Book Review: The Wreckage by Michael Robotham (Joe O’Loughlin #5)
During the first parts of The Wreckage Robotham juggles several plotlines, all seemingly unrelated. In post war Iraq we get the story of Luca, a reporter, and Daniela, a UN financial auditor, investigating a series of bank robberies. In London we meet Holly, a thief, who is in serious trouble after robbing the wrong person. There’s also Elizabeth, the heavily pregnant wife of a missing banker. And in the middle of the action is my favourite sidekick police detective ever, Vincent Ruiz (okay, he’s an ex police detective now but that’s a technicality).
Of course, as these things go, the reader realises that Robotham will tie all the threads together but he does take a long time. A lot of reviewers, like me, found the beginning of the book slow. It was almost like reading three separate books for a while and things didn’t speed up until everything linked together.
I don’t pretend to understand politics in the Middle East and it all got quite complicated a few times. Of course Robotham has done his homework when it comes to researching Iraq and the depressingly dangerous way of life in the country. But perhaps the beginning of the book got a little bogged down with explaining it all.
Another issue I had is the book is more of an action/espionage thriller. There’s terrorists and extremists and spies. It’s a subgenre which is not really my thing.
Joe’s role in the book is almost a cameo. He does feature but only from about the three quarter mark onwards and only in a minor supporting role. This also could be why I disliked this book more than the others; I think Joe should have been used more. He seemed to brighten the book immediately with his entrance. Vincent too was much more appealing when teamed with Joe. They make the perfect Odd Couple-like duo and their comedy lightened the book’s otherwise heavy content.
Robotham’s writing is, as usual, sublime. His descriptive passages make the settings and action come to life on the page. Characterisation is never an issue though I did get the sense that Good Girl Bad Girl’s Evie was formed from Holly and, at times, had trouble separating them in my mind.
Unfortunately The Wreckage is my least favourite of the Joe O’Loughlin books to date. But, to be fair, Robotham’s worst is still far superior to the best of most other authors.
4 out of 5
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