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Joseph O'Loughlin #6
Sag, es tut dir leid
Zwei vermisste Mädchen, zwei brutale Morde, ein grausames Geheimnis
Als Piper Hadley und ihre Freundin Tash McBain spurlos aus dem kleinen Ort Bingam bei Oxford verschwinden, erschüttert es das ganze Land. Trotz aller Bemühungen können sie nie gefunden werden. Isoliert von der Außenwelt werden sie von ihrem Entführer gefangen gehalten, bis Tash nach drei Jahren die Flucht gelingt. Kurz darauf entdeckt man ein brutal ermordetes Ehepaar in seinem Haus in Oxford. Der Psychologe Joe O’Loughlin, der einen Verdächtigen befragen soll, vermutet, dass dieses Verbrechen mit der Entführung der beiden Mädchen in Zusammenhang steht. Währenddessen hofft Piper verzweifelt auf Rettung durch ihre Freundin. Doch mit jeder Stunde, die sie ausbleibt, wächst ihre Angst. Denn der Mann, der sie in seiner Gewalt hat, ist in seinem Wahn zu allem fähig.
Als Piper Hadley und ihre Freundin Tash McBain spurlos aus dem kleinen Ort Bingam bei Oxford verschwinden, erschüttert es das ganze Land. Trotz aller Bemühungen können sie nie gefunden werden. Isoliert von der Außenwelt werden sie von ihrem Entführer gefangen gehalten, bis Tash nach drei Jahren die Flucht gelingt. Kurz darauf entdeckt man ein brutal ermordetes Ehepaar in seinem Haus in Oxford. Der Psychologe Joe O’Loughlin, der einen Verdächtigen befragen soll, vermutet, dass dieses Verbrechen mit der Entführung der beiden Mädchen in Zusammenhang steht. Währenddessen hofft Piper verzweifelt auf Rettung durch ihre Freundin. Doch mit jeder Stunde, die sie ausbleibt, wächst ihre Angst. Denn der Mann, der sie in seiner Gewalt hat, ist in seinem Wahn zu allem fähig.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
666 people are currently reading
7686 people want to read
About the author
Michael Robotham
53 books7,258 followersTwo-times Gold Dagger winner (2015 and 2020), twice Edgar best novel finalist (2016 and 2020) and winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2021), Michael Robotham was born in Australia in November 1960 and grew up in small country towns that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.
For the next fourteen years he worked for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Europe, Africa 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 have been bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.
His first novel 'THE SUSPECT', a psychological thriller, 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.
Since then, Michael's psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages and his Joe O'Loughlin series is are currently in development for TV by World Productions. A six-part TV series based upon his standalone novel THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS was aired on BBC1 in 2020, and a second series begins filming in 2021.
Michael lives in Sydney with his wife and a diminishing number of dependent daughters.
For the next fourteen years he worked for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Europe, Africa 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 have been bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.
His first novel 'THE SUSPECT', a psychological thriller, 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.
Since then, Michael's psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages and his Joe O'Loughlin series is are currently in development for TV by World Productions. A six-part TV series based upon his standalone novel THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS was aired on BBC1 in 2020, and a second series begins filming in 2021.
Michael lives in Sydney with his wife and a diminishing number of dependent daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,265 reviews
April 14, 2019
Well this little gem turned out to be my favorite book of the series! (So far.)
Clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, still estranged from his wife, has plans to spend a much anticipated week-end with his oldest daughter Charlie. Unfortunately, Joe is in perpetual demand, rarely if ever getting to take time off. Someone will always find him. Someone is always desperate for his expertise!
Today is no different. A couple have been brutally murdered in their home. With a prime suspect on their radar, the police immediately dial up their go-to guy. Soon Joe has inadvertently cracked open the door into a three year mystery of two missing girls.
Michael Robotham has written a dark, vise-grip thriller. It will not only make you even a bigger fan of Joe, but you’ll also experience the stark brutality as seen through the eyes of one of the missing girls.
Fabulous work Mr. Robotham! Quickly moving in to the next in the series Watching You.
Clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, still estranged from his wife, has plans to spend a much anticipated week-end with his oldest daughter Charlie. Unfortunately, Joe is in perpetual demand, rarely if ever getting to take time off. Someone will always find him. Someone is always desperate for his expertise!
Today is no different. A couple have been brutally murdered in their home. With a prime suspect on their radar, the police immediately dial up their go-to guy. Soon Joe has inadvertently cracked open the door into a three year mystery of two missing girls.
Michael Robotham has written a dark, vise-grip thriller. It will not only make you even a bigger fan of Joe, but you’ll also experience the stark brutality as seen through the eyes of one of the missing girls.
Fabulous work Mr. Robotham! Quickly moving in to the next in the series Watching You.
April 15, 2018
The human mind is an intricate place, full of winding labyrinths and hiding places. Unwanted thoughts. The more you try to tamp them down, the more insistent they become. Coincidences that are not coincidental at all, but rather the product of sly planning.
The investigation of a brutal double murder at a farmhouse uncovers loose ends to a missing persons case gone long cold. Tense and riveting. I have yet to be disappointed by a Michael Robotham book.
The investigation of a brutal double murder at a farmhouse uncovers loose ends to a missing persons case gone long cold. Tense and riveting. I have yet to be disappointed by a Michael Robotham book.
August 6, 2017
This is the sixth of Michael Robotham's books that I have read and it was definitely one of the best. I enjoyed the way Piper's chapters alternated with Joe's so we were able to watch the story from both sides. And as Piper's situation became more desperate it certainly helped ramp up the tension.
This is a book you have to read in as short a time as possible - I found myself propping it up next to my plate at mealtimes. Very rude but in this case unavoidable!
I have become very attached to Joe over the course of six books. Ruiz too. They work well together and their skills compliment each other. Having a main character suffering from Parkinson's is a bold move on the part of the author but it works.
This is a very tense and all absorbing psychological thriller with a remarkable and unguessable twist the end. Well done Mr Robotham and I am really looking forward to the next book.
This is a book you have to read in as short a time as possible - I found myself propping it up next to my plate at mealtimes. Very rude but in this case unavoidable!
I have become very attached to Joe over the course of six books. Ruiz too. They work well together and their skills compliment each other. Having a main character suffering from Parkinson's is a bold move on the part of the author but it works.
This is a very tense and all absorbing psychological thriller with a remarkable and unguessable twist the end. Well done Mr Robotham and I am really looking forward to the next book.
February 5, 2017
YES!!! Michael Robotham comes through! After my disappointment with The Wreckage, Say You're Sorry is the book I needed to read!
Occasionally I come across a review wishing the book was 100 pages shorter. I've even wished that myself. Say You're Sorry is 435 pages and I'm happy to have every one of them.
Piper and Tash disappeared three years ago. No idea what happened or why. Their story is told and I just wanted to hug these girls. Joe O'Loughlin's daughter, Charlie, on the other hand...
Psychologist Joe is asked to help on another police matter, which he is reluctant to do. His wife strongly objects to his getting involved in these things. He eventually asks retired detective Ruiz for help, and Ruiz never hesitates.
Robotham is very strong on character development. Joe and Ruiz have become such great friends that neither are embarrassed to hug each other, and they have some great conversations. Even secondary and other minor characters come alive. I felt so sorry for Emily.
The storyline moves along nicely. It's tightly woven, and even after considering every character, I still didn't know who to suspect. Robotham kept that hidden until very nearly the end when it absolutely had to be revealed. Then something happens, and I won't know the ramifications until the next book. Not a cliffhanger! Just more character growth.
Occasionally I come across a review wishing the book was 100 pages shorter. I've even wished that myself. Say You're Sorry is 435 pages and I'm happy to have every one of them.
Piper and Tash disappeared three years ago. No idea what happened or why. Their story is told and I just wanted to hug these girls. Joe O'Loughlin's daughter, Charlie, on the other hand...
Psychologist Joe is asked to help on another police matter, which he is reluctant to do. His wife strongly objects to his getting involved in these things. He eventually asks retired detective Ruiz for help, and Ruiz never hesitates.
Robotham is very strong on character development. Joe and Ruiz have become such great friends that neither are embarrassed to hug each other, and they have some great conversations. Even secondary and other minor characters come alive. I felt so sorry for Emily.
The storyline moves along nicely. It's tightly woven, and even after considering every character, I still didn't know who to suspect. Robotham kept that hidden until very nearly the end when it absolutely had to be revealed. Then something happens, and I won't know the ramifications until the next book. Not a cliffhanger! Just more character growth.
August 9, 2015
Michael Robotham why haven't i read you before now Say your'e sorry was brilliant i absolutely was mesmerised by the story set in a small village of Bingham just outside of London Natasha Mcbain & piper Hadley disappear without any trace & Augie Shaw is a main suspect in a brutal killing of a married couple the husband was bashed to death & his wife set on fire Augie has mental problems is taken into custody but turns up dead.
three years later Natasha Mcbains body turns up in an icy lake not far from her home but Piper has no idea that the perp killed her anyway through a Journal that piper writes her account of the horrors she has endured while kept captive in a cellar with hardly any food or water or any hygienic means she fights for her survival a must read & Michael Robotham is now one of my authors whoo i will definitely read again
three years later Natasha Mcbains body turns up in an icy lake not far from her home but Piper has no idea that the perp killed her anyway through a Journal that piper writes her account of the horrors she has endured while kept captive in a cellar with hardly any food or water or any hygienic means she fights for her survival a must read & Michael Robotham is now one of my authors whoo i will definitely read again
April 3, 2017
Best friends, Piper Hadley (a quiet girl who loved to run) and Tash McBain (a young girl who seemed to attract trouble) went missing from the Bingham fair on the last weekend of the summer holidays…that’s where they were last seen anyway. They were called ‘The Bingham Girls’, and after the long, drawn out and extensive search over months failed to find any trace of them, the conclusion was that they had run away.
Three years after their disappearance, a couple were brutally murdered in their farmhouse in a terrible blizzard, the worst the country had seen in a while. When clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin was asked by the local police to talk to their suspect, a troubled young man, who was hearing voices, talked to a brother who wasn’t there, and had suspicious burns on his hands,Joe discovered the farmhouse was where Tash had lived with her family three years earlier.
Augie Shaw, the suspect in custody, seemed to know things, but could Joe trust his version of events? In any case, Joe’s suspicions were aroused, and he persuaded the police to re-open the three year old case of Piper and Tash’s disappearance. He became convinced the girls were still alive, but he also knew time was not on their sides. The police were sceptical…they didn’t believe the way Joe could ‘read’ a person, but the Chief of Police gave the go-ahead.
As Joe moved closer to the truth, the dangers escalated, and the combination of his beliefs, the terrible weather, the further deaths, and the Christmas season almost on them put him under incredible pressure…time was running out. Would they find the murderer before he killed again?
I really enjoyed the way this was written…starting off with Piper’s voice My name is Piper Hadley and I went missing on the last Saturday of the summer holidays three years ago… and Joe’s voice alternating throughout the book. I was gripped by the intensity of the story, and the extreme twist at the end, which I didn’t expect, had me shocked!
I highly recommend this psychological thriller…it will keep you up until you are finished!!
Three years after their disappearance, a couple were brutally murdered in their farmhouse in a terrible blizzard, the worst the country had seen in a while. When clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin was asked by the local police to talk to their suspect, a troubled young man, who was hearing voices, talked to a brother who wasn’t there, and had suspicious burns on his hands,Joe discovered the farmhouse was where Tash had lived with her family three years earlier.
Augie Shaw, the suspect in custody, seemed to know things, but could Joe trust his version of events? In any case, Joe’s suspicions were aroused, and he persuaded the police to re-open the three year old case of Piper and Tash’s disappearance. He became convinced the girls were still alive, but he also knew time was not on their sides. The police were sceptical…they didn’t believe the way Joe could ‘read’ a person, but the Chief of Police gave the go-ahead.
As Joe moved closer to the truth, the dangers escalated, and the combination of his beliefs, the terrible weather, the further deaths, and the Christmas season almost on them put him under incredible pressure…time was running out. Would they find the murderer before he killed again?
I really enjoyed the way this was written…starting off with Piper’s voice My name is Piper Hadley and I went missing on the last Saturday of the summer holidays three years ago… and Joe’s voice alternating throughout the book. I was gripped by the intensity of the story, and the extreme twist at the end, which I didn’t expect, had me shocked!
I highly recommend this psychological thriller…it will keep you up until you are finished!!
February 8, 2017
Another great book from Michael Robotham.
This is one author who certainly knows how to weave tension with expert precision while witholding the actual perpetrator of the crime without having to overly point the reader in completely the wrong direction. When Robotham's bad guy is finally revealed all the signposts that could have led in that person's direction suddenly become clear. This one totally caught me off guard. Some gritty, unsavoury stuff, in here, which gave a gripping read where you fear for the victims and hope for the bad guy to get caught before it's too late.
If you like thrillers, you need to give Robotham a try.
This is one author who certainly knows how to weave tension with expert precision while witholding the actual perpetrator of the crime without having to overly point the reader in completely the wrong direction. When Robotham's bad guy is finally revealed all the signposts that could have led in that person's direction suddenly become clear. This one totally caught me off guard. Some gritty, unsavoury stuff, in here, which gave a gripping read where you fear for the victims and hope for the bad guy to get caught before it's too late.
If you like thrillers, you need to give Robotham a try.
May 8, 2020
Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham is book 6 in the Joe O'Laughlin series and what a great addition to the series it is 👍
It's dark disturbing, fast and thrilling with plenty of twists and finger pointing just the way we like it.
2 young girls go missing 3 years ago there's a house fire and a dead body and people not who they say they are which keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat trying to fit it all together.
The relationship between Joe and Ruiz gets stronger with each book and they give us a few giggles with their warped humour just before it gets to dark.
I'm definitely recommending this and the series so far 📖
It's dark disturbing, fast and thrilling with plenty of twists and finger pointing just the way we like it.
2 young girls go missing 3 years ago there's a house fire and a dead body and people not who they say they are which keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat trying to fit it all together.
The relationship between Joe and Ruiz gets stronger with each book and they give us a few giggles with their warped humour just before it gets to dark.
I'm definitely recommending this and the series so far 📖
January 31, 2023
Joe and Ruiz are back in the action when 2 young girls go missing. The author is back to his best in this 6th of the series. The plot was gripping and had no idea who it was right up until the end. I love the writing style and how the same characters have developed over this series and have become very enjoyable.
3 more to complete the series but do I read a Classic next? I’ve no idea what to pick, but that’s always the exciting part, over 500 to pick from my to be read shelf’s in the library/office. Nice walk in the morning to clear the air before making a decision…….what joy 📚💕
3 more to complete the series but do I read a Classic next? I’ve no idea what to pick, but that’s always the exciting part, over 500 to pick from my to be read shelf’s in the library/office. Nice walk in the morning to clear the air before making a decision…….what joy 📚💕
February 15, 2025
5★
“‘We’re going to die,’ she whispered.’”
Well, what a treat this was! Michael Robotham has lived in some of the same places I’ve lived, and they say familiarity breeds contempt, so I admit I was foolishly expecting something less impressive.
My first hint of his popularity should have been that his books are never on the library shelves. This one was a lucky find. I reckon he's up there with the best of them.
It is about two teen-aged girls, one the town flirt, the other a bookish athlete, who disappeared three years ago. We know from page one that they were kidnapped.
Who dunnit and why?
Professor Joe O’Loughlin is a clinical psychologist who’s been pulled back into harness to give his impression of a suspect with a history of mental illness who’s been implicated in a recent double murder.
Reference is made to a previous book in which O’Loughlin’s daughter Charlie was kidnapped, which is why he’s reluctant to give up his Christmas holiday time with her to waste on police business yet again. World-weary, he says:
“I used to want to know why things happened. Why would a couple murder young women and bury them in their basement . . . Not any more. I don’t want to be able to see inside people’s heads. It’s like knowing too much. It’s like living too long or witnessing too many events; experiencing things to the point of fatigue.”
Robotham puts us right smack in the middle of an uncomfortable, freezing English winter. He’s an excellent writer, and I liked his heartfelt descriptions of Joe’s frailties and insecurities (Parkinson’s and marriage bust-up) and chilling portrayal of the girls’ situation, much of which is described by Piper (the bookish writer) in her copious diaries and notes.
“Ever since George made her bleed, Tash had been acting differently. I don’t know if she tried to stab him with the screwdriver. She wouldn’t talk to me. Instead, she scratched at her wrists, biting her nails, sleeping all the time …I tried to talk to her…to make her eat, but she didn’t even have the energy to argue with me.
‘You’re scaring me’, I said, rocking her in my arms. ‘Please come back.’
‘We’re going to die,’ she whispered.
I knew she was right. It was like a message from God. A pretty disappointing message, but I didn’t blame him. That’s what everything comes down to – dying. Well, not literally everything, but most things.”
Piper sounds like a teenage girl –brazen, scared, naïve, and puzzled – while O’Loughlin sounds like an exhausted older bloke. Testimony to the skill of the author. Gotta look for more of his books now.
“‘We’re going to die,’ she whispered.’”
Well, what a treat this was! Michael Robotham has lived in some of the same places I’ve lived, and they say familiarity breeds contempt, so I admit I was foolishly expecting something less impressive.
My first hint of his popularity should have been that his books are never on the library shelves. This one was a lucky find. I reckon he's up there with the best of them.
It is about two teen-aged girls, one the town flirt, the other a bookish athlete, who disappeared three years ago. We know from page one that they were kidnapped.
Who dunnit and why?
Professor Joe O’Loughlin is a clinical psychologist who’s been pulled back into harness to give his impression of a suspect with a history of mental illness who’s been implicated in a recent double murder.
Reference is made to a previous book in which O’Loughlin’s daughter Charlie was kidnapped, which is why he’s reluctant to give up his Christmas holiday time with her to waste on police business yet again. World-weary, he says:
“I used to want to know why things happened. Why would a couple murder young women and bury them in their basement . . . Not any more. I don’t want to be able to see inside people’s heads. It’s like knowing too much. It’s like living too long or witnessing too many events; experiencing things to the point of fatigue.”
Robotham puts us right smack in the middle of an uncomfortable, freezing English winter. He’s an excellent writer, and I liked his heartfelt descriptions of Joe’s frailties and insecurities (Parkinson’s and marriage bust-up) and chilling portrayal of the girls’ situation, much of which is described by Piper (the bookish writer) in her copious diaries and notes.
“Ever since George made her bleed, Tash had been acting differently. I don’t know if she tried to stab him with the screwdriver. She wouldn’t talk to me. Instead, she scratched at her wrists, biting her nails, sleeping all the time …I tried to talk to her…to make her eat, but she didn’t even have the energy to argue with me.
‘You’re scaring me’, I said, rocking her in my arms. ‘Please come back.’
‘We’re going to die,’ she whispered.
I knew she was right. It was like a message from God. A pretty disappointing message, but I didn’t blame him. That’s what everything comes down to – dying. Well, not literally everything, but most things.”
Piper sounds like a teenage girl –brazen, scared, naïve, and puzzled – while O’Loughlin sounds like an exhausted older bloke. Testimony to the skill of the author. Gotta look for more of his books now.
November 9, 2014
Everything I have read by Michael Robotham has been outstanding and this was no exception. A fantastically spun story about the kidnapping of two teenage girls. There were no suspects for most of the book and then there were too many to make an educated guess. Another book I found hard to put down.
Joe O'Loughlin is a psychiatrist that is brought in to help the police profile and interrogate suspects. In the first book in this series "Suspect" he was quite a different character than he is in this addition, (book 5). I like the full bodied character that he developed into and will be reading more in this series. Excellent narration, with a perfect pace.
Joe O'Loughlin is a psychiatrist that is brought in to help the police profile and interrogate suspects. In the first book in this series "Suspect" he was quite a different character than he is in this addition, (book 5). I like the full bodied character that he developed into and will be reading more in this series. Excellent narration, with a perfect pace.
September 20, 2023
I’ve been quite the Michael Robotham fan lately.
This is an older Joe O’Loughlin and ex-cop Vincent Ruiz case. Yes, I appear to be reading them out-of-order. Not recommended. Can you read as stand-alones? Yes, but I believe you miss the essence of who the characters are from knowing their past history – as a team. So, don’t read them the way I have, go back to the beginning.
Let me just say this…
This is not the easiest story to read.
We learn early, through the narration, told partly through Piper Hadley’s diary entries, that at age 15 she and her best friend Natasha (Tash) were kidnapped and held captive for the last 3 years in a cellar by their kidnapper, a sexual predator they call George.
And…
Piper doesn’t like to think too much about Tash’s visits to George, but when Tash comes back bloodied from their last encounter, she finds a way to escape, promising to return with help to rescue Piper.
But then…
Tash fails to return and Piper’s narrative takes on a tone of desperation.
Joe O’Loughlin, a clinical psychologist and criminal profiler, and Robotham’s protagonist hero of the series, takes on the other part of the narrative to keep readers informed of what is going on above ground.
There is a gruesome murder of a couple and a barefoot body of a young woman is found under the ice of a frozen lake.
Are these deaths connected?
And…
Will they have anything to do with Piper or Nash?
We also deal with his own relationship with his daughter.
And…
For whatever reason, relationships of fathers plays an overriding role in this story – good ones, bad ones, monstrous ones. Even daughters aren’t saints either, but we know there is love here between the pages for some.
But…
Most importantly…
Will Piper be found in time?
What happened to Nash?
How will Joe O’Loughlin be challenged?
Spine-tingling, gripping, tense, taut, clever read. That will keep readers going to the last page.
April 23, 2017
Dear Reader,
Words cannot do justice to the merits of this book!! To say that it was an intensely satisfying,deeply intriguing and utterly compelling story,pales in the face of how absolutely fantastic it was!
To say that I was totally absorbed in the lives of these three dimensional characters, wondered aloud the circumstances surrounding the sudden disappearance, some three years ago,of fifteen year Piper and her pal Tash,and delighted in the intuition and innate ability of Joe,a clinical psychologist,tasked with aiding the police in a case,initially one that had little bearing on the missing persons' case,somehow fails to illustrate, dear Reader,how enthralled I was by this truly grizzly page-turner!!
I loved the fact that we were allowed to 'converse' with Piper,as she slowly untangled the twisted and unsavoury web of humiliation and degradation both girls suffered at the hands of a person who could only be viewed as a psychopath.
I was also captivated by the relationships between the characters,Joe and his estranged wife,Julieanne,his daughter Charlie,his pal Ruiz,and the camaraderie between them.
Working with the police,as they struggled to piece together a jigsaw, that seemed to be totally at variance with the numerous red herrings and potential suspects that were woven so intrinsically into the plot,I loved how the main characters supported each other,regardless of whether the problems were work or home related.
This is a dark and thrilling read,and not for the faint hearted! It will cause you to lose precious hours' sleep,so determined will you be to find out 'who-done-it'!
I,for one,couldn't quite believe it when the culprit was finally apprehended!! Did I think ***** guilty?
Not for a second,which,in my humble opinion,is the mark of a true psychological thriller!! Highly recommended!!
Words cannot do justice to the merits of this book!! To say that it was an intensely satisfying,deeply intriguing and utterly compelling story,pales in the face of how absolutely fantastic it was!
To say that I was totally absorbed in the lives of these three dimensional characters, wondered aloud the circumstances surrounding the sudden disappearance, some three years ago,of fifteen year Piper and her pal Tash,and delighted in the intuition and innate ability of Joe,a clinical psychologist,tasked with aiding the police in a case,initially one that had little bearing on the missing persons' case,somehow fails to illustrate, dear Reader,how enthralled I was by this truly grizzly page-turner!!
I loved the fact that we were allowed to 'converse' with Piper,as she slowly untangled the twisted and unsavoury web of humiliation and degradation both girls suffered at the hands of a person who could only be viewed as a psychopath.
I was also captivated by the relationships between the characters,Joe and his estranged wife,Julieanne,his daughter Charlie,his pal Ruiz,and the camaraderie between them.
Working with the police,as they struggled to piece together a jigsaw, that seemed to be totally at variance with the numerous red herrings and potential suspects that were woven so intrinsically into the plot,I loved how the main characters supported each other,regardless of whether the problems were work or home related.
This is a dark and thrilling read,and not for the faint hearted! It will cause you to lose precious hours' sleep,so determined will you be to find out 'who-done-it'!
I,for one,couldn't quite believe it when the culprit was finally apprehended!! Did I think ***** guilty?
Not for a second,which,in my humble opinion,is the mark of a true psychological thriller!! Highly recommended!!
September 12, 2015
I read this book immediately after 'Lovely Bones' and although they are similar books I enjoyed this one much more. This is the first Michael Robotham book and I intend to read a lot more. The book is well written and keeps you guessing right to the end.
October 20, 2017
Yep damn good read. Pacey, tense page turner. I must read more by this author when I get the chance. 4.5/5 I think and waay better than some of the similar books I've read recently.
November 28, 2012
Hm. My tastes might be changing, or else Robotham is starting to trend towards even darker material, which means we might be divorcing soon. I enjoy a good crime novel, but when the plot involves Characters Who Are Pure Evil (I have serious problems with Pure Evil, although I know it makes for a more marketable and popular book) and kidnapping, torture, and rape, I think my time is up. I love psychologist Dr. Joe O'Loughlin, I love his interaction with former Det. Victor Ruiz, and that's the reason I've read most of Robotham's books. That spark is still there, and those characters ground the story beautifully, but the plot just didn't hang together for me.
Ok, so the story opens with a couple viciously murdered in their farmhouse--he was bludgeoned to death, she was burned alive in her bed (seriously?) Spoiler--the murders get solved in the end, but the motivations for the gruesome killings and the way the events went down do not, so don't wait for that. These deaths are connected to two teenage girls who went missing 3 years ago. The chapters with O'Loughlin (who has Parkinson's, and is separated from his beloved wife based on the fact that he's always too involved in these types of violent cases as a brilliant profiler) are intercut with ones written by one of the girls. They didn't run away, but instead were abducted by a madman and imprisoned for 3 years (think Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard)--this isn't a spoiler--you learn that within the first 30 pages. As usual, I liked the book's writing except the crazed madman (and we learn his identity in a twist ending), and frankly the book did little to resolve why he was such a nutcase. Yes, he had some issues (that O'Loughlin explains in the final pages) that made his life difficult, but nothing that would lead him to abduct, control, rape, mutilate, and torture two young women. Seriously. If you're going to have a psychopath (who of course seems normal to the rest of the world, that's why his 11th hour identity reveal is a twist!), give him some better motivations then physical childhood trauma. And reading the girl's chapters just made me so sad, even though it was well written and I related to her as a character. I love the quiet, exhausted but ongoing honor of Joe and Vincent--they have a great friendship that makes the book hum, and their motivations to do right despite the detriment to their personal lives always win out. I just thought they deserved better than a crazy psycho torture killer (and they didn't even really explain the killing part! Argh)
I felt about it the way I felt about the latest Batman--it's well done, but it was so dark I couldn't enjoy it. I was just happy when it was over. But it's not like this dark subject matter is a huge shift for Robotham. Shatter was not the feel-good book of the year, and yet I understood the motivations of the main bad guy character. I was just disappointed in this and I'm getting to the point where I don't enjoy the subject matter. I think it's more personal preference than anything. Next up: A Room with a View, which should be a good palate cleanser.
Ok, so the story opens with a couple viciously murdered in their farmhouse--he was bludgeoned to death, she was burned alive in her bed (seriously?) Spoiler--the murders get solved in the end, but the motivations for the gruesome killings and the way the events went down do not, so don't wait for that. These deaths are connected to two teenage girls who went missing 3 years ago. The chapters with O'Loughlin (who has Parkinson's, and is separated from his beloved wife based on the fact that he's always too involved in these types of violent cases as a brilliant profiler) are intercut with ones written by one of the girls. They didn't run away, but instead were abducted by a madman and imprisoned for 3 years (think Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard)--this isn't a spoiler--you learn that within the first 30 pages. As usual, I liked the book's writing except the crazed madman (and we learn his identity in a twist ending), and frankly the book did little to resolve why he was such a nutcase. Yes, he had some issues (that O'Loughlin explains in the final pages) that made his life difficult, but nothing that would lead him to abduct, control, rape, mutilate, and torture two young women. Seriously. If you're going to have a psychopath (who of course seems normal to the rest of the world, that's why his 11th hour identity reveal is a twist!), give him some better motivations then physical childhood trauma. And reading the girl's chapters just made me so sad, even though it was well written and I related to her as a character. I love the quiet, exhausted but ongoing honor of Joe and Vincent--they have a great friendship that makes the book hum, and their motivations to do right despite the detriment to their personal lives always win out. I just thought they deserved better than a crazy psycho torture killer (and they didn't even really explain the killing part! Argh)
I felt about it the way I felt about the latest Batman--it's well done, but it was so dark I couldn't enjoy it. I was just happy when it was over. But it's not like this dark subject matter is a huge shift for Robotham. Shatter was not the feel-good book of the year, and yet I understood the motivations of the main bad guy character. I was just disappointed in this and I'm getting to the point where I don't enjoy the subject matter. I think it's more personal preference than anything. Next up: A Room with a View, which should be a good palate cleanser.
June 13, 2020
This is an excellent crime thriller. It's probably the best so far in the Joe O'Loughlin series. In this book, two teenagers disappear. Three years later a couple is brutally murdered in the home where one of the missing teens once lived. Joe O'Loughlin and retired detective Ruiz team up to find the missing girls and figure out the connection to the murders.
The book alternates between the current time and the diary/thoughts of one of the missing girls since the early days if the kidnapping.
I was hooked from the moment I started, Michael Robatham is an excellent author. I am a huge fan and will read everything he writes.
The book alternates between the current time and the diary/thoughts of one of the missing girls since the early days if the kidnapping.
I was hooked from the moment I started, Michael Robatham is an excellent author. I am a huge fan and will read everything he writes.
October 2, 2017
I recognise the benches. This is where they sat as Natasha danced. Seven men out to punish her. They talked of cutting her hair or scarring her face. Branding her. This is the power of people combining, when individual responsibility is diminished and the mob holds sway.
Criminal psychologist, Professor Joe O’Loughlin, arrives in Oxford shortly before Christmas to deliver a paper to his peers when he is summoned by DCI Drury. A husband and wife were brutally murdered at a farmhouse near Abingdon during the night of a blizzard. The suspect taken into custody with burns to his hands is an emotionally disturbed young man who talks to his brother (a twin died in childbirth). He claims he had gone to the farmhouse to get his back wages and tried to save the couple, skidding his mother’s car into a ditch as a young woman ran into his path, followed by a snowman.
O’Loughlin is allowed at the farmhouse to gain an overview of the situation and notes clothes placed into soak, an open bottle of whiskey and a dog’s bowl. The murderer appears to have gone to lengths to clean up the crime scene with bleach – which does not fit with the profile of the man in custody. A detective accompanying O’Loughlin tells him the house has a history, that a girl who lived there was one of the “Bingley girls”: teenage runaways.
A short distance from the farmhouse the body of a young woman in found is a frozen lake, clutching a small dog. The autopsy shows her to be malnourished, bruised and had been genitally mutilated. O’Loughlin asks the pathologist to check her dental records against the missing teenagers and a positive match is found. O’Loughlin’s elder daughter was abducted by a psychopath years earlier and he asks DCI Drury to reopen the investigation on the runaways in case the other girl is still alive somewhere.
‘I read a newspaper story this morning that anorexia has reached epidemic proportion in this country. There are four times as many psychopaths in this country as people with eating disorders. Does that make it an epidemic or an exaggeration?’
Say you’re sorry is a taut, compelling thriller that had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Its brilliance is that the story is told both from the perspective of O’Loughlin, seconded to the police investigation and aided by retired Scotland Yard detective Vincent Ruiz, and the teenage girl, Piper Hadley, writing her thoughts in pencil in an exercise book in an underground vault at a derelict industrial site where she has been held for three years.
O’Loughlin slowly unfolds the mindset of two teenage girls, the boys they knew, their backgrounds and school, and what triggered them to try to runaway to London but never made it. He interviews families torn apart by grief or clinging to hope as the mantle of suspicion falls on male relatives or acquaintances. As the pieces fit together the tension escalates right to the end of the book.
Criminal psychologist, Professor Joe O’Loughlin, arrives in Oxford shortly before Christmas to deliver a paper to his peers when he is summoned by DCI Drury. A husband and wife were brutally murdered at a farmhouse near Abingdon during the night of a blizzard. The suspect taken into custody with burns to his hands is an emotionally disturbed young man who talks to his brother (a twin died in childbirth). He claims he had gone to the farmhouse to get his back wages and tried to save the couple, skidding his mother’s car into a ditch as a young woman ran into his path, followed by a snowman.
O’Loughlin is allowed at the farmhouse to gain an overview of the situation and notes clothes placed into soak, an open bottle of whiskey and a dog’s bowl. The murderer appears to have gone to lengths to clean up the crime scene with bleach – which does not fit with the profile of the man in custody. A detective accompanying O’Loughlin tells him the house has a history, that a girl who lived there was one of the “Bingley girls”: teenage runaways.
A short distance from the farmhouse the body of a young woman in found is a frozen lake, clutching a small dog. The autopsy shows her to be malnourished, bruised and had been genitally mutilated. O’Loughlin asks the pathologist to check her dental records against the missing teenagers and a positive match is found. O’Loughlin’s elder daughter was abducted by a psychopath years earlier and he asks DCI Drury to reopen the investigation on the runaways in case the other girl is still alive somewhere.
‘I read a newspaper story this morning that anorexia has reached epidemic proportion in this country. There are four times as many psychopaths in this country as people with eating disorders. Does that make it an epidemic or an exaggeration?’
Say you’re sorry is a taut, compelling thriller that had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Its brilliance is that the story is told both from the perspective of O’Loughlin, seconded to the police investigation and aided by retired Scotland Yard detective Vincent Ruiz, and the teenage girl, Piper Hadley, writing her thoughts in pencil in an exercise book in an underground vault at a derelict industrial site where she has been held for three years.
O’Loughlin slowly unfolds the mindset of two teenage girls, the boys they knew, their backgrounds and school, and what triggered them to try to runaway to London but never made it. He interviews families torn apart by grief or clinging to hope as the mantle of suspicion falls on male relatives or acquaintances. As the pieces fit together the tension escalates right to the end of the book.
May 5, 2015
You know, for a hotshot clinical psychologist, Joe O’Loughlin is sure prone to making silly, sweeping generalizations about people. “Maybe she grew tired of being objectified, which would make her unusual among women,” or, “She’s an only child, which meant she was rather spoiled and bookish.” I’m a woman & an only child, and I don’t think I’ve ever been spoiled (although I daresay I am bookish) nor do I believe that I or any other woman I know enjoys being objectified. I’m just saying.
So with that out of the way, besides the fact that the main character absolutely rubs me the wrong way, how was the book? Kind of gross. Pretty slut-shaming on poor Tash. It’s deeply saddening to me that when a guy gets in a fight over a teenage girl & ends up crippling another guy, a lot of people would be whole-heartedly about making it the girl’s fault. I know this book has a fiction label on the spine & all, but this plot twist doesn’t seem very far-fetched to me. My brain is glad that the kidnapping within didn’t push my Parent Buttons, but my heart hurts for Tash, who I’m still not quite sure what the kidnapper’s motivation was, other than to make the ending twisty. I’d be willing to give Robotham another go on another day, but this one didn’t quite get do it for me.
So with that out of the way, besides the fact that the main character absolutely rubs me the wrong way, how was the book? Kind of gross. Pretty slut-shaming on poor Tash. It’s deeply saddening to me that when a guy gets in a fight over a teenage girl & ends up crippling another guy, a lot of people would be whole-heartedly about making it the girl’s fault. I know this book has a fiction label on the spine & all, but this plot twist doesn’t seem very far-fetched to me. My brain is glad that the kidnapping within didn’t push my Parent Buttons, but my heart hurts for Tash, who I’m still not quite sure what the kidnapper’s motivation was, other than to make the ending twisty. I’d be willing to give Robotham another go on another day, but this one didn’t quite get do it for me.
July 8, 2018
Number 6 in the Joe O’Loughlin series.
This is thriller writing at its best.
This is the heart wrenching story of two young adolescent girls who were abducted three years ago. Three years on and the girls are believed now to be dead. That was until one of then turns up dead in a frozen lake. After the post mortem the forensic pathologist pronounces that the girls’ death occurred only hours before its discovery.
This means that there is a strong possibility that the other missing girl could still be alive. This all happens just before Christmas in Oxfordshire where, as luck would have it; Prof Joe and his daughter are having a bit of family time together. Much to his annoyance, Joe is approached by the police and asked to become a part of the investigation.
The story is told from two points of view.
The first part is Piper Hadley’s. Piper is one of the two missing girls.
The second part is Prof Joe’s.
Piper has been keeping a diary of sort from the day of her abduction. And the story she tells is both gruesome and heart wrenching.
The story is told in two parts. There’s Joe’s part, the search for Piper, and then there’s Piper’s part, a tale of misery.
On top of everything else the local populace want vengeance. Their vengeance is pointed at a young man with an intellectual disability. The police and Joe have their work cut out in more ways than one.
This really is a heart stopping tale, with more red herrings than you can count. The pace is relentless as is the tension.
A well disserved 5 stars.
Highly recommended for people trying to loose some weight. Once you start there will be no stopping for food.
This is thriller writing at its best.
This is the heart wrenching story of two young adolescent girls who were abducted three years ago. Three years on and the girls are believed now to be dead. That was until one of then turns up dead in a frozen lake. After the post mortem the forensic pathologist pronounces that the girls’ death occurred only hours before its discovery.
This means that there is a strong possibility that the other missing girl could still be alive. This all happens just before Christmas in Oxfordshire where, as luck would have it; Prof Joe and his daughter are having a bit of family time together. Much to his annoyance, Joe is approached by the police and asked to become a part of the investigation.
The story is told from two points of view.
The first part is Piper Hadley’s. Piper is one of the two missing girls.
The second part is Prof Joe’s.
Piper has been keeping a diary of sort from the day of her abduction. And the story she tells is both gruesome and heart wrenching.
The story is told in two parts. There’s Joe’s part, the search for Piper, and then there’s Piper’s part, a tale of misery.
On top of everything else the local populace want vengeance. Their vengeance is pointed at a young man with an intellectual disability. The police and Joe have their work cut out in more ways than one.
This really is a heart stopping tale, with more red herrings than you can count. The pace is relentless as is the tension.
A well disserved 5 stars.
Highly recommended for people trying to loose some weight. Once you start there will be no stopping for food.
December 29, 2012
The Predators Beneath
A few years ago I spent a couple of weeks exploring in the Daintree National Park in Far North Queensland. A crocodile expert told me that victims of crocodile attacks were more often than not locals. Locals get used to their neighbours and get a bit casual with what lies beneath. They forget the reptilian brain lying in wait…the opportunistic hunter. They forget the crocodile just wiling away invisible beneath the surface of the still water, saving its energy, its body on idle and its senses on alert. Waiting.
In our civilised communities, the reptile brain hides beneath the surface too. It lies beneath the surface of the man on the bus sitting across from you. He’s friendly, chatty and unassuming, such a nice man, the reptilian predator just wiling away beneath the surface. Waiting.
This is the wilderness Robotham explores in “Say You’re Sorry”. This is the wilderness of the mind, of the injured soul, of the sociopath, the serial killer, the child molester, the thrill killer. He doesn’t appear dressed in a dark cloak, black hat looking weird and scary. He looks like your chubby Uncle Charlie or your chatty Aunt May. He looks like you. Hell, he might even be you.
The novel is set in Oxford during the Christmas Season. Robotham makes it a familiar place. Oxford becomes the metaphor for our own communities. Whether we live in Australia or the U.S. or Britain…we recognise the characters. They are our neighbours, our friends. They are people we like, people we fear and people we despise…we know who they are. Here, Oxford is not some exotic locale. It’s everyplace. This is verisimilitude. It’s an honesty and truth that sings to us. We believe it. We know this place even though we may have never been there. And we believe it because it is so well done. And this is no mean feat. It takes skill to craft such a thing and do this well.
Two narrative lines run in this book and the voices are pitch perfect. If Robotham were a singer he’d be a bloody Opera star. Their pitch and tone are so perfect they could shatter champagne flutes at a hundred paces.
One is the voice of young Piper told through the pages of her diary and the other is the voice of criminal psychologist, Joe O’Loughlin.
Piper’s diary makes us laugh, makes us care and at times breaks our hearts. Like many teenagers, she is full of doubt about herself and her place in the world. She is a whisper from our own adolescence no matter how long ago we were there and her voice rings true.
O’Loughlin is a regular in Robotham novels. He’s not wise cracking tough guy. He’s not a two fisted avenger or a fast draw shoot ‘em up. There is something universal about Joe. When he looks into the mirror and faces the palsied reminder of his own mortality…there is something familiar and something frightening. Joe is a constant reminder that the world isn’t right yet and there’s so much to do before we leave it to protect those we love. With Joe salvation doesn’t come from the end of a gun barrel or with two fists…it comes from learning, it comes from knowing his fellow man…even the sick the bastards that do sick things.
We live in a jungle, whether it be the asphalt and cement of big city means streets, the manicured lawns of suburbia or the bucolic peace of the country. They all have their predators, those who have adapted as we have adapted and those who use their jungle… to hide in wait. Robotham reminds us that our salvation lies not only in how we survive that jungle but how we retain our humanity.
A few years ago I spent a couple of weeks exploring in the Daintree National Park in Far North Queensland. A crocodile expert told me that victims of crocodile attacks were more often than not locals. Locals get used to their neighbours and get a bit casual with what lies beneath. They forget the reptilian brain lying in wait…the opportunistic hunter. They forget the crocodile just wiling away invisible beneath the surface of the still water, saving its energy, its body on idle and its senses on alert. Waiting.
In our civilised communities, the reptile brain hides beneath the surface too. It lies beneath the surface of the man on the bus sitting across from you. He’s friendly, chatty and unassuming, such a nice man, the reptilian predator just wiling away beneath the surface. Waiting.
This is the wilderness Robotham explores in “Say You’re Sorry”. This is the wilderness of the mind, of the injured soul, of the sociopath, the serial killer, the child molester, the thrill killer. He doesn’t appear dressed in a dark cloak, black hat looking weird and scary. He looks like your chubby Uncle Charlie or your chatty Aunt May. He looks like you. Hell, he might even be you.
The novel is set in Oxford during the Christmas Season. Robotham makes it a familiar place. Oxford becomes the metaphor for our own communities. Whether we live in Australia or the U.S. or Britain…we recognise the characters. They are our neighbours, our friends. They are people we like, people we fear and people we despise…we know who they are. Here, Oxford is not some exotic locale. It’s everyplace. This is verisimilitude. It’s an honesty and truth that sings to us. We believe it. We know this place even though we may have never been there. And we believe it because it is so well done. And this is no mean feat. It takes skill to craft such a thing and do this well.
Two narrative lines run in this book and the voices are pitch perfect. If Robotham were a singer he’d be a bloody Opera star. Their pitch and tone are so perfect they could shatter champagne flutes at a hundred paces.
One is the voice of young Piper told through the pages of her diary and the other is the voice of criminal psychologist, Joe O’Loughlin.
Piper’s diary makes us laugh, makes us care and at times breaks our hearts. Like many teenagers, she is full of doubt about herself and her place in the world. She is a whisper from our own adolescence no matter how long ago we were there and her voice rings true.
O’Loughlin is a regular in Robotham novels. He’s not wise cracking tough guy. He’s not a two fisted avenger or a fast draw shoot ‘em up. There is something universal about Joe. When he looks into the mirror and faces the palsied reminder of his own mortality…there is something familiar and something frightening. Joe is a constant reminder that the world isn’t right yet and there’s so much to do before we leave it to protect those we love. With Joe salvation doesn’t come from the end of a gun barrel or with two fists…it comes from learning, it comes from knowing his fellow man…even the sick the bastards that do sick things.
We live in a jungle, whether it be the asphalt and cement of big city means streets, the manicured lawns of suburbia or the bucolic peace of the country. They all have their predators, those who have adapted as we have adapted and those who use their jungle… to hide in wait. Robotham reminds us that our salvation lies not only in how we survive that jungle but how we retain our humanity.
September 12, 2021
I’m running out of ways to say how much I love Michael Robotham and his books. I will admit the last Joe O’Loughlin I read, The Wreckage, was not my favourite but for Say You’re Sorry, number six in the series, he certainly got his mojo back.
This time Joe, a psychologist who is semi retired due to his Parkinson’s Disease, helps out with a case of two missing teenage girls. As usual, he becomes far too involved in the case until his investigation threatens his already precarious relationship with his family.
Apart from Joe’s point of view, we also get the first person point of view of Piper, one of the girls. This does mean we get quite a lot of detail of the girls’ kidnapping and imprisonment. Maybe too many depressing details for my faint heart.
For a bit of comic relief from the relentless disturbing nature of the crimes committed in the book, my beloved Ruiz, Joe’s ex-police detective mate, makes a very welcome appearance again. He always gets the best lines.
I have three more Joe books to read and I’m delaying them until next year. To quote Bill Adama, I don’t want it to end. Joe is one of those characters that you just can’t help but adore in just about every way. I like Robotham’s leads of his new books (Cyrus and Phil) but in the grand scheme of things they don’t hold a candle to Joe.
Unlike some other books of series, this one can be read as a standalone, so if you do pick this up somewhere cheap (not in Australia, Robotham’s books are snapped up quick smart in second hand book shops) don’t feel like you must go back and read in order. However, I recommend you do as this series is ridiculously good.
I’m obviously a Robotham fangirl 5 out of 5
This time Joe, a psychologist who is semi retired due to his Parkinson’s Disease, helps out with a case of two missing teenage girls. As usual, he becomes far too involved in the case until his investigation threatens his already precarious relationship with his family.
Apart from Joe’s point of view, we also get the first person point of view of Piper, one of the girls. This does mean we get quite a lot of detail of the girls’ kidnapping and imprisonment. Maybe too many depressing details for my faint heart.
For a bit of comic relief from the relentless disturbing nature of the crimes committed in the book, my beloved Ruiz, Joe’s ex-police detective mate, makes a very welcome appearance again. He always gets the best lines.
I have three more Joe books to read and I’m delaying them until next year. To quote Bill Adama, I don’t want it to end. Joe is one of those characters that you just can’t help but adore in just about every way. I like Robotham’s leads of his new books (Cyrus and Phil) but in the grand scheme of things they don’t hold a candle to Joe.
Unlike some other books of series, this one can be read as a standalone, so if you do pick this up somewhere cheap (not in Australia, Robotham’s books are snapped up quick smart in second hand book shops) don’t feel like you must go back and read in order. However, I recommend you do as this series is ridiculously good.
I’m obviously a Robotham fangirl 5 out of 5
September 9, 2012
The latest book by Michael Robotham, ‘Say You’re Sorry’, is a stark contrast in style and substance being more subdued and criminally contained than its predecessor, the grandiose action thriller ‘The Wreckage’. Clinical Psychologist, Joe O'Loughlin returns (last prominent role in 'Bleed for Me') to aid the police in profiling the person responsible for murdering two people during a blizzard. The investigation isn't what it seams and soon Joe is looking into a past incident involving two missing teenagers to solve a present day crime, little did he know that the two would overlap and rekindle a long doused fire in the pit of the towns stomach.
This is a race against the clock crime where the victims life hang in the balance, relying upon Joe and the police to place the clues before it's too late. Reading the novel you cant escape the urgency and dire circumstances missing duo Natasha McBain and Piper Hadley find themselves in. Switching the POV from the investigation to the journal like sequences portrayed through Piper exemplified the ever building urgency and didn't relent all the way through to the confronting conclusion.
'Say You're Sorry' is one of Robotham's strongest and emotionally gripping novels to date. Partially due to the nature of the crime and in part due to Joe's debilitating Parkinson's disease and off centre domestic life. Retired cop Vincent Ruiz makes a cameo but its Joe and the missing girls who steal the show. I also liked the return of Victoria Naparstek as a semi love interest with a secret whose relationship with Joe tiptoes on the side of professional.
Overall, this was a very easy book to read coupled with a crime that's both unpredictable and unsettling. Highly recommend for fans and those new to the author - 4 Stars.
View more on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
This is a race against the clock crime where the victims life hang in the balance, relying upon Joe and the police to place the clues before it's too late. Reading the novel you cant escape the urgency and dire circumstances missing duo Natasha McBain and Piper Hadley find themselves in. Switching the POV from the investigation to the journal like sequences portrayed through Piper exemplified the ever building urgency and didn't relent all the way through to the confronting conclusion.
'Say You're Sorry' is one of Robotham's strongest and emotionally gripping novels to date. Partially due to the nature of the crime and in part due to Joe's debilitating Parkinson's disease and off centre domestic life. Retired cop Vincent Ruiz makes a cameo but its Joe and the missing girls who steal the show. I also liked the return of Victoria Naparstek as a semi love interest with a secret whose relationship with Joe tiptoes on the side of professional.
Overall, this was a very easy book to read coupled with a crime that's both unpredictable and unsettling. Highly recommend for fans and those new to the author - 4 Stars.
View more on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
September 7, 2015
Nejlepší krimithriller, jaký jsem za dlouhou dobu přečetl. Bože, tak tohle sedlo jako prdel na hrnec... Posledních dvě stě stran jsem doslova hltal. V žádném případě jsem netušil, že mě kniha tak překvapí, nemám slov. TOP!
December 11, 2015
Fantastic book!! Suspenseful, edgy, and nail biting to the very end. I'm definitely reading more from this author.
July 24, 2018
After reading The Wreckage (book 5 in the Joe O'Laughlin series) where Joe played very little to no part in the book, I was very happy to see him return in this story. He did not disappoint me. I love me some Joe.
Natasha (Tash) McBain and Piper Hadley are girls that I will probably never forget. This story is centered around them; the hunt for them since they were abducted the last Saturday of the summer holidays or are they merely runaways?
The first book I read in this series was Shatter in 2010 (before I knew it was a series and you can only imagine what it did to my OCD tendencies to find out it was book 3 but that's another story) and now in 2013 I'm still talking about that book. As a matter of fact, when I read the name Gideon Tyler in this book, I swear, I got nervous.
Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that this book is every bit of Shatter's equal. I couldn't put it down; it made my heart race; it made me nervous, sad and at times, even happy.
Michael Robotham is one heck of writer and I can't wait to read Watching You.
I'd easily give this book 6, 7, 8 stars if I could.
I will recommend this book until people are tired of hearing me preach Michael Robotham. ;)
Natasha (Tash) McBain and Piper Hadley are girls that I will probably never forget. This story is centered around them; the hunt for them since they were abducted the last Saturday of the summer holidays or are they merely runaways?
The first book I read in this series was Shatter in 2010 (before I knew it was a series and you can only imagine what it did to my OCD tendencies to find out it was book 3 but that's another story) and now in 2013 I'm still talking about that book. As a matter of fact, when I read the name Gideon Tyler in this book, I swear, I got nervous.
Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that this book is every bit of Shatter's equal. I couldn't put it down; it made my heart race; it made me nervous, sad and at times, even happy.
Michael Robotham is one heck of writer and I can't wait to read Watching You.
I'd easily give this book 6, 7, 8 stars if I could.
I will recommend this book until people are tired of hearing me preach Michael Robotham. ;)
April 15, 2019
Setting: Oxfordshire, UK. This is the sixth book featuring psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin but I must admit that I have not read all the earlier ones and have been reading the series out of order - but this seems to be something you can 'get away with' in this series as Joe's backstory is not too strong an element. Joe is called in to help the police when a double murder at a farmhouse opens up an old case where two 15 year old girls went missing, three years before - Joe is asked to review the old case and reluctantly agrees when the body of one of the girls (now 18) is found in a frozen lake near the crime scene. Thus begins another rollercoaster of a read from this author, with suspects coming and going in the reader's thoughts, yet never (at least from my point of view) getting to the truth until the ultimate 'reveal' when Joe finally realises who the culprit is. A breathless and edge-of-your-seat read which I found very hard to put down. Nearly a 5 star read for me - 9/10.
March 6, 2015
I loved this thriller. I usually reserve 5 stars for books I would read again in a heartbeat. While this one probably doesn't fall into that category, I loved it anyway. It was my first Michael Robotham novel and now I plan on reading more. This was the 6th one in the Joseph O'Loughlin series and I didn't feel lost because I haven't read the preceding books.
I loved his writing. I liked his use of words. I always appreciate when few words pack a big whollop that effectively paints the picture unfolding. I hope the rest of his books are done equally as well. I was riveted in place and was glad I could finish it in one sitting.
With thrillers, I love to be hooked from the start and this one provided that. I also didn't see the ending coming. Both of those things I tend to rate highly.
I loved his writing. I liked his use of words. I always appreciate when few words pack a big whollop that effectively paints the picture unfolding. I hope the rest of his books are done equally as well. I was riveted in place and was glad I could finish it in one sitting.
With thrillers, I love to be hooked from the start and this one provided that. I also didn't see the ending coming. Both of those things I tend to rate highly.
January 14, 2018
4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a real pageturner 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
January 20, 2014
Not Sorry about Reading this!
Michael Robotham has written another brilliant psychological crime thriller with Say You’re Sorry. This is a fast past thriller that literally keeps you guessing all the way to the end of the book for the reveal as to who the perpetrator is but unlike other books we are not given a hint as to who is and by then it is too later and everything is literally against the clock to rescue and save the victim before she dies. To solve a double murder case the police need to solve an old case of two missing teenage girls to enable them to find their murderer.
Professor Joe O’Loughlin is a Clinical Psychologist who splits his time between the NHS and the Crown Prosecution Service assessing those accused or found guilty of crimes. He differs in that he suffers from Parkinson’s and it is in the main controlled by prescribed medication. One weekend before Christmas he is Oxford with his daughter, he is there to deliver a lecturer at a conference while his daughter will go shopping. As he waits to check out of the hotel the police come and ask him to review a suspect accused of a double homicide that has mental health problems.
From here he is drawn in to the murder case and then a cold case of two missing teenager girls who have been not been seen in three years. Somehow and from somewhere one of the girls turns up dead, frozen to death and only recently. The Police need Joe, who helps guide them in their investigation and search, especially as he has been asked to review the original missing persons’ case. Joe realised that this is now a race against time to find the other girl, whether she be alive or dead. The suspects come and go but there is no clear perpetrator the clues are there and it is Joe who eventually reveals the who it is, whether he saves the girl you will have to read for yourself!
This is a brilliant psychological thriller that sees the police trying to use all techniques to find their perpetrator and Robotham does not make it easy for the reader to see who is the guilty man. This is an exciting read that in parts is heart-breaking and you wonder if there is any hope left for the victim.
Michael Robotham has written another brilliant psychological crime thriller with Say You’re Sorry. This is a fast past thriller that literally keeps you guessing all the way to the end of the book for the reveal as to who the perpetrator is but unlike other books we are not given a hint as to who is and by then it is too later and everything is literally against the clock to rescue and save the victim before she dies. To solve a double murder case the police need to solve an old case of two missing teenage girls to enable them to find their murderer.
Professor Joe O’Loughlin is a Clinical Psychologist who splits his time between the NHS and the Crown Prosecution Service assessing those accused or found guilty of crimes. He differs in that he suffers from Parkinson’s and it is in the main controlled by prescribed medication. One weekend before Christmas he is Oxford with his daughter, he is there to deliver a lecturer at a conference while his daughter will go shopping. As he waits to check out of the hotel the police come and ask him to review a suspect accused of a double homicide that has mental health problems.
From here he is drawn in to the murder case and then a cold case of two missing teenager girls who have been not been seen in three years. Somehow and from somewhere one of the girls turns up dead, frozen to death and only recently. The Police need Joe, who helps guide them in their investigation and search, especially as he has been asked to review the original missing persons’ case. Joe realised that this is now a race against time to find the other girl, whether she be alive or dead. The suspects come and go but there is no clear perpetrator the clues are there and it is Joe who eventually reveals the who it is, whether he saves the girl you will have to read for yourself!
This is a brilliant psychological thriller that sees the police trying to use all techniques to find their perpetrator and Robotham does not make it easy for the reader to see who is the guilty man. This is an exciting read that in parts is heart-breaking and you wonder if there is any hope left for the victim.
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