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emleemay 's review for:
Good Girl, Bad Girl
by Michael Robotham
“He’ll be following the police investigation closely, frightened and appalled, but also fascinated, which means he could return to the scene as an onlooker, or bystander. Look for his face in the crowd. He’s somewhere close by. Watching.”
3 1/2 stars. [b:Good Girl, Bad Girl|42202019|Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven, #1)|Michael Robotham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561903187l/42202019._SY75_.jpg|65814506] is an entertaining mystery with complex characters and a number of thrills to keep the pacing up. I saw pretty much everything coming*
Spoiler
though that one twist about Terry was well doneThat aside, I especially enjoyed this book because it doesn't hang everything on the twists. It spends more time with the characters, especially Evie, making you care about them and their personal struggles. I would have liked to see slightly more character development for Cyrus and Lenny - the leading psychologist and detective solving the case. This would have taken it to the next level in a [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1535655031p2/138825.jpg] kinda way.
There are really two stories here. One is the story of Jodie Sheehan, a 15-year-old figure skater found dead and possibly raped. Though Lenny and Cyrus quickly home in on a likely suspect, it seems like something bigger could be at play. Alongside this is the story of Evie, and it is the mystery surrounding her - plus her contributions to the Jodie investigation - that really drives the story.
Evie is a mystery. She has no known birth certificate. No one knows her real name. She was found as a child, starved and sexually abused, several steps away from the body of a man who had been brutally tortured. Now a teenager, she seeks emancipation, but it's complicated without any record of her birth date or age. Oh, and she also has the uncanny ability to tell whether someone is lying.
Cyrus attempts to get Evie to open up about what happened to her but she meets him with questions of her own; questions that force him to examine himself and his own life. The relationship that develops between them is what makes the book so interesting. It's an unusual friendship, more than doctor and patient, not quite father and daughter.
I do have a genuine question, though, about the decision to allow Cyrus to foster Evie: is it considered ethical to allow a psychologist to foster one of their patients? Would a judge really grant this? I genuinely don't know the answer, but I am curious.
The way this book is left strongly hints at a sequel. I must admit I would think more highly of this book if it is the start of a series, just because there are some aspects that felt unfinished. Plus I really do want to see more of Lenny and Cyrus.
*Major Spoiler: