Watching You (Joseph O'Loughlin) - Hardcover

Michael Robotham started his career as a journalist but then became a ghostwriter, writing many bestselling autobiographies in collaboration with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities. His thrillers have been translated into twenty-two languages and he has twice won Australia's Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel. He was shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger in 2007 and 2008 and was also shortlisted for the inaugral ITV3 Thriller Awards.

*Starred Review* Aussie thriller master Robotham starts with a touch readers have seen before. Every person who does wrong by the hero, therapist Joe O’Loughlin, has something awful happen to them, and all Joe knows is that he didn’t do it. Meanwhile, Marnie Logan could use help. Abandoned by her husband, raising two children, and behind in the rent, she joins an escort service. Her pimp beats her. She visits a banker to beg that her husband’s money be released. The jerk sneers her out the door. All her life Marnie has had a sense she’s being watched by someone who stays in shadows and disappears when she turns on a light. Now she’s sure. Scared, she confides in her friend, O’Loughlin, who does some detective-style investigating and learns that suddenly, like Marnie, he seems to have someone looking over his shoulder, too. This is where Robotham slowly, expertly begins tightening the screws in a deadpan style as sneaky as Joe’s shadow friend. Revelations increase rather than release tension until the last page delivers the final chill. It will be a long time before memories of this one retreat back into the shadows. --Don Crinklaw