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Now pay attention at the back, as some of you may have read this book before in another life. I had a brief burst of excitement when I thought a new Michael Robotham novel had popped up, but THE DROWNING MAN has had a previous existence. It appeared last year in hardback and trade paperback under the title LOST. But presumably the success of the bizarre TV drama has persuaded the publishers to change the name to avoid confusion. There are no plane crashes in THE DROWNING MAN. What we do have, though, is DI Vincent Ruiz found clinging to a buoy in the River Thames. He's been shot and has also lost his memory. His colleagues aren't too enamoured of all of this, so it's up to Ruiz to retrace his steps to find out what happened. It doesn't take him too long to realise that things might just be linked back to a case he's never forgotten -- the disappearance of seven-year-old Mickey Carlyle. Someone is in prison for her murder, but her body has never been found, and Ruiz can't let the case lie. If you've read Robotham's debut novel THE SUSPECT, you'll recall that Ruiz was second lead there behind shrink Joe O'Laughlin. The roles are reversed this time, as Joe plays second fiddle and tries to help Ruiz find out why he's top of someone's hit list. And that's a shame, as I liked Joe, and he doesn't really get enough chance to shine here. In many ways Ruiz is your average maverick cop, albeit with an unusual past history -- he's a former rugby player of Romany extraction (and more is uncovered during the book). That keeps him interesting, but we also spend a touch too long in his head -- meaning that the distinctive voice Robotham produced in THE SUSPECT is rather muted in this outing. One thing bugged me all through the book, though. How the heck old is Ruiz? He's born in 1945, has been in the police 43 years, and must therefore be knocking on 60 (assuming the book is set present day, and there's nothing to suggest it isn't) -- and by that age most plods have retired. He must be the only cop as old as Dixon of Dock Green! And he shows a pretty nifty turn of speed for a bloke approaching retirement and who has just been wounded. Robotham is one of the few people who can get away with telling a story in the present tense. And even though THE DROWNING MAN moves a bit slower than I would have liked, there are some cracking scenes -- including one in the hospital where I was glad I was reading with the lights on, and those taking place under the streets of London. And there's a marvellous new character in the shape of Alisha 'Ali' Barba, a promising young policewoman relegated to the Diplomatic Protection Group. According to a preview of Robotham's next book, Ali is going to be the star -- I can't wait!
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, July 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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