Synopsis
Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz can’t remember how he got to the hospital. He was found floating in the Thames with a gunshot wound in his leg and a picture of missing child Mickey Carlyle in his pocket. But Mickey’s killer is already in jail. Add to this the blood stained boat found near where Ruiz was pulled from the water, and the pieces just don’t add up. Now, accused of faking amnesia and under investigation, Ruiz reaches out to psychologist Joseph O’Loughlin to help him unlock his memory, clear his name, and solve this ominous puzzle. Michael Robotham is one of the finest new thriller writers working today. Marked by vivid characters and full of unexpected turns, Lost is a hair-raising journey of vengeance, grief, and redemption through the dark London underworld.
Publishers Weekly
Det. Insp. Vincent Ruiz (a supporting character in Robotham's debut, Suspect) is hauled out of the Thames with a bullet wound in his leg and no memory of a shooting, let alone how he wound up in the water in Robotham's fine, moody second thriller. Keebal, a nasty cop from internal affairs, hounds Ruiz from the start, and everyone seems to know something Ruiz doesn't. When psychologist Joe O'Loughlin (the protagonist of Suspect) shows Ruiz a picture of young Mickey Carlyle-a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years earlier whom everyone but Ruiz thinks is dead-he figures there must be some connection between her case and his shooting. Despite his injuries, Ruiz retraces this investigation with the help of his partner, a young Sikh woman named Ali. The past returns in dribs and drabs and none too gently. Mickey is the daughter of a Russian-born crime lord, Aleksei Kuznet; a cache of diamonds and a man known as a "grooming paedophile" also figure prominently in the splintered plot. The warm relationship between Ruiz and Joe, who suffers from Parkinson's, counterpoints the main story line's grit. Robotham works some good wrinkles into Ruiz's relationship with Ali and an empathetic nurse, too. The result is a thoughtful and subtle thriller, with convincing, three-dimensional characters. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.