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desterman's review
5.0
Another cracking psychological crime thriller from Robotham. Great pace which kept me guessing until the very end.
thriller_chick's review against another edition
3.0
Book 6 was amazing
Book 7 was spectacular
This book was doomed following those. I liked it but it was certainly a step down from the previous and I read them back to back.
Love this series and I’m sad to be done until the next one comes out.
Book 7 was spectacular
This book was doomed following those. I liked it but it was certainly a step down from the previous and I read them back to back.
Love this series and I’m sad to be done until the next one comes out.
kbranfield's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars.
Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham is another cleverly written and tightly-plotted addition to the Joseph O’Loughlin series. In this latest mystery, Joe reluctantly agrees to consult on a murder case that has been compromised by his former student who uses their tenuous connection to inveigle his way into the investigation.
With few leads and the public clamoring for an arrest, Detective Chief Superintendent Veronica “Ronnie” Cray convinces Joe to take a look at the scene of the double homicide of Elizabeth Crowe and her university bound daughter Harper. The case has stymied the detectives and Ronnie hopes Joe can see something her team has missed. With a vocal radio announcer’s incendiary remarks riling up the village residents and psychologist Emilio Coleman aka “the Mindhunter” leaking confidential information to the press, the police and Joe are under intense pressure to solve this perplexing case before the killer strikes again.
No stranger to crime scenes, Joe is stunned by the brutal attack on Elizabeth Crowe. The violence inflicted during her murder is a stark contrast to the gentle manner in which Harper was murdered and almost lovingly arranged postmortem. Joe and the police cannot help but wonder if Elizabeth’s proclivity for sex in public places (dogging) might have put her in the crosshairs of the killer but this does not explain why Harper was murdered. During the course of the investigation, a long list of suspects begins to emerge, but Joe remains troubled by the very different ways in which the two women were murdered. When another woman is murdered, there are striking similarities to the unsolved murders of Elizabeth and Harper which leaves Joe convinced the cases are linked but will he find the connection before another attack?
In the midst of consulting on this current case, Joe’s personal life takes a rather unexpected turn. Long estranged from his wife, Julianne, the two have remained on relatively friendly terms as they co-parent their daughters Charlie and Emma. With eldest daughter Charlie about to begin college, Joe is surprised when Julianne asks him to move back into the family home for the summer. He, of course, quickly agrees since he is still deeply in love with Julianne and remains hopeful they will eventually reconcile.
Written in alternating perspective from Joe’s and an unknown person’s point of view, Close Your Eyes is an intriguing and suspense-laden police procedural. With a vast pool of suspects, shocking revelations and unexpected plot twists, Michael Robotham brilliantly keeps readers guessing the perpetrator’s identity until the pulse-pounding and action-packed conclusion. The novel ends on an emotional note that will stun readers and leave them wondering about the future of the Joseph O’Loughlin series.
Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham is another cleverly written and tightly-plotted addition to the Joseph O’Loughlin series. In this latest mystery, Joe reluctantly agrees to consult on a murder case that has been compromised by his former student who uses their tenuous connection to inveigle his way into the investigation.
With few leads and the public clamoring for an arrest, Detective Chief Superintendent Veronica “Ronnie” Cray convinces Joe to take a look at the scene of the double homicide of Elizabeth Crowe and her university bound daughter Harper. The case has stymied the detectives and Ronnie hopes Joe can see something her team has missed. With a vocal radio announcer’s incendiary remarks riling up the village residents and psychologist Emilio Coleman aka “the Mindhunter” leaking confidential information to the press, the police and Joe are under intense pressure to solve this perplexing case before the killer strikes again.
No stranger to crime scenes, Joe is stunned by the brutal attack on Elizabeth Crowe. The violence inflicted during her murder is a stark contrast to the gentle manner in which Harper was murdered and almost lovingly arranged postmortem. Joe and the police cannot help but wonder if Elizabeth’s proclivity for sex in public places (dogging) might have put her in the crosshairs of the killer but this does not explain why Harper was murdered. During the course of the investigation, a long list of suspects begins to emerge, but Joe remains troubled by the very different ways in which the two women were murdered. When another woman is murdered, there are striking similarities to the unsolved murders of Elizabeth and Harper which leaves Joe convinced the cases are linked but will he find the connection before another attack?
In the midst of consulting on this current case, Joe’s personal life takes a rather unexpected turn. Long estranged from his wife, Julianne, the two have remained on relatively friendly terms as they co-parent their daughters Charlie and Emma. With eldest daughter Charlie about to begin college, Joe is surprised when Julianne asks him to move back into the family home for the summer. He, of course, quickly agrees since he is still deeply in love with Julianne and remains hopeful they will eventually reconcile.
Written in alternating perspective from Joe’s and an unknown person’s point of view, Close Your Eyes is an intriguing and suspense-laden police procedural. With a vast pool of suspects, shocking revelations and unexpected plot twists, Michael Robotham brilliantly keeps readers guessing the perpetrator’s identity until the pulse-pounding and action-packed conclusion. The novel ends on an emotional note that will stun readers and leave them wondering about the future of the Joseph O’Loughlin series.
lommelun's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
myrdyr's review against another edition
4.0
4.2/5 stars. An excellent addition to the Joe O’Loughlin series. Highly recommended.
thain's review against another edition
4.0
Psychologist Joe O’Loughlin is drawn into a murder case when a former student calling himself the Mindhunter jeopardizes the investigation.
kath61's review against another edition
3.0
I tend to think a thriller has not succeeded if I can't remember who the character in the ultimate denouement is. This is what happened this time and I never felt that involved from the outset although I did warm to the Psychologist.
fictionfan's review against another edition
4.0
Another strong entry in the series...
Two women have been murdered – the mother brutally, the daughter left posed as if she were sleeping. Psychologist Joe O'Loughlin is called in to review the case when another psychologist who had been working on it, an old student of his, reveals details of the crime to the press. It's not clear from the differences between the two murders whether this is the work of a psychopathic killer or something more personal. But when another murder happens, linked to a series of vicious attacks, Joe begins to suspect that there's a connection...
Meantime, Joe's estranged wife, Julianne, has asked Joe to come and spend the summer with the family in their holiday cottage. Joe has never stopped hoping for a reconciliation so jumps at the chance, although he knows that Julianne won't be happy that he's got involved in another police investigation. It's only as time passes that he will discover the reason for Julianne's invitation.
The story is told from Joe's perspective in the dreaded first person present tense, but at least Robotham is skilled enough to handle it well. The focus remains primarily on the investigation throughout, with Joe's personal life forming a secondary strand.
Feeling responsible for his old student's behaviour, Joe is driven to find the killer before there are any more victims, so he calls in his old friend Vincent Ruiz, now retired from the police, to help him investigate. They do so in the 'old-fashioned' way, by interviewing suspects and getting to know the background of the victims. The plotting is excellent as always – I didn't guess the solution, but felt it made sense when revealed, though looking back I'm not sure there were enough clues for the reader to work it out.
However, as with so much modern crime fiction, the book is far too long for its content, meaning that it drags in places with the same ground being covered more than once, and it takes way too long for Joe and/or the police to work out the obvious connection between the victims. The old cliché of the protagonist's family becoming targets is trotted out again – one can quite understand why Julianne gets a bit fed up with Joe taking on cases since every time the murderer ends up trying to kill one or all of them! In line with current trends, there's the obligatory prologue from the mind of the killer, and in this case it's pretty sleazy and a bit gruesome – to be honest, if this had been my first Robotham novel, I may well have abandoned it before chapter 1, but experience led me to expect, rightly, that the salacious elements wouldn't be allowed to take over the whole book.
I also wasn't keen on the personal story arc in this one, which becomes fairly traumatic. Robotham handles it sensitively and well, but nonetheless I'm not an enthusiast for this kind of wallowing in misery, soap opera approach to the protagonist's life in contemporary crime.
Despite the clichéd elements, Robotham's excellent writing always makes his books very readable and this one is no exception. Joe is an interesting and likeable protagonist, his battle with Parkinson's disease always handled well, again never being allowed to dominate the story, and his working partnership with Ruiz is one of two equals with differing skills who respect each other. His relationships with his ex-wife and daughters always feel authentic too – he is at heart a family man, and although he and Julianne are separated, the family unit is still strong and both parents work together to give their daughters the support they need. The plot finally leads up to an exciting and scary thriller ending, but Joe never turns into an unbelievable superhero, so that it all feels perfectly credible.
So, for me, not quite the best, but still a strong entry in a series that is a long way above most contemporary crime. The plot works fine as a standalone, but to get the best out of the background story I'd recommend reading the books in order – unlike me! - starting with The Suspect.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Little, Brown Book Group UK.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Two women have been murdered – the mother brutally, the daughter left posed as if she were sleeping. Psychologist Joe O'Loughlin is called in to review the case when another psychologist who had been working on it, an old student of his, reveals details of the crime to the press. It's not clear from the differences between the two murders whether this is the work of a psychopathic killer or something more personal. But when another murder happens, linked to a series of vicious attacks, Joe begins to suspect that there's a connection...
Meantime, Joe's estranged wife, Julianne, has asked Joe to come and spend the summer with the family in their holiday cottage. Joe has never stopped hoping for a reconciliation so jumps at the chance, although he knows that Julianne won't be happy that he's got involved in another police investigation. It's only as time passes that he will discover the reason for Julianne's invitation.
The story is told from Joe's perspective in the dreaded first person present tense, but at least Robotham is skilled enough to handle it well. The focus remains primarily on the investigation throughout, with Joe's personal life forming a secondary strand.
Feeling responsible for his old student's behaviour, Joe is driven to find the killer before there are any more victims, so he calls in his old friend Vincent Ruiz, now retired from the police, to help him investigate. They do so in the 'old-fashioned' way, by interviewing suspects and getting to know the background of the victims. The plotting is excellent as always – I didn't guess the solution, but felt it made sense when revealed, though looking back I'm not sure there were enough clues for the reader to work it out.
However, as with so much modern crime fiction, the book is far too long for its content, meaning that it drags in places with the same ground being covered more than once, and it takes way too long for Joe and/or the police to work out the obvious connection between the victims. The old cliché of the protagonist's family becoming targets is trotted out again – one can quite understand why Julianne gets a bit fed up with Joe taking on cases since every time the murderer ends up trying to kill one or all of them! In line with current trends, there's the obligatory prologue from the mind of the killer, and in this case it's pretty sleazy and a bit gruesome – to be honest, if this had been my first Robotham novel, I may well have abandoned it before chapter 1, but experience led me to expect, rightly, that the salacious elements wouldn't be allowed to take over the whole book.
I also wasn't keen on the personal story arc in this one, which becomes fairly traumatic. Robotham handles it sensitively and well, but nonetheless I'm not an enthusiast for this kind of wallowing in misery, soap opera approach to the protagonist's life in contemporary crime.
Despite the clichéd elements, Robotham's excellent writing always makes his books very readable and this one is no exception. Joe is an interesting and likeable protagonist, his battle with Parkinson's disease always handled well, again never being allowed to dominate the story, and his working partnership with Ruiz is one of two equals with differing skills who respect each other. His relationships with his ex-wife and daughters always feel authentic too – he is at heart a family man, and although he and Julianne are separated, the family unit is still strong and both parents work together to give their daughters the support they need. The plot finally leads up to an exciting and scary thriller ending, but Joe never turns into an unbelievable superhero, so that it all feels perfectly credible.
So, for me, not quite the best, but still a strong entry in a series that is a long way above most contemporary crime. The plot works fine as a standalone, but to get the best out of the background story I'd recommend reading the books in order – unlike me! - starting with The Suspect.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Little, Brown Book Group UK.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
libookperson's review against another edition
5.0
I don't understand why Michael Robotham is not as big as Michael Connelly or Harlan Coben. His novels never disappoint and Close Your Eyes is no different. I was on the edge of my seat turning every page. Thanks to Edelweiss and Mullholland books for the review copy.