Good Girl, Bad Girl: Book summary and reviews of Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham
-
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
-
Published Jul 2019
368 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information -
About this book
Book Summary
A fiendishly clever suspense novel about a dangerous young woman with a special ability to know when someone is lying—and the criminal psychologist who must outwit her to survive.
A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won't tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is twelve, maybe fifteen. She doesn't appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA can't be matched to an identity. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children's home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he's ever met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth.
Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who dies on a lonely footpath close to her home. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges—one that Evie Cormac, the girl with no past, knows something about. A man haunted by his own tragic history, Cyrus is caught between the two cases—one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice. What price will he pay for the truth? Fiendishly clever, swiftly paced, and emotionally explosive, Good Girl, Bad Girl is the perfect thrilling summer read from internationally bestselling author Michael Robotham.
- Reviews
- "Beyond the Book" articles
- Free books to read and review (US only)
- Find books by time period, setting & theme
- Read-alike suggestions by book and author
- Book club discussions
- and much more!
- Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
- More about membership!
Reviews
Media Reviews
"Robotham expertly raises the tension as the action hurtles toward the devastating climax. Readers will hope the complex Cyrus will return for an encore." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Stellar…Robotham is a master plotter at the top of his form, and readers will surely hope to see more of his complicated new characters." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
This information about Good Girl, Bad Girl was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Reader Reviews
Cloggie Downunder
brilliant crime fiction
Good Girl, Bad Girl is the first book in the Cyrus Haven series by award-winning Australian author, Michael Robotham. When Nottingham psychologist, Cyrus Haven first encounters Evie Cormac, it’s at the request of his acquaintance, Adam Guthrie, a social worker at Langford Hall, a secure children’s home. His mild interest is piqued by Guthrie’s claim that Evie is a “truth wizard”. But when her history is revealed, his professional attention is joined by empathy: Cyrus, too, is a survivor of an horrific adolescent trauma.
Evie Cormac is used to being lied to: it’s been happening all her life, and she can always tell. So Cyrus Haven’s honesty gains him a wary respect. She even admits to herself she might like to talk to him again. Not that she will reveal anything of what happened to her; she hasn’t yet and never will.
Chief Inspector Lenore Parvel isn’t really convinced about all that psychology mumbo-jumbo, but she’s known Cyrus since he was thirteen, and she trusts his judgement, so he is called in to view the scene as soon as Jodie Sheehan’s body is found. The fifteen-year-old’s future as an Olympic figure skater has been cut short, and Lenny is determined to find the person responsible for what looks like a rape and murder.
Lenny and Cyrus interview extended family and friends, trying to ascertain the sequence of events leading up to Jodie’s death. But as post mortem results and forensic evidence become available, it’s clear that not everyone is telling the truth. It seems that the Golden Girl is not quite as virtuous as her family proclaims, and there are many secrets and hidden agendas surrounding the case.
What a talented author Robotham is! His characters are fascinating and his plot weaves and ducks and turns: lots of red herrings keep the reader guessing right up to the exciting final pages. While most of the narrative is carried by Cyrus, events are also shown from enigmatic Evie’s perspective. There’s plenty of humour, some of it quite dark, and the banter between Evie and Cyrus is a delight. Luckily, this pair make an encore appearance in the sequel, When She Was Good. A brilliant read!
- Reviews
- "Beyond the Book" articles
- Free books to read and review (US only)
- Find books by time period, setting & theme
- Read-alike suggestions by book and author
- Book club discussions
- and much more!
- Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
- More about membership!
Author Information
Michael Robotham Author Biography
Gold Dagger winning and Edgar short-listed author Michael Robotham was born in Australia in November 1960 and grew up in small country towns that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.
For the next fourteen years he wrote for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Britain and America. As a senior feature writer for the UK's Mail on Sunday he was among the first people to view the letters and diaries of Czar Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra, unearthed in the Moscow State Archives in 1991. He also gained access to Stalin's Hitler files, which had been missing for nearly fifty years until a cleaner stumbled upon a cardboard box that had been misplaced and misfiled.
In 1993 he ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Michael Robotham's Website
- Reviews
- "Beyond the Book" articles
- Free books to read and review (US only)
- Find books by time period, setting & theme
- Read-alike suggestions by book and author
- Book club discussions
- and much more!
- Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
- More about membership!
More Recommendations
Readers Also Browsed . . .
- The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
- What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
- The Dance of the Dolls by Lucy Ashe
- The Favor by Nora Murphy
- The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
- Winter Work by Dan Fesperman
- The Ascent by Adam Plantinga
- Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
- Panther Gap by James A. McLaughlin
- Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter
- Reviews
- "Beyond the Book" articles
- Free books to read and review (US only)
- Find books by time period, setting & theme
- Read-alike suggestions by book and author
- Book club discussions
- and much more!
- Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
- More about membership!
Top Picks
-
Bitter Crop
by Paul AlexanderIn 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full... -
Under This Red Rock
by Mindy McGinnisSince she was a child, Neely has suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that demand ... -
Clear
by Carys DaviesJohn Ferguson is a principled man. But when, in 1843, those principles drive him to break from the ... -
Change
by Edouard LouisÉdouard Louis's 2014 debut novel, The End of Eddy—an instant literary success, published ...
Members Recommend
-
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins AndersonFrom the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
-
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel CleetonAs death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
Win This Book
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.