The Suspect: Joseph O'Loughlin, Book 1

This novel was overlong and formulaic. the policeman was a non pc dinosaur,ex prostitute becomes guardian angel ,betrayal by best friend ,child abuse,and a longed for baby appearing in the rosy last chapters. Our hero even gets on a drug trial which will keep him hopefully well enough to trundle through several more books.The plumber was obviously connected to the nominated villain..this book relies very much on the reader being sucked in to the hero's ability to locate all the people and all the paperwork needed to work it out before the blinkered boys in blue he did so much travelling ,always avoiding capture by the skin of his teeth, that it should be in the travel section. I'm not sure of publication date as one review is from 2004 .. even so ,the description of the city of Liverpool is hopelessly stereotypical of 1980. most of the locals he doesnt personally know are nasty and threatening workshy or out to rob him..In fact Liverpool is a fine city which attracts millions of visitors who mostly leave with their property unmolested.With regard to his first reference to the city I cannot recall there ever being a skyline of mill chimneys. They neither spin nor do they weave.I could drum up no sympathy for the Parkinson -threatened hero and wont be following his adventures further.

First time I've read this author; I really enjoyed it as it was so different from the usual crime dramas which are out at the moment. It wasn't the usual 'weary cop with a history ' routine. However I did find the culprit as determined by the narrator a bit of a stretch!! But - I would recommend it and fully intend to read the rest in the series.

I found this got bogged down with the rambling thoughts of one of the suspects in the middle which added little to the furtherance of the plot. I like the hero and have read other books with him in it which were better. The ending was rushed and all a bit contrived but in fairness if you don’t pay fortune for it give it a go.

Fast paced, page turner with the main character and his family you will come to like. Completely original novel with no hints of other crime characters or plot.A brilliant first book for a series and even though I know it's an over used saying, I really couldn't put it down!

Just read the first book in the series. Will be reading the rest in the future. Well written and kept me intrigued all the way through

Initially I almost gave up with this book. It seemed a little fragmented. However I kept going and I'm really glad I did. This is the first book for quite a while, that I couldn't wait to get back too. Once it grips you it won't let go.

I read Shatter before this not realising that it was part of a series of books, I was reading the reviews after Shatter and noticed that some kind person listed the series in order, this is the first and what a first! I have written the books down in order now and am definately going to work my way through them, Michael Robotham keeps you interseted and winds it up a notch until you can't put it down. Can't wait to start the next one, trouble is life gets in the way!!I'm definately going to recommend this series of books to my friends. Enjoy!

Twists, turns, surprises all through. Really well written and so different from the first Robottom that I read. Great, looking forward to the others in the series as well as the standalone so.