisation that does it: fully rounded people who keep stepping out of their stereotypes (the lesbian DI is wonderfully good), but added to that is Robotham's exceptional sense of place - in this case, the area around the Avon Gorge, Bristol and Bath. For someone who lives in Australia, he has a good handle on the south west. And he's intelligent: a former journalist who can clearly do exceptional research but then integrate it into the story so that it feels integral, not tacked on to prove how much time he spent on Google before he started writing. His language is sharp, fast and funny - genuinely funny. When so many other lad-cop writers seem to have a deeply irritating nasal chortle as their writing voice, Robotham's is dryly ironic, but sharply, beautifully, interestingly observant.And then there's his bad guy. He's followed Val McDermid's lead in this and we have occasional short deviations from the first person present tense narrative of Joe O'Loughlin into the head of the perpetrator. They're in italics, which helps, because while they're not nearly as disturbing as McDermid's monster in 'The Mermaids Singing', they are none the less deeply affecting. In part this is because the inevitable threat to our hero is made a great deal more immediate when we can see the plot unfolding, but in main, it's because the bad guy's past history as a torturer - sorry, interrogator - sent to the unmentionable, forgettable, forgotten prisons of recent wars to drag information from unwilling victims is so utterly plausible, so inevitably damaging and so completely covered up by the authorities when their hens come home to roost, that it left my left-wing, progressive anti-war brain exploding. Which of course is exactly what it's supposed to do. I confess to having skipped some of them in the rush to the end, but I will go back and read them in depth later, promise...So that's it: good, strong, plausible plot; original, interesting characters (O'Loughlin's family life is beautifully drawn); fantastic sense of place and writing that flows with effortless ease. Five stars and thoroughly recommended.

This is quite simply the best thriller I have read in a very long time, the pace is breathtaking, from the very first chapter I found it impossible to put down. Its the kind of book that even when you are not reading it you are thinking about the plot, and cant wait to pick it up again. I lent this to my wife who is not a thriller fan, and she read it in the shortest time, and we spent some time talking about the characters and events in the book. This is what reading a book should be about.The villain is one of the most scary guys I have ever come across, You just know if he ever looks your way then you've pretty much had it. But his evil is not a physical threat, but a psychological one, he could destroy your life without even getting close.This does make you wonder about Mr Robothams state of mind, to come up with something this devilish is a bit of a worry.I have read every one of his books, and loved them all, but this is a class of its own. simply superb.

I was recommended Say I'm sorry by Michael Rowbotham and was hooked. I went on to read Shatter straight away. Couldn't put it down, so read it in two days. I am now reading his first novel with Joe McLoughlin as his main character. I enjoyed Shatter even more than Say I'm Sorry which I thought would be impossible. This author captivates you right from the first line of the story. He writes with such conviction. His characters are flesh and blood so you feel for them. Wanting retribution for the horrors commited by the 'baddy' in his intriguing well plotted tales. Best of all is the humour which makes you giggle or laugh out loud in the banter between ex cop Ruiz, Joe's buddy who is there for him when he's in a tight spot. My favourite criminal psychologist since Cracker. A definte must read novel.

An interesting read that kept me guessing. Why was the woman wearing just shoes and nothing else and why and who drove her to jump were the first questions I had going round my head.Her daughter too also thinks she was not likely to have taken her own life and so sets out to find out what really happened and who was responsible. Was it the person on the other end of her mothers mobile phone she was talking to when she jumped? Really kept me gripped and enjoyed the read a lot. One of those books maybe an older one but enjoyed reading it.

This is the second novel that I have read by Robotham. Although I don't read lots of crime thrillers, I will read them if I think they offer something a bit different. SHATTER certainly offers that. Without wanting to give too much away about the plot, SHATTER tells the story of a serial killer with a difference - rather than physically killing his victims, this serial killer persuades the victims to take their own life. The title of the book is in reference to the killer delighting in the sound a mind makes when it breaks.This was such an original book. The killer that Robotham has created is perhaps one of the scariest I have come across so far. SHATTER was creepy, frigthening and engrossing. You'll keep on turning those pages, even if at times you wish you could pull away from it.