When She Was Good is the second in the series of Forensic Psychologist Cyrus Haven and his quest to find out the truth about Evie.

Even better than the first in the series, this book kept me gripped from beginning to end.

5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you #netgalley #hachetteaustralia #michaelrobotham for a copy of this book to review.

This is book two in the Cyrus Haven series.

Six years ago Evie Cormac was found in a secret room at the scene of a horrific crime.
Cyrus Haven wants to save Evie more than anything. He thinks that digging in to her past will help her future. Despite Evie warning him that bad things happen to those who dig into her past, he does it anyway, disturbing buried secrets. And in doing so, he leads the very people that Evie is hiding from straight to her.

Despite not reading the first book in this series, I really enjoyed it. It was so well paced, full of two main POVs over multiple timelines. Packed with twists and turns, you can feel the danger as Cyrus tries to protect Evie.
I cannot wait to read 'Good Girl, Bad Girl'.

Highly recommend

Left me wanting more!

Michael Robotham has done it again.

The story of Cyrus and Evie had me glued to this book from front to back. The heartbreaking childhood that Evie was exposed to and how damaged she had become in her fight to survive!

Do yourself a favour and read this series. I am waiting fingers crossed that there is another instalment coming at some stage!

#netgalley #MichaelRobotham #WhenSheWasGood

Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven returns in this creepy thriller featuring Evie Cormac, also known as Angel Face. Book #2 picks up from where Good Girl, Bad Girl ended. Cyrus tracks down Sacha Hopewell, the Constable who found Angel Face hiding in the wall of a house, many years before. Evie has returned to the secure children's home but still isn't safe from the men who hunt her. I loved this book just as much as the first and hope there are more to come. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy.

I highly recommend that you read Book 1 Good Girl, Bad Girl first as this book picks up from Book 1. It is told by 2 different points of view and it has alot of answers to questions from book 1. The story shifts back and forth in time. It grabbed me from the first page and I didnt let go until the last page. I cant wait to read the next instalment.

5★
“She gave me this look that laid me to waste inside. It was so full of despair, so bereft of hope. It was like dropping a stone into a dark well, waiting for it to hit the bottom, but it never does, it just keeps falling. That’s what frightened me. That and her voice, which came out all raspy and hoarse. She said, ‘Nobody can protect me.’”

Evie Cormac. She’s right. Nobody’s managed to protect her so far, so why should this be any different? She is the Good Girl, Bad Girl of Robotham’s first Cyrus Haven book, (which just won the 2020 Golden Dagger Award). Found hiding in a specially built secret room, she was assumed to be the kidnap victim of the man who had been murdered in the next room.

Cyrus is a psychologist who works with the police, but it’s his personal connection with Evie that won’t let him stop looking for answers. He was also the victim of unspeakable childhood trauma and knows first-hand what that does to children.

Who is she? What’s her real name? Her age? Her origins? The court has decided she is only 17, and therefore still a ward. Known to the world only as Angel Face, she’s been hidden away in a children’s home in Nottinghamshire with her records wiped so she can’t be traced. She claims “they” are looking for her but won’t say more.

The chapters alternate between Cyrus and Evie, so we are privy to their memories and what haunts them both. Evie mistrusts everybody and knows instinctively when someone is lying. It’s a knack, whether it’s from facial expressions or other tells, as poker players call our body language twitches and blinks when we lie.

She herself lies all the time, almost compulsively as a form of defence. She lies, she escapes, she hides. She insists that “they” will find her, but she won’t say why or who they are. Cyrus tracks down Sacha, the woman who first found Evie in her hiding spot, to see if Evie might have revealed some clues then.

He has become fond of Evie and is beginning to believe her fears are warranted. But she is so touchy, it’s hard to ask questions or ask her to remember when she so clearly doesn’t want to. He knows how hard it is to revisit the trauma. But she’s no shy, girlish victim. She is alert, quick-witted and suspicious of everyone. Even Cyrus.

“Evie’s silences are worse than her tantrums. Her feelings are simple, almost linear. When she’s hurting, she lashes out. When she’s frightened, she runs. These are defences, not reactions, but when she chooses not to speak at all, I feel my heart want to break.”

Cyrus has stayed close to Lenny Parvel, the policewoman who found him when his family was murdered and who stayed with him. He tries to convince her of the danger Evie is in. She has obviously been abused and ill-used, but will say nothing other than that they are going to kill her.

In short, she is exasperating.

Here’s a conversation where Evie has been accused of theft, and a couple of local cops have been called. Evie tells us one looks like an undertaker. Caroline Fairfax is her lawyer.

“‘Your client should answer my question.’

‘She’s denying your allegation.’

‘Does she actually speak? Maybe she’s a mute.’

‘I speak when I have something to say.’

The undertaker props his elbows on the table, chin resting on his hands.
‘Who are you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I tried to call up your juvenile record, but the files were sealed. Even the bare bones have been redacted. No birthplace.

No next-of-kin. No health records. We gave you one phone call and a barrister shows up from London. All of which makes me think you’re somebody important. What is it? Witness protection? Or are you some politician’s idiot child?’

Caroline Fairfax interrupts his speech.
‘Do you have a question for my client?’

‘I asked her a question.’

‘You know her name and her age and her current address.’

The undertaker ignores her, concentrating on me.

‘If I put in a request for access to your complete file, what am I going to find?’

‘Nothing,’ replies Caroline.

‘That’s the point, though, isn’t it? She’s a protected species. Why is that?’

‘I’m a Russian spy,’ I say.

Caroline hushes me, but I ignore her.

‘I’m a mafia moll. I’m Donald Trump’s love-child. I’m the shooter on the grassy knoll.’”

It is both insightful and exciting. Plenty of very nervous, life-and-death moments and more tragedy. I liked this even better than the first one, and I think there is room to explore these characters and the case even further and hope the author is persuaded to do so!

I heard him interviewed recently, and he said he’d never intended this to be a series, but so many readers had asked for more questions to be answered, that he decided to do it. He is what is known in ‘the trade’ as a ‘pantser’ rather than a ‘plotter’. Some authors write out intricate plot outlines while some, like Robotham, just dive in and write by the seat of their pants.

So he had to go back to the first book and pick up all the clues he’d dropped to see if he’d painted himself into a corner anywhere that he couldn’t get out of. I’m so glad he found his way out!

Michael Robotham is an Australian author who worked as a journalist and ghost writer in London for many years, and his books are usually based there. Publishers told him when he started that nobody would read a book set in Australia. So he put his Aussie novel in the bottom drawer and went on to fame.

He now lives on Sydney's northern beaches (where I used to live), but writes as vibrantly as ever about the dark, cold, rainy UK. I hope he dusts off his Aussie novel and/or writes a new one. The Aussie mystery genre is booming!

Thanks to #NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. I both read and listened to an audio narrated by Joe Jameson, who is just terrific. I’ve said before he’s like a one-man radio play.

EXCERPT: I've reached the Maserati, a prestige car, in pristine condition.

Expensive. Loved. Inside is a different story. Blood covers the windows, seats and dashboard. I will dream about this tonight, picturing the bodies of my mother and father and sisters. I will wake with a scream dying on my lips, unsure if the sound has stayed in my head or set the neighbourhood dogs barking again.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Evie Cormac is a girl with no family. She has kept her true identity secret for seven years; silence has guaranteed her safety. Now, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven is determined to discover who Evie is, and how she came to be hiding in a London house where a man was tortured to death. Powerful people have spent years hunting Evie, the only living witness to their crimes.

Evie's ability to tell when someone is lying helped Cyrus crack an impenetrable case, but the closer Cyrus gets to uncovering answers about Evie's dark history, the more he exposes her to danger. Ultimately, both will have to decide if some secrets are better left buried and some monsters should never be named . . .

MY THOUGHTS: WOW! Perhaps not quite as WOW! as Good Girl, Bad Girl, but WOW! all the same.

Once you have seen something, you can never unsee it. And Evie will never unsee Trevor's tortured body. She lived with it for weeks. But she has seen a lot more than that, and what she has seen means that she lives in fear of being found, in fear of her life. She has matured, in the seven years since she was found, from a feral child with nits in her hair and cigarette burns on her skin into a force of nature. Damaged, brilliant, angry and lonely. She does not trust. She does not love. She has been there - and look where it got her.

Cyrus Haven believes the only way that Evie will ever be free is to discover her past - who she really is and who damaged her. He believed, when he became a forensic psychologist, that he would spend his days studying killers rather than trying to catch them, chasing death like an undertaker, or a blue-bottle fly. Evie, in particular, has changed that. The more he tries to discover about Evie, the more danger he puts himself, and Evie, in. Even he is not convinced that he can save her. No amount of love or tenderness or passing time could possibly erase the horrors of her past, yet she hangs in there, fighting like a demon, a caged lion; spitting, hissing and clawing, but still there.

He has convinced Sacha Hopewell, the young community officer who discovered Evie (then Angel Face), to come back from her self-imposed exile in Cornwall to reconnect with Evie. She, like Evie, is convinced she is being pursued, followed. She is vulnerable, joyless, and has cut herself off from her family to protect both them and herself. She is not totally convinced that any good can come from a reunion with Evie.

Detective Lenny (Lenore) Parvel has been transferred to the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, and she also needs Cyrus's help to investigate what looks like the suicide of an ex-detective, one who was responsible for the capture and conviction of a notorious paedophile.

Some days, there is just not enough Cyrus to go around ...

Suspenseful. Heart-achingly brilliant. Scary in its possibility, no, probability.

I took a little longer to read this than Good Girl, Bad Girl, but only because I had to go to work. I also read a little slower, appreciating the nuances more, taking my time to get to know the characters a little better. Now all I can say is: I hope you are already working hard on Cyrus Haven #3, and when can I have it Mr Robotham?

****.5

THE ARMCHAIR TRAVELER: We move around the country a little more in When She Was Gone than we did with Good Girl, Bad Girl.

Nottingham, a city in central England’s Midlands region. It’s known for its role in the Robin Hood legend and for the hilltop Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, rebuilt many times since the medieval era. In the Lace Market area, once the centre of the world’s lace industry, the Galleries of Justice Museum has crime-related exhibits. Wollaton Hall is an ornate Elizabethan mansion with gardens and a deer park.

Cornwall is on everyone’s lips these days. Those lingering shots of wild moorland, Grecian blue sea and soft pale sand in every episode of the BBC’s Poldark have drawn visitors from around the world. Despite such popularity the county retains its cloak of tradition and sense of isolation. Yet hidden behind the stone walls of farmhouses and fishermen’s cottages are stylish apartments and restaurants where acclaimed chefs serve up the finest seafood.

The largely unspoilt coastline inspires Enid Blyton-style adventures: tripping through fields fringed in wildflowers to a remote beach; digging around in rockpools that are works of marine art, and swimming with seals or learning to surf a wave. Beyond the beach there is plenty to entertain, from wildlife conservation centres and hands-on farm experiences aimed at children to historic sub-tropical gardens, steam railways and working mines, reminders of the county’s rich industrial heritage. A few days of breathing fresh, clean Cornish air, eating fish straight from the sea and sleeping deeply in a clifftop eyrie is the perfect antidote to the stress of city living.

Situated 10km inland on the banks of the River Orwell, Ipswich shares the same coastal lifestyle, maritime history and foodie culture as many of the Suffolk Coast’s most famous towns and villages.

THE AUTHOR: Edgar finalist and Gold Dagger winning author, 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 in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.

For the next fourteen years he worked for newspapers 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.

Michael writes in what his daughters' refer to as his 'cabana of cruelty' on Sydney's northern beaches where he slaves away daily to cater to their every expensive whim. Where is the justice?

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Hachette Australia, via NetGalley, for providing a digital ARC of When She Was Good by Michael Robotham for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page, or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Amazon, Twitter, Instagram and my webpage.

Ah, such a joy to be back in the world of Michael Robotham. My mum and I were counting the weeks for this one. She was a huge fan of GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL and has long been thinking about the fates of its characters. She was so happy to see those certain folks back, and it was just wonderful to share this new story with her. A new Robotham is like a homecoming. The alternating perspectives kept us guessing, and the insight into these characters -- their drives, their hang-ups, their doubts, their deceptions -- made us even more keen for what's next. Really enjoyed the Chapter One online event for this one, too. Great to hear about the author's processes. Thanks for the read!

Book blurb...
He thinks the truth will set her free. She knows it will kill them. A heart-stopping psychological thriller from the Number One bestselling author of THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS and THE OTHER WIFE
She has secrets.
Six years ago, Evie Cormac was found hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a brutal murder. But nobody has ever discovered her real name or where she came from, because everybody who tries ends up dead.
He needs answers.
Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven believes the truth will set Evie free. Ignoring her warnings, he begins to dig into her past, only to disturb a hornet's nest of corrupt and powerful people, who have been waiting to find Evie - the final witness they have been searching for. Unbeknownst to him, Cyrus is leading them straight to Evie. The truth will not set her free. It will get them killed.
From Australia's foremost crime writer, Michael Robotham, this is the second explosive novel featuring gifted criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven following the Edgar-award nominated GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL.

My thoughts…
A well pace, well devised storyline with all the important plot points tightly held and revealed with expert timing; Robotham grabs the reader from the first pages, keeping readers engaged and entertained until the final page.
That said, I would have liked to hear more about Evie's life, moving forward. Perhaps another book might look at this. Hint! Hint!

Told through two main points of view and over multiple timelines, When She Was Good hooked me from the first page. As psychological thrillers go, this one is a cracker. It is packed with twists and turns, with the danger ramped up over and over again for forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac, the girl he’s trying to protect. There are triggers which may disturb some readers, specifically those disturbed by pedophilia, which is a key thread through the story. I thought it was well handled by author Michael Robothom. For me this story made for edge of the seat reading and I couldn’t put it down.

This is michaels second book in the Cyrus Haven .
Loved this book love this author never fails to disappoint.
A great read.

This book is rather timely given it's content. Based on the child abduction/sex trade, it is a very relevant subject.

This novel highlights how the 'powers that be' often have their hands tied when dealing with these types of criminal cases and how corruption is rife in the various departments that play a role in indentifying and prosecuting the criminals involved.

Evie featured in Michael's previous novel 'Good girl, bad girl'. However, Evie took a backseat in that novel. In 'When she was good', Evie is front and centre. There was always a lot of mystery surrounding Evie's case. Found in a house with a decomposing body, Evie would not reveal the details to anyone. Evie also has the ability to detect when someone is lying. With this skill and her distrust of all adults (due to being let down so many times by various adults), Evie won't open up to anyone. The only person she kind-of-trusts is the police psychologist assigned to her when she was discovered.

In this novel, Evie's terrible past is unravelled and the consequences are dangerous.

To ensure I don't give any spoilers, I will leave it at that. But a good read and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Michael Robotham has done it again! A brilliant sequel and continuation of Evie's story. I must admit I am not loving this series as much as I loved the Joe O'loughlin series but that's probably just my personal opinion. And it certainly wont stop me from reading more of Robothams works in the future. Hands down my favourite australian male author!

A spectacular follow-up to the first Cyrus Haven instalment!

Michael Robotham masterfully draws us into the dark and complex world inhabited by enigmatic, troubled teen, Evie Cormac as forensic psychologist Cyrus continues his quest to find her true identity.

Gripping, intense and indisputably chilling, I couldn't put it down.

Five-stars all the way for me!

A thrilling continuation to “good girl bad girl”. I really enjoyed the suspense of learning more about Evie’s past, while all the events happening in the present. I wish for more Evie and Cyrus banter but the story had a conclusive ending so not sure whether therell be more, but I’m intrigued to read more from this author!

Michael Robotham’s crime novels have always had an easy grace about them, somehow managing to be dense works without appearing to be so. As with all second novels, the second novel of a new series has much on the line in proving to fickle readers that their leap of faith into new territory was warranted. We visit again with criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven in When She Was Good.

Evie Cormac, the infamous ‘Angel Face’, is now approaching legal age in which she will soon be processed out of the failing model that is the British foster home system. Evie is still keeping her secrets. She never intends to reveal the circumstances that led her to being secreted in a building that also contained the tortured body of a very large man. Evie’s true identity and her origins remain a mystery even to the one person she has allowed to get close to her, the contradiction that is psychologist Cyrus Haven. Cyrus is convinced that what will most help Evie is her facing and processing the truth of her traumatic past. Cyrus Haven himself has also experienced significant family trauma and has not shied away from the perpetrator of such violence, his mentally disturbed brother.

As Cyrus makes contact with the trainee police officer who found the grubby but beautiful child six years ago when more experienced officers could not, he discovers that she too has reason not to speak further. Powerful people are still trying to find the whereabouts of ‘Angel Face’ and it is made clear to Cyrus that they will never give up in their efforts to silence Evie permanently. She has good reasons to be afraid of being found.
As with most well-established authors of a certain tier, new works are inevitably compared to the giddy days of their earliest published successes when we all jumped on the bandwagon and binged whatever had flown under our radar up to that point.

Author Michael Robotham has given the reader in When She Was Good many more insights into what shaped the mysterious Evie Cormac into the prickly and distrustful teen we first met in the 2019 novel, Good Girl Bad Girl. Both Evie and Cyrus are complex, and the bond the two of them have is tested by the inevitability of what will happen if Evie’s past catches up with her.

When She Was good features the alternate viewpoints of Evie and Cyrus, with neither character ever sliding into the territory of being considered pathetic or beyond redemption. These two are survivors, and it takes the experiences of one to be able to deal with imminent dangers that continue to threaten the life and sanity of the other.

As darkly beautiful as a crime novel can be, When She Was Good pushes the reader onwards in a desperate need to reassure themselves that the good will see out the bad, even if the lines between are both well trodden and muddied.

From my Instagram post. Www.instagram.com/apace_inthesun

The book was so good I finished it pretty quickly over a couple of days - definitely unputdownable unless you have to work, which I did, unfortunately. ⁣
⁣
This was a great 5⭐️ read. Forensic psychologist Cyrus is a marvellous character. Flawed, emotionally vulnerable at times, and edgy as! Sasha, a brave but wounded Ex-cop, tainted by her experience but drawn back by Cyrus investigating Evie’s background. And Evie, the human lie detector who tells many of them herself! Whilst it’s a second in the series book, this one is more than fine as a stand alone. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series with book 3 though. ⁣
⁣
Cyrus is quite different as well from Joe, Robotham’s other psychologist character in his other books. I had hoped to hear about comparisons between them in an author interview during the week. Sadly I missed it due to work commitments. Total bummer.

Thank you for the copy of this book to read and review,

This story had me in suspense throughout many parts and kept it interesting. I did find myself a bit confused with some of the flashbacks here and there, but overall they worked well. The story was pretty dark, without going into a lot of a gory details of the situation which makes it more accessible for a lot of readers. I think this will be a popular book.

This was a great follow up to the first installment of the series! It's a fantastic thriller, which exceeded my expectations.

It's got twists and turns, as well as an amazing storyline.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

Having been given this book by Netgalley to review I absolutely had to go back to the beginning and read the first installment in psychologist Cyrus Haven series. Good Girl, Bad Girl left me gasping. Thus, I was hoping, really hoping for a happy ending in the next book.

Well, some hopes are left hanging… Happy end there is none or not really…

Evie is still a broken, damaged, shuttered… Whatever word you can come up with, it will fit. Haven is still broken, damaged, shuttered… They both have so much pain and secrets inside, they are like twins some times. Twins created by evil humans inflict on each other.

When She Was Good takes you on the journey into the dark and dense forest literary and metaphorically. Evie’s story is investigated and proded. Evil is disturbed and is fighting back. Cyrus finds threads and pulls at them.

The story made me shudder. There is no end or limit to human evil. There is no end or limit to human weakness. And there will always be some monsters who can play on both to their own advantage.

When She Was Good disappointed me in humanity once again. The book is so dark, intricately woven, detailed and graphic, one is left gasping for air or rushing to shower.

With all my love for Michael Robotham, I do not think I can survive any more of his books any time soon.