Life or Death

Australian author Michael Robotham has a new stand alone! My first book by Robotham was Watching You, released early in 2014, and I was hooked. I've now read five of the ten novels he's written.

Although he has been a journalist and a ghost writer, it is his psychological thrillers that have garnered him so many fans. Some of the Awards he has received:
3 Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing (Best Novel in 2005, 2007, 2008) 2 Crime Writer's Assoc. (UK) Steel Daggers (2007, 2008) 1 Crime Writer's Assoc. Gold Dagger (2013)
In the ten years Robotham has been writing psychological thrillers, he has achieved some impressive stats. Perhaps I was late to the game because he is better known in the UK and Australia, but better late than never.

Life or Death, his latest release, is a stand alone novel and not part of the O'Loughlin/DI Ruiz series. It is set in Texas, not London, and is the result of a news article that he'd been thinking of for nearly twenty years.
In 1995, Tony Lanigan escaped from prison only a few days before he was due to be released on parole. Why would a man escape from prison days before release? Robotham says that he had to "find the answer--even [he] had to make it up."
Thus was born Audie Palmer, a man sentenced to ten years in prison for a robbery in which four people died and seven million dollars went missing. Slowly, slowly we fall for Audie, who has achieved a sort of mythic regard in prison, surviving numerous attempts to murder him. Then, the day before his scheduled release, he stages a daring escape from prison.

Why would a man escape the day before release?

The forces that paid for attempts on his life in prison are still determined to see Audie dead. The reader wonders how this man with an IQ of 136 and a nature both noble and sorrowful wound up in prison in the first place.

Robotham unwinds the story slowly, but with escalating tension. Audie Palmer feels Job-like as he endures and survives despite the odds. Robotham keeps the reader on the edge, unsure about what will happen next and praying for Audie and Moss.

This novel is different from (and even better than) the O'Loughlin/DI Ruiz series which I've so enjoyed. Written in spare, but evocative prose, the novel has a wrenching humanity. Life or Death is a compelling psychological suspense tale about a protagonist who has a promise to keep and a reason to survive.

Highly recommended!

NetGalley/Mulholland Books

Psychological Suspense/Crime. (Amazon has this available for Jan. 1 ??); NetGalley lists publ. date as March 10, 2015. Print Length: 448 pages.

Excellent as are all of Mr. Robotham's books. Fast paced, with twists and turns that keep you turning the pages. Well done and can't wait to recommend this to those customers who only read books that take place in the US, maybe this one will do the trick and get them to read other books by this excellent author.

A great mystery with an unusual love story mixed in .Well defined charectors who show us both the evil men can do in the name of greed and the goodness that can fill our hearts in the name of love.

The unfolding story of Audie Palmer will leave readers crying out with righteous indignation. My heart broke at several places throughout the book for Belita, Max, and Audie. Robotham kept the book’s plot unfolding through each chapter. Each time I planned to put the book down, I would promise myself one more chapter and kept on reading. The story’s timeline and plot points were so well-conceived and thought out it made me want the book to never end. Usually, when reading books this intense, I skip ahead to the last chapters to see what the resolution is. I didn’t let myself do it this time, because of the care that went into the writing. With a great deal of self-control, I let it play out the way Robotham wanted readers to enjoy it.

The last three to four chapters were so intense with action that it raised my blood pressure. The finale was absolutely beyond what I expected, and happily so. I want to thank Mr. Robotham for giving readers a good, satisfying ending that didn’t wimp out.

I immediately grabbed this title seeing Michael Robotham's name on the cover. Having read all of the Joe O'Loughlin series, I always look forward to more by Robotham. I was *almost* disappointed this was not one in the series... UNTIL I began to read it.

Why would someone like Audie Spencer Palmer escape from prison the day before he was to be released? How could he serve ten years in prison and never mention the seven million dollars he was put away for stealing? And beaten and threatened for on a daily basis?

"Life or Death" unfolds incredibly, page by page, chapter by chapter... revealing just enough that the reader *thinks* they know what will happen next. Only Robotham takes those predictions and blows them out of the water. This was probably one of the best mystery/suspense novels that I have read in a long, long time.

Simply amazing! I will recommend this to all who will listen. Also I hope Robotham considers a follow up with the small, but mighty Detective Desiree Furness. She is a wonderful change from Joe O'Loughlin.

The biggest mistake a man can make in prison is to believe he matters at all.

I am a huge fan of Michael Robotham's Joe O'Loughlin series so I was really excited to read this standalone (even though I was a bit bummed that it wasn't another book about Joe). Robotham created such thrilling books with his O'Loughlin series and managed to make this book just as thrilling.
This book follows Audie Palmer a man who escapes from prison the day before he is set to be released. Audie had been sent to prison for robbing an armored truck and the money, seven million dollars, was never recovered. Everyone is baffled as to why Audie would escape when he was about to be released.
I loved how much of a mystery Audie was in the beginning. You didn't quite know what to believe about him. The more I read this the more I really started to like him. I don't want to give too much away but it is safe to say that Audie went through a lot. I really enjoyed how his backstory unfolded slowly throughout the story.
This story also follows a couple of secondary characters that are important to the story. I liked following Moss and Desiree. They were both likeable and interesting characters. I was a bit annoyed with some of the other secondary characters but that's because they were jerks.
The events towards the end of the book were awesome. I could basically say all the cliches about how thrilling it was but I'll spare you. Okay maybe I'll give you one and say that it will leave you gasping for breath.
If you're not already a fan of Michael Robotham from his Joe O'Loughlin series this book will make you one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.