Lying Beside You - Michael Robotham

[Mister Hobgoblin]

Lying Beside You is a fair-square crime genre novel featuring a serial detective searching for a serial killer...

 

In this series, Cyrus Haven is a criminal psychologist - a profession allied to policing - which gives him the opportunity to be unorthodox at the expense of not always being on the inside track of the police machine. Hence, he does not have fun access to case notes, records, etc. But Michael Robotham seems quite generous in the amount off access he does allow Cyrus, together with a police inspector (Lenny) who can fill in the blanks as necessary. 

 

Cyrus is troubled outside work by Evie, a high maintenance young woman with a troubled past to whom he is giving shelter. This is probably explained in previous novels in the series. And he has a brother who is nearing release from a high-security hospital having killed Cyrus's family when Cars was still in short trousers. 

 

So, some young women in Nottingham go missing and one of them turns up dead. This opens a Pandora's Box of pain. In a case that bridges the divide between personal and professional, Cyrus inevitably delivers the goods. 

 

The novel is well told, pacy and keeps the reader intrigued - even though the plot itself is pretty incredible and relies on every character being connected on some level (it worked for Dickens...). On that basis, I would happily read the previous novels in the series as entertainment, although I doubt they would teach me much about the human condition. It works as a standalone too, and the reader has the necessary background drip-fed when necessary. 

 

Solid four star material - three for the plot and five for the story-telling. 

 

****