One of my favorite characters in the Mystery-Thriller genre is psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, who springs from the pen computer mind of Australian author Michael Robotham. Book 24 of 2012 Bleed for Me is the fourth book in this series featuring Joe. On the cover of the book, Linwood Barclay sums up how I feel about Robotham’s work:
Michael Robotham doesn’t just make me scared for his characters; he makes my heart ache for them.
And in Bleed for Me my heartaches for all of them from Joe, his estranged wife Julienne, daughters Charlie and Emma and especially the focus of this book Sienna Hagerty, a troubled friend of his daughter Charlie. As the book opens, Sienna appears at the O’Loughlin’s doorstep, where she often spends time. Only on this night, she is covered with blood, terrorized and incoherent. Later, police find Sienna’s father, a celebrated former police officer, murdered in Sienna’s bedroom and quickly, Sienns becomes the prime suspect! Through the rest of the twists and turns of the book, Joe must untangle the lies, find truth and save Sienna, in more ways than one! All while trying to keep his world from falling apart!
What makes Joe O’Loghlin unique is that he does all he does while fighting Parkinson’s disease, and as someone who has seen the crippling effects of Parkinson’s (both my mother and my father’s brother have struggled with the effects of the disease) I feel for him. Robotham does a great job with the creation of Joe’s character, much the way Karin SLaughter does with Will Trent, who battles dyslexia, and creates a character you really care about, well beyond the pages of a book!
While I think that the book could be read without reading the prior books. I would recommend that if you want to get the full effect of this book, you really need to have read the other books!! Robotham has just created so much that has happened to get the characters to get where they are in Bleed for Me that you just have to know them, to get that extra jolt from the book.
So check it out – as for me I just can’t wait for the next installment, Say You’re Sorry, due to be released on October 2, to see where Joe and his family’s life will go from here!
