Book Review: Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham (Joe O’Loughlin #4)
After enjoying Shatter so much, I picked up the next Joe O’Loughlin series book, Bleed For Me, immediately. I’m happy to report that Robotham has continued with the fenetic pace he set in Shatter and Bleed For Me is another winner.
Although, on reflection, I will admit that pace nearly shattered me in Shatter, so perhaps I might have appreciated a breather. Another one who wanted a breather is Julieanne, Joe’s wife. The sore point in their marriage is that Joe becomes too involved in his cases, and boy, is he guilty as charged in Bleed For Me.
Yes, without actively pursuing it, psychologist Joe gets extremely personally tangled up with a case once again. It starts with his teenage daughter’s best friend, Sienna, arriving at their cottage, covered in blood. Soon the police find her father’s body and Joe is forced to investigate to ensure Sienna does not go to gaol or get committed to a psychiatric hospital for the crime.
Other than Sienna’s dad’s homicide, there is a lot of action with bombings, white supremists, paedaphilia, prostituion rings, jury tampering, self harm, stabbings, blackmail, poisioning… Yes, there are a lot of threads to the mystery plot but Robotham ties them all together and shows how they’re all linked in the end to give the reader a true resolution and satisfying conclusion.
I didn’t think the antagonist could get worse than the one Robotham gave us in Shatter but Bleed For Me’s main one is up there when it comes to disturbing characters. (I know these things go on in the world, but I would prefer to live in my little bubble sometimes.)
Although there is supposed to be two years passed, the book really seemed to follow on closely to Shatter. My favourite copper sidekick ever, Vincent Ruiz, is front and centre again (I laugh so hard at his lines). Other police characters introduced in Shatter also feature again including Veronica Cray. And, as I mentioned, Joe and Julieanne’s marital problems are still a major plot point.
Again Robotham sets Joe up for a fall and again, Joe obliges — spectacularly. I still adore Joe and I continue to cheer him on even when he’s not making the right choices. The poor guy does get tortured relentlessly by Robotham (There’s one part where I admit to blubbering like a baby and calling Robotham all sorts of names for the distress he puts Joe, and the reader, through.)
Easily a 5 out of 5 star read and highly recommended (but, as I’ve mentioned, definitely do not start the series with this book; it’s one I truly don’t see as standalone).
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