Shatter by Michael Robotham
Investigative journalist. Ghost writer. Novelist. That was the path Michael Robotham took to get where he is right now: taking his place among the ranks of the top thriller writers in the world. And of those three things, Robotham says writing novels is the most difficult."The tyranny of the blank screen is much more frightening than having hours of interview transcripts and research to work with."
Even so, his time as a ghost writer contributed to the strength of voice we hear in his four novels to date.
"The secret to ghostwriting is to capture the 'voice' of a subject so that not even their closest friends or family will recognise the unseen hand at work," says Robotham. "My approach to writing fiction is exactly the same. Joe O'Loughlin is as real to me as Geri Halliwell or anyone else I've worked with. He lives inside my head and whispers in my ear."
Readers first met psychologist Joe O'Loughlin in Suspect, the book The Observer called "An auspicious debut." Since, according to Robotham's Web site, Suspect was chosen by "the world's largest consortium of book clubs as only the fifth 'International Book of the Month,' making it the top recommendation to 28 million book club members in fifteen countries," it was an auspicious debut, indeed, launching Robotham on a course that has included accolade after accolade and earning Joe O'Loughlin a place in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of fans.
Despite all of that, though, no one was more surprised than the author when Joe O'Loughlin made it known he was returning for Shatter.
"After I wrote Suspect," says Robotham, "I had no intention of bringing Joe back again. I normally rotate my main characters, choosing a new narrator for each book, but Shatter was the perfect story for Joe to return. And anyone who reads it will realise why I'll bring him back again. His private life is a mess and he needs rescuing from himself."
Joe's life isn't the only thing that needs rescuing in Robotham's most recent book. "Shatter is a psychological thriller in the purest sense of the term," says Robotham. "It proves that our imaginations can be far more terrifying than reality. It concerns a man who rapes the mind rather than the body by convincing mothers that he has kidnapped their daughters. The man who must stop him, psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, is an expert in repairing damaged minds but now confronts a man whose sole aim is to pry the mind open and destroy it."
When Shatter was published in UK early in 2008, the opinion of reviewers was pretty consistent. The Daily Record boiled this down most succinctly, saying that, with Shatter, "Robotham proves he is becoming a master at making the earth move." Writing for The Times, Peter Millar echoed the sentiment, warning that Shatter would "have you turning the pages compulsively, desperate to get to the end, but not daring to miss a word."
Overall reviewers seemed to agree with the idea of pages turning and the earth moving with regards to Shatter. Not much later, judges would agree, as well, when the book won the 2008 Ned Kelly Award and was shortlisted for the CWA's Steel Dagger, the ITV3's Breakthrough Thriller and the South African Boeke Prize. US readers are already looking forward to their own taste when Shatter is released in mid-March, but a solid plot, engaging characters and all that earth moving will doubtless produce similar results on this side of the pond. It's just that kind of book.
Robotham, who lives in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia, says that the name Shatter came from "the idea that our minds are so complex and intricate, yet so fragile they can shatter into a million pieces."
You can visit Michael Robotham on the Web at http://www.michaelrobotham.com/usa/index.htm
Contributing editor Linda L. Richards is also the editor of January Magazine and a contributor to The Rap Sheet. Her fifth novel, DEATH WAS IN THE PICTURE, will be published St. Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne January 2009.
"After I wrote Suspect," says Robotham, "I had no intention of bringing Joe back again. I normally rotate my main characters, choosing a new narrator for each book, but Shatter was the perfect story for Joe to return. And anyone who reads it will realise why I'll bring him back again. His private life is a mess and he needs rescuing from himself."Joe's life isn't the only thing that needs rescuing in Robotham's most recent book. "Shatter is a psychological thriller in the purest sense of the term," says Robotham. "It proves that our imaginations can be far more terrifying than reality. It concerns a man who rapes the mind rather than the body by convincing mothers that he has kidnapped their daughters. The man who must stop him, psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, is an expert in repairing damaged minds but now confronts a man whose sole aim is to pry the mind open and destroy it."
When Shatter was published in UK early in 2008, the opinion of reviewers was pretty consistent. The Daily Record boiled this down most succinctly, saying that, with Shatter, "Robotham proves he is becoming a master at making the earth move." Writing for The Times, Peter Millar echoed the sentiment, warning that Shatter would "have you turning the pages compulsively, desperate to get to the end, but not daring to miss a word."
Overall reviewers seemed to agree with the idea of pages turning and the earth moving with regards to Shatter. Not much later, judges would agree, as well, when the book won the 2008 Ned Kelly Award and was shortlisted for the CWA's Steel Dagger, the ITV3's Breakthrough Thriller and the South African Boeke Prize. US readers are already looking forward to their own taste when Shatter is released in mid-March, but a solid plot, engaging characters and all that earth moving will doubtless produce similar results on this side of the pond. It's just that kind of book.
Robotham, who lives in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia, says that the name Shatter came from "the idea that our minds are so complex and intricate, yet so fragile they can shatter into a million pieces."
You can visit Michael Robotham on the Web at http://www.michaelrobotham.com/usa/index.htm
Contributing editor Linda L. Richards is also the editor of January Magazine and a contributor to The Rap Sheet. Her fifth novel, DEATH WAS IN THE PICTURE, will be published St. Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne January 2009.ThrillerFest
ITW's annual celebration of the thriller world is the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals.
For 2011, we’ll be back in the heart of New York in July with the ThrillerFest conference including CraftFest and AgentFest.
ThrillerFest VI will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
The dates will be July 6-9, 2011.
More information to follow.
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