sances

The central character is Detective Constable Alisha Barba, a young Indian woman of Sikh heritage who grew up in London's East End. She was introduced to us previously in Michael Robotham's novel Lost, where she suffered significant spinal injuries. In this novel she is mostly healed, almost married, nearly transferred and virtually sacked from the police force as she undertakes her own rogue investigations. Alisha is drawn into the plot when her estranged friend of 8 years Cate Beaumont and Cate's husband Felix are intentionally run down and murdered outside a school reunion. The plot thickens when seemingly pregnant Cate, is found to be wearing padding and in fact faking the pregnancy. Having wronged Cate 8 years ago, Alisha commits to a journey of retribution, seeking to find the answers to why her friend was murdered and why she was faking the pregnancy. The journey reunites Alisha with her now retired former Police boss Vincent Ruiz and takes her to the seedier side of Amsterdam, as she slowly unravels an international people-smuggling and illegal baby surrogacy racket. I really enjoy Robotham's books and this was no exception. Despite some less-than-flattering reviews I found Alisha an interesting and believable, albeit sometimes flighty protagonist. And sure, maybe the book was a little padded. I am not sure that I needed to know the intricacies of Dutch prostition, Amsterdam's street geography, or about Alisha's brother's love life and perhaps a red pen might have purged 50 or so pages. This aside, I found the book intriguing and absorbing. Infused with the moralistic issue of helping childless couples to become parents versus the risk, inhumanity, persecution, prostitution and even slavery associated with people smuggling. In this sense the book appealed to me. The novel made me think, it had depth, suspense, twists, turns and resonated in my mind by posing questions well after I had turned the last page. Congratulations to Mr Robotham on another quality novel.

2023-06-04 18:13