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Shatter (Joseph O'Loughlin #3)

by Michael Robotham (Goodreads Author)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 2,038 ratings · 350 reviews

A naked woman in red high-heeled shoes is poised on the edge of Clifton Suspension Bridge with her back pressed to the safety fence, weeping into a mobile phone. Clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin is only feet away, trying desperately to talk her down. She whispers, 'You don't understand', and jumps.

Later, Joe has a visitor - the woman's teenage daughter, a runaway fr...more

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Published (first published January 1st 2009)

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Jan 31, 2013 Ellen Keim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Aug 31, 2012 Lizzie Hayes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘Shatter’ by Michael Robotham
Published by Sphere 7 February 2008

Christine Wheeler stands on the edge of the Clifton Suspension bridge, naked except for a pair of red high heeled shoes, talking into a mobile phone. In front of police and passers by Christine jumps to her death into the fast running river below.

Professor Joseph O'Loughlin a psychologist requested by the police to talk her down is one of the witnesses to her plunge into the river. But Christine's daughter is convinced that she was...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Cindy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, favorites

Dein Wille Geschehe war das erste Buch, welches ich von Michael Robotham entdeckte. Ich sah das Cover, und dachte schon "sieht spannend aus", ich las den Klappentext, und dachte nur "das musst du lesen". Ich hab es direkt an dem Tag mitgenommen und angefangen zu lesen.
Man wird erst einmal eingeführt und erfährt ein wenig über den Psychologen Joe O'Loughlin, schon während des Falls taucht dann auch der Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz auf, es wird erklärt wie sich die beiden kennen gelernt haben...more Dein Wille Geschehe war das erste Buch, welches ich von Michael Robotham entdeckte. Ich sah das Cover, und dachte schon "sieht spannend aus", ich las den Klappentext, und dachte nur "das musst du lesen". Ich hab es direkt an dem Tag mitgenommen und angefangen zu lesen.
Man wird erst einmal eingeführt und erfährt ein wenig über den Psychologen Joe O'Loughlin, schon während des Falls taucht dann auch der Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz auf, es wird erklärt wie sich die beiden kennen gelernt haben, aber wenn man die anderen Thriller von Michael Robotham gelesen hat (wie ich jetzt feststellen musste) weiss man das meiste über dieses ungleiche "Paar" schon.
Dann wird langsam neben dem Spannungsaufbau die Familie des Psychologen vorgestellt, die Töchter und auch die Frau, welche wohl sehr viel arbeitet. Es kriselt scheinbar in der Ehe, und beide können keinen Milimeter aufeinander zugehen.
Der erste Fall zu dem Joe O'Loughlin gerufen wird, ist eine Frau die gerade dabei ist von einer Brücke zu springen, noch ehe er sie retten kann springt sie, und so beginnen die Ermittlungen, von denen der Psychologe nicht lassen kann, weil es ihn selbst so sehr berührt hat und immer wieder daran denken muss.
Es gibt dann noch zwei weitere Fälle die auf ebenso mysteriöse Weise ums Leben kommen, und immer spielen Telefone und Gewalt durch Worte eine Rolle. Der Scharfsinn des Psychologen und seinem Freund Ruiz halten die Spannung durch das ganze Buch, man verschlingt es nahezu. Wer der "Mörder" ist ist lange nicht klar, aber irgendwann kann man es sich doch zusammen reimen. Es sind nur soviele Tips wie nötig drin, und so wenig wie möglich.
Am Ende ist seine Tochter und seine Frau in den Fängen des "Mörders" und er spielt sein Psychospielchen mit dem Doc weiter. Ob beide noch gerettet werden können und durch wen lasse ich einfach mal offen, sonst würde es ja keinen Spass machen den Psychothriller erster Klasse bis zum Ende zu lesen.
Bei mir war dieses Buch genau das, was ich mir unter einem sehr guten Buch vorstelle. Zuerst wird langsam die Spannung aufgebaut, und dann steigt sie steigt sie steigt sie bis auf den höchsten Punkt, und dann kommen so langsam Auflösungen, man versteht das wieso weshalb warum... und um so näher man dem Ende kommt, um so mehr kann man wieder normal atmen, ich habe über einige Seiten die Luft angehalten, ich hatte die Szenen vor meinen Augen, und ich habe sie selbst durchlebt.
Spannung pur, und absolut zu empfehlen, wird nicht langweilig, und kann ich nur jedem der auf Thriller steht weiter empfehlen.
Wenn sogar Stephen King dieses Buch "Das spannendste Buch", dass er in dem Jahr als er es las, bezeichnet, dann kann man auf dieses Urteil doch wohl vertrauen.(less)

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Aug 03, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-sort-of, serial-killers, social-issues, thriller

"First, he'll break your heart. Then he'll destroy your mind."

I read this book on the strength of those two sentences. This is one of the better thriller/serial killer novels out there, and I compare it to Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter series. A psychologist, Joe O'Loughlin, is called to help a distraught woman down from a bridge. However, rather than working with him, she jumps to her death. That she was talking to someone on a cell phone only adds to the mystery of why she killed herself--esp...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Manda Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm in that glorious period when the next book is a Platonic ideal, built up in my imagination, but I haven't actually started the work of writing it yet. I'm plotting, and finding character names, and staring at geography and, in this particular instance, watching boxed sets of 'Spiral', the fantastic French police thriller series that's like Lewis on steroids, laced with a strong Burgundy and a lot more sex. Yes, I am in love with Laure. And yes, my beloved knows this...
In amongst all of this...more I'm in that glorious period when the next book is a Platonic ideal, built up in my imagination, but I haven't actually started the work of writing it yet. I'm plotting, and finding character names, and staring at geography and, in this particular instance, watching boxed sets of 'Spiral', the fantastic French police thriller series that's like Lewis on steroids, laced with a strong Burgundy and a lot more sex. Yes, I am in love with Laure. And yes, my beloved knows this...
In amongst all of this, I'm reading around the subject and in this case, that's a pretty wide scope because the new book will not only be set in a new historical period (fifteenth century France) but will have a contemporary thriller thread - hence the Spiral-watching. Hence also the request to my agent for recommendations of good, solid, well written, sharp, cutting-edge thrillers. 'Who's going to be huge in 2-3 years' time?' I need to see where we're at.

In amongst some others, he recommended 'Shatter' by Michael Robotham - whom he also represents: that's the full disclosure coda at the start. But I'm not into writing reviews for people simply because we share an agent: that way lies disaster and an end to review-integrity. I'm writing this, because, yet again, I was up until after 2am finishing this and woke this morning glad that I did because otherwise I'd have lost half a working day having to finish it (when, instead, I could be watching series 2 of Spiral and calling it work).

This is the book blurb:
[quote]A naked woman in red high-heeled shoes is perched on the edge of Clifton Suspension Bridge with her back pressed to the safety fence, weeping into a mobile phone. Clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin is only feet away, desperately trying to talk her down. She whispers, 'you don't understand,' and jumps.

Later, Joe has a visitor - the woman's teenage daughter, a runaway from boarding school. She refuses to believe that her mother would have jumped off the bridge - not only would she not commit suicide, she is terrified of heights.

Joe wants to believe her, but what would drive a woman to such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?
[/quote]

If I had blurb this unexciting, I'd sack my editor and find a new one, but that apart, it does give the gist of the book: Someone is talking women to their deaths - their fates become more elaborate and nastier as the plot unfolds - and our hero is Professor Joe O'Loughlin, a forensic psychiatrist who has Parkinson's disease as his added interest. Dragged unwilling into the case, he has to find out who's doing this and why before his own family falls apart under the pressure.

I have to say that none of this sounds overly promising: every single police procedural these days seems to have a psycho-acadamic at loggerheads with the police and there are only so many variations on human wounded-ness you can manage: drink, drugs, depression, divorce... before they all seem to blend into one another.

But this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. As with all good books, it's the characterisation that does it: fully rounded people who keep stepping out of their stereotypes (the lesbian DI is wonderfully good), but added to that is Robotham's exceptional sense of place - in this case, the area around the Avon Gorge, Bristol and Bath. For someone who lives in Australia, he has a good handle on the south west. And he's intelligent: a former journalist who can clearly do exceptional research but then integrate it into the story so that it feels integral, not tacked on to prove how much time he spent on Google before he started writing. His language is sharp, fast and funny - genuinely funny. When so many other lad-cop writers seem to have a deeply irritating nasal chortle as their writing voice, Robotham's is dryly ironic, but sharply, beautifully, interestingly observant.

And then there's his bad guy. He's followed Val McDermid's lead in this and we have occasional short deviations from the first person present tense narrative of Joe O'Loughlin into the head of the perpetrator. They're in italics, which helps, because while they're not nearly as disturbing as McDermid's monster in 'The Mermaids Singing', they are none the less deeply affecting. In part this is because the inevitable threat to our hero is made a great deal more immediate when we can see the plot unfolding, but in main, it's because the bad guy's past history as a torturer - sorry, interrogator - sent to the unmentionable, forgettable, forgotten prisons of recent wars to drag information from unwilling victims is so utterly plausible, so inevitably damaging and so completely covered up by the authorities when their hens come home to roost, that it left my left-wing, progressive anti-war brain exploding. Which of course is exactly what it's supposed to do. I confess to having skipped some of them in the rush to the end, but I will go back and read them in depth later, promise...

So that's it: good, strong, plausible plot; original, interesting characters (O'Loughlin's family life is beautifully drawn); fantastic sense of place and writing that flows with effortless ease. Five stars and thoroughly recommended.

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May 02, 2012 Raven D. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was in New York when I bought this book at Barnes and Nobles. (I'm from Minnesota). I really had no book in mind and just wanted to find something to read. I actually chose this over a book I've been dying to read but didn't necessarily want to buy just yet. I was searching around for a good murder mystery which is my favorite genre, and found this book after reading the backs of dozens of other books. I have to say, what made me choose this was that on the front (different cover than the one...more I was in New York when I bought this book at Barnes and Nobles. (I'm from Minnesota). I really had no book in mind and just wanted to find something to read. I actually chose this over a book I've been dying to read but didn't necessarily want to buy just yet. I was searching around for a good murder mystery which is my favorite genre, and found this book after reading the backs of dozens of other books. I have to say, what made me choose this was that on the front (different cover than the one pictured) it said that Stephen King had said "The most suspenseful book I've read all year." I figured it had to be good.

I won't go through the background of the story since so many people have retold it. When I first picked it up and started reading it, I felt the hook grab me, I could already tell I was going to at least like it a little bit. But I had a different book I was in the middle of reading that I had to finish first (also a murder mystery "Shut Your Eyes Tight" Great book!). Anyways, I eventually finished that book and picked up "Shatter". Like I said before, I felt the hook grab me, but it wasn't very strong at first. I enjoyed reading the beginning and wanted to continue through the book, but it didn't have me constantly reaching for it. I'd just read a few chapters at a time.

It wasn't until I got to just about half way through the book that I got really hooked. I started picking it up more and more and sneaking in pages during class. Today I got home and was on page 351 at about 9:00pm or so, and read to the end on page 472, finishing around 11:30pm. I could not put it down. I was getting hyped up reading it. With each page turn and new discovery into the plot I just got excited. I'd actually make predictions out loud to myself. At one point I actually got almost emotional and thought I was going to have tears in my eyes. Like a different review I saw, towards the ending Robotham really tears at your heart.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, even if it was slightly creepy and makes me feel like someone's watching me. *shudder* so creepy.(less)

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May 01, 2012 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I chose this book based solely on its cover which isn't the one shown here but instead the one with the picture of the lady appearing to wanting to jump off a building. It jutst grabbed my eye at the book store. The cover said Steven king said it was the most suspenseful book he read all year. The back had a quote that said even readers like me that can guess everything before it happens won't know what is going to happen next. That sold me.

I read all 500 pages in a days time with a toddler and...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This psychological thriller pits clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin against a deranged man, Gideon Tyler, a major in British Intelligence. It is a test of knowledge, skills, fortitude and purpose. It begins when Joe is asked to attempt to prevent the suicide of a naked woman perched on a bridge. Unfortunately she jumps, the victim of Tyler’s cunning. Another death soon follows in a similarly bizarre way and the contest between the two men escalates.

What follows is an unpredictable plot, which...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Monique rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: disturbia-murder-and-nightmare-book

Finished this book in the hair salon after reading it for a while..there was just a lot going on in and it was hard to really get into, it wasn't addictive reading by any means but it was intriguing and you want to finish it because you get to know the characters and really want to find out what happens with the side plots..The book starts off with single mother Christine Wheeler, wedding planner and generally happy with no history of depression and an intense fear of heights standing naked on a...more Finished this book in the hair salon after reading it for a while..there was just a lot going on in and it was hard to really get into, it wasn't addictive reading by any means but it was intriguing and you want to finish it because you get to know the characters and really want to find out what happens with the side plots..The book starts off with single mother Christine Wheeler, wedding planner and generally happy with no history of depression and an intense fear of heights standing naked on a bridge with a cell phone ready to jump to her death. Psychiatrist and professor Joe McLaughlin is sought by the police for assistance and just as he reaches her and tries to talk her off the ledge, she jumps. Shocked and saddened Joe is totally unprepared to meet Christine's daughter Darcy and hear her compelling plea on how her mother would never commit suicide and decides to investigate and almost immediately there is another death, this time its Christine's business partner, also a single mother. Joe and the police start an investigation and come across a rare breed of psycho killer, a man who gets perverse pleasure in torturing people, torture like POW war torture, stress positions, sensory deprivation, just your worse nightmares come alive..all without physical contact..With words alone this sick killer can make you kill yourself literally and its all the police can do to find this man before he tortures and threatens anymore helpless ladies..Add to this plot there is Joe's personal life..I actually really enjoyed reading about his relationship with his family--his aloof and oh so mature preteen daughter Charlie, three year old precocious Emma and the sneaky suspicisions he begins to have about his wife's fidelity..It never really pops in the conclusion as the killer, his motives and all that are revealed but the story is so well fleshed out character wise with everyone else you dont really mind. The italicized sections that reflect the killer's thoughts and interactions were kinda random and confusing except when he detailed how he got to the women's minds...The book title refers to the sound your mind makes when it is broken, when your will to live and your resolve is lost, it shatters as he says and you are susceptible to anything..I did apppreciate the book for posing the question and making me think--what could someone say to me to make me shatter? Could I do all I had to to survive..I can only hope.(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: international-crime-fiction

Australian author Michael Robotham has concocted a chilling and unputdownable psychological thriller. The book title refers to the method in which the villian, Gideon Tyler 'shatters' the victim's minds. It also shattered my sleep patterns. Once started, I could not stop - all 460+ pages in one (very late) night.

Gideon Tyler is military trained in psychological warfare. He uses his voice as the tool of torture and manipulates his victims into killing themselves. He is sadistic, intelligent and f...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Sam Quixote rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Joe O'Loughlin is a Professor of Psychology who has Parkinson's Disease. He is called to the scene of a jumper on a bridge and asked to get her down. She jumps and Joe is drawn into the mystery of why she jumped and who was behind it.

The book's villain, Gideon Tyler, is an ex- military spook trained in psychological warfare who took part in Abu Ghraib/Guantanamo Bay style "interrogations", using stress positions and torture. His wife left him, taking his daughter, when she found it too difficul...more Joe O'Loughlin is a Professor of Psychology who has Parkinson's Disease. He is called to the scene of a jumper on a bridge and asked to get her down. She jumps and Joe is drawn into the mystery of why she jumped and who was behind it.

The book's villain, Gideon Tyler, is an ex- military spook trained in psychological warfare who took part in Abu Ghraib/Guantanamo Bay style "interrogations", using stress positions and torture. His wife left him, taking his daughter, when she found it too difficult to live with his extreme jealousy and paranoia. Using the techniques used in counter-terrorism he uses them on his wife's friends to find information on where his wife and daughter are.

The book is genuinely interesting in this respect as Gideon uses his voice to manipulate his victims into killing themselves to save their children who, it turns out, are never in any danger. Robotham's created a unique and modern villain, reflecting our fear-driven society. In pursuing the terrorists, those tasked in finding them become monsters themselves utilising inhuman techniques in finding information of terrorist plots. Gideon Tyler is another casualty in the ubiquitous and neverending "war on terror" and yet he was once the good guy.

While the main plot is fascinating, there are a few points in the story that annoyed me. The genre here is "thriller" and there are several times in the book where the action is slowed down considerably by the author's strange choices. The teenage girl of the first victim becomes a prominent figure for the first half of the book then disappears entirely - why spend so much time on her then? It slows the pace and is entirely irrelevant. Similarly, there are pages and pages devoted to the hero's suspicions of his obnoxious wife having an affair. She is but it keeps being dragged up again and again to no effect. You also get some ridiculously cliched dialogue- Joe: "I thought I was losing you", Julianne: "I may already be lost" - drivel! This is a thriller not a third rate romance novel! The other thing is that the protagonist is a father of 2, one of whom is a toddler. This means he sometimes brings her along for the chase (!) and other times has to find a nanny. It's not Jack Reacher is it?

Get rid of the teen girl character who added nothing, have the character divorced from his wife and have him see his kids on weekends. Had the author made these choices, you would have a much better book.

There is a decent thriller in the 466 pages though you'd have to cut about 100 pages to keep the action up and the tedious detritus of the hero's life out of the way. By the last 50 pages, I was easily putting the book down and forgetting about it until the next day - not exactly a good sign! You could do worse than Michael Robotham but don't go in here expecting Lee Child or Michael Connelly. (less)

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Oct 21, 2009 Todd rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 25, 2009 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shatter, by Michael Robotham, A-plus. Narrated by Sean Barrett, produced by Recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.

This is the fourth in the series involving Joe O’Laughlin, the psychologist. In this one we see Inspector ruiz, who is now retired but enters into the case Joe is pulled into. O’Laughlin is at the university and has just finished teaching a course. He is called out by the police to a bridge where a woman is waiting to jump. He is unsuccessful in talking her down off the bridge...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Bob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

880 large print. Joe O'Loughlin is back in another suspenseful case. We saw him last in Suspect. He and his family have moved out to the country and he has started a part time teaching job. it is after a class as he and his Dept. Head are walking to that the police appear and request the Head to come with them. They have a jumper on a nearby bridge. The Head declines and pushes Joe to go instead. Arriving at the bridge Joe finds a woman poised on the edge of the bridge talking on a cell phone. S...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Lourdes Fernandez Venard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Joe O’Loughlin, who we met in Robotham’s first book, is back, this time teaching college psychology as his Parkinson’s advances. He’s asked by police to help talk down a woman who is perched on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, naked except for her Jimmy Choo shoes and with the word “slut” written across her stomach in lipstick. Even stranger, she’s talking into a cell phone. O’Loughlin is unable to save her; she jumps to her death. A few days later, her business partner is found dead, also naked,...more Joe O’Loughlin, who we met in Robotham’s first book, is back, this time teaching college psychology as his Parkinson’s advances. He’s asked by police to help talk down a woman who is perched on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, naked except for her Jimmy Choo shoes and with the word “slut” written across her stomach in lipstick. Even stranger, she’s talking into a cell phone. O’Loughlin is unable to save her; she jumps to her death. A few days later, her business partner is found dead, also naked, hanging from a tree in a park.

Eventually, O’Loughlin is able to figure out why they’ve killed themselves, seemingly on the orders of a person on the other end of their cell phones. With police, and the help of friend Vincent Ruiz, a retired chief inspector, O’Loughlin is able to figure out the killer – and his motives. The book then becomes a cat-and-mouse game with one of the most chilling villains I’ve come across lately. This is a man who has come mentally unhinged, and there’s no reasoning with him. The book’s title refers to the killer’s MO: he “shatters” the psyche of his victims. In the words of the killer:

"There is a moment when all hope disappears, all pride is gone, all expectation, all faith, all desire. I own that moment. It belongs to me. That's when I hear the sound. the sound of a mind breaking."

"It's not a loud crack like when bones shatter or a spine fractures of a skull collapses. And it's not something soft and wet like a heart breaking. It's a sound that makes you wonder how much pain a person can endure; a sound that shatters memories and lets the past leak into the present; a sound so high that only the hounds of hell can hear it."

"Can you hear it? Someone is curled up in a tiny ball crying softly into an endless night."

After O’Loughlin is able to prevent a third killing, the villain strikes close to home. At this point, the tension is so high that, as a reader, I wasn’t able to come up for a breath until the end.

I knew Robotham was a good writer, but after his last book I was a bit disappointed. This book has put him back on my list of must-read crime writers. This book, I felt, was far and away his best. If you listen to audiobooks, then I further recommend “reading” it in that form. The narrator, Sean Barrett, is amazing. There’s one point where O’Loughlin and the villain are having a rapid-fire conversation. Barrett modulates the voices enough that you always know who is speaking.
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Feb 14, 2013 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.75, really.

To my book club peeps - this is the story that kept getting referred to in "Say You're Sorry".

It was an interesting book, twisted premise, exciting read, but the same problems that keep popping up in Robotham's books. I'm not sure that, other than Joe and *maybe* Charlie, he's perfectly sure who he wants his characters to be. I still can't get a good grasp on Ruiz, even though he's supposed to be a co-main character in the series. Personally I found DI Cray much more interesting and...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Michael Robotham is the author of "THE WRECKAGE", and in that riveting thriller Robotham focused on financial mismanagement and corporate corruption manifested by the war in Iraq. SHATTER also deals with a kind of collateral damage from that war. Gideon Tyler is a trained military interrogator who is supremely adept at breaking captives in The War On Terror through the forbidden application of torture. His wife and child have left him, and he kidnaps friends of his wife to try to find them. Tyle...more

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May 18, 2009 Hannah Messler rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is dumb as hell so far! WTF, Stephen King?? Frikken psychological-thriller-protagonists who have Cynical World Weary Outlooks expressed in dumbass witty-ass comments. HAR HAR HAR, sooo super-not-funny. But there is grossness in it! And it promises to let me swoop through it quick as shit! Which are the main two priorities right now. For me.

Oh, plus, James keeps calling it SHARTER, which, do you know what SHART means? I learned it from some movie I think I am supposed to be embarrassed...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Karen Brooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once again, Michael Robotham has defined what’s meant by the often loosely applied term “page-turner.” I literally could not put this book down – I was turning the pages and burning the midnight oil because I simply had to know what happened next.
Written in stark, but laden prose, that beautifully captures a range of human emotions, conditions and relationships, Shatter is another in the Joseph O’Loughlin series and is a triumph of the genre.
Commencing with Professor Joe being unwillingly taken...more Once again, Michael Robotham has defined what’s meant by the often loosely applied term “page-turner.” I literally could not put this book down – I was turning the pages and burning the midnight oil because I simply had to know what happened next.
Written in stark, but laden prose, that beautifully captures a range of human emotions, conditions and relationships, Shatter is another in the Joseph O’Loughlin series and is a triumph of the genre.
Commencing with Professor Joe being unwillingly taken from university by police to where a naked woman with the word “slut” scrawled across her torso, talking on a mobile phone, is about to jump off a bridge, our poignant, Parkinson suffering psychologist is unable to save her. Finding the situation plays upon him, when the woman’s daughter discovers where Joe lives and implores his help, insisting her mother didn’t take her own life, Joe believes her but, just because he’s convinced this is a murder case doesn’t mean any of those with the power to investigate it do as well.
Finding himself in the unenviable situation of being drawn into a case and the life of a young woman he wants to help and the personal conflict it creates, Joe is caught up in a terrifying and sadistic revenge that, as the body count and danger grows, threatens to tear apart not just the lives of those connected to the killer, but his own family’s as well.
Segueing between the killer’s point of view and that of Joe’s, this is a chilling narrative that also manages to portray the brutal realities of those who witness and deal with dysfunction and violence every day and the inevitable toll this takes on family. The dialogue is masterful, the scenes laden with suspense and, just when you think you cannot take it anymore, humour is thrown in as well, usually in the form of his friend, ex-cop, Ruiz. The way Robotham constructs his young characters is both realistic and heart-warming.
For those who love crime and well-written thrillers, with logical, exciting plots, terrifically crafted characters and dialogue with veracity, you cannot go past Robotham.
I am already two-thirds of the way through another of his books and am utterly in awe of this man’s talent.
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Sep 24, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Thriller fans, English mystery fans

Recommended to Michael by: author nominated for awards

Shelves: action-thriller, hardboiled, mystery, read-in-2009, reviewed, signed-edition

Joe O'Loughlin is a psychologist, suffering with Parkinson's disease. The police ask for his help with attempting to disuade a woman from committing suicide. She's on a bridge and threatening to jump. Shortly after he arrives and tries to talk her out of her attempt, she says, "You don't understand" and she jumps.

Joe is a good man, he cares for others and is troubled that he couldn't save the woman. A bit later a sixteen year old comes to his home, Darcy Wheeler, tells him that it was her mother...more

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Jun 27, 2009 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Psychological thriller lovers

Shatter is fast-paced, well plotted and well-written with only one small section where I thought the main character acted slightly out of character.
This is my first experience with Michael Robotham and it leaves me wanting to find more of his work and see what his next book is about.
In Shatter, two women commit suicide in unlikely ways and the police bring in psychologist, Joe O'Loughlin, to help them sort out the mystery.
While O'Loughlin makes a career of restoring shattered minds, he disco...more

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Apr 02, 2009 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Robotham is a reliable purveyor of good thrillers. His writing is clear, his sentences flow but are not overly simple, his plot is far-fetched as is often the case in thrillers but it is imaginable, it chugs to a conclusion that, in this case, the reader foresees. The background of the Bad Guy is, unfortunately, frighteningly likely, given recent events. Although there are a full spectrum of characters, they don't confuse the reader. Successful thriller/mystery writers make the sleuth or victim...more

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Jan 04, 2009 BoekenTrol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all crime lovers

Shelves: books-i-own

This book is one that grabbed me from the first lines I read. Too bad there were other things to (like eating, sleeping, working, holidays to celebrate) that kept me from reading.

I loved the book. There are several reasons for that. I do not want to give it all away, so my descriptions could be a bit cryptic to the ones who have not read the book yet.
The first is, that the situation described is a thing that is so realistic, something that could occur tomorrow. The second is, that I can imagine...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Nadine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third Joe O'Loughlin mystery I've read by Robotham. They are all finely layered, combining plot twists with character development, and making for an interesting read.

Professor O'Loughlin is once again embroiled in a mysterious death. His Parkinson's disease is also progressing, making his professional and personal lives more complicated. The author describes the effects of the Parkinson's on O'Loughlin's marriage, and the portrayal is accurate. When a spouse has such a serious diseas...more

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Apr 21, 2009 Laren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense

The protagonist from the author's first book returns for another suspenseful tale. He is a psychologist working at a college who happens to suffer from Parkinson's Disease (or as he calls it, Mr. Parkinson). One day he is called to a bridge to try to talk a woman out of jumping. But she isn't listening to him - she is on a cell phone the whole time, and then she jumps. Her daughter finds the doctor to tell him her mother would never have committed suicide that way because she was afraid of heigh...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

Shatter is a most interesting thriller that takes a look at how far a mother will go to protect her child. In the first two cases there isn't even verifiable proof that their children are in danger. Just the treat of harm to their children was enough for them to go to extremes. It is certainly worthy of discussion. Would you be willing to jump off a bridge if a man on the phone told you that he had kidnapped your child?

It wasn't until I was more than halfw...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Larry Hoffer added it · review of another edition

Fantastic book! In a recent column in Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King listed this book among his summer must-reads, and although I already was a big Robotham fan, I jumped on it fairly quickly. Stephen King was right.

Psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, suffering from Parkinson's disease, has just begun a teaching career and moved to the English suburbs when he is randomly asked to help the police talk a naked woman down from jumping off a bridge. She is wearing only high heels and is talking on a ce...more

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May 22, 2010 Randa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sea-point-library

This is the first book I read by Australian author Michael Robotham. Joseph O'Loughlin is a clinical psychologist who gets called to talk down a woman poised to jump from Clifton Suspension Bridge. He is unable to communicate with here as she seemed to focus on someone else speaking to her through a cell phone, and ends up jumping in front of his eyes. A few days later the victim's daughter shows up on Joe's doorstep, and voices her own doubts that her mother would never commit suicide.

This ente...more This is the first book I read by Australian author Michael Robotham. Joseph O'Loughlin is a clinical psychologist who gets called to talk down a woman poised to jump from Clifton Suspension Bridge. He is unable to communicate with here as she seemed to focus on someone else speaking to her through a cell phone, and ends up jumping in front of his eyes. A few days later the victim's daughter shows up on Joe's doorstep, and voices her own doubts that her mother would never commit suicide.

This enters Joe into a personal battle with the evil mind of a killer. The story is a fast-moving and terrifying thriller full of characters you can relate to. Joe himself is a broken and flawed; he suffers from Parkinson, and has no illusions about his powers of understanding the human mind. There are many interesting insights in the narrative that make it more than just a fiction thriller.
Joe experiences a range of emotions that anyone can recognize, and dissects them in a very self-effacing way. He says he got involved into psychology in the first place to better understand the woman he loves, his wife Julianne, but he admits that she still remains largely a mystery to him. Joe also reflects on the variability of the human mind, the different ways people deal with pressure and grief. He makes very truthful observation about family, love and children. It is heartbreaking to note throughout the book that it is much easier to break a human mind than to heal it. The fractures of the human mind are mostly on the inside.

The book is written from the first person perspective of both Joe the psychologist and the perpetrator, bringing in contrast their treatment of the human mind, and adds a chilling aspect to the novel.

A quote that touched close to my heart spoken by a minor character, relates to children - spoken by a minor character in the novel, a mother:
You never stop worrying. You worry through the pregnancy, the birth, the first year and every year that follows. You worry about them catching the bus, crossing the road, riding a bike, climbing a tree.. You read stories in newspapers about terrible things happening to children. It makes you frightened. It never goes away. And then you think how they grow up so quickly and suddenly you don't have a say any more. You want them to find the perfect boyfriend and the perfect husband. You want them to get their dream job. You want to save them from every disappointment, every broken heart, but you can't. You never stop being a parent. You never stop worrying. If you're lucky, you're going to be around to pick up the pieces.

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Jun 02, 2011 Artie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I almost gave this a single star, not because it was a bad book --it is written as well as the other Robotham's I've read, pulling me in and dragging me along-- but because it was too uncomfortable. I have a dear friend with a young daughter who wouldn't even consider picking up a book because it involved a child being kidnapped, and I could understand that as it was close to why I stopped writing thrillers. In fact, this book reminded me of the last thriller I wrote but refused to edit or submi...more

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Dec 28, 2009 D.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: crime fiction readers

Shelves: crime

I really enjoyed this crime thriller by Australian author Michael Robotham. Written very unpretentiously with some nicely worded insights within the prose.

The story is set in England and I usually enjoy the 'British' setting in plots. The author has made the story and characters so intimately relatable, some parts are very touching. On the other hand when the villain is having his say,the the narrative is, by contrast, horrific, but what one might expect from a depraved mind.

The novel was satis...more

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About Michael Robotham

Born in Australia in November 1960, Michael Robotham 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 worked for newspapers in Australia, Europe, Africa and America. As a senior feature writer for the UK’s Mail on Sunday he was among the first p...more Born in Australia in November 1960, Michael Robotham 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 worked for newspapers in Australia, Europe, Africa 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 quit journalism to become a ghostwriter, collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities to write their autobiographies. Twelve of these non-fiction titles have been bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.

His first novel 'THE SUSPECT', a psychological thriller, 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 has been translated into twenty-two, including some he's barely heard of.

His second novel 'THE DROWNING MAN' (first published as 'LOST') won the Ned Kelly Award for the Crime Novel of the Year in 2005, given by the Australian Crime Writers Association. It was also shortlisted for the 2006 Barry Award for the BEST BRITISH NOVEL published in the US in 2005.

Michael's subsequent novels 'THE NIGHT FERRY' and 'SHATTER' were both shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in the UK in 2007 and 2008. 'SHATTER' went on to win the 2008 Ned Kelly Award for Australia's best crime novel and was also shortlisted in the inaugural ITV3 Thriller Awards and for South Africa's Boeke Prize.

Michael has recently swapped his 'pit of despair' (basement office) on Sydney’s northern beaches for a 'cabana of cruelty' where he funds the extravagent lifestyles of a wife and three daughters. (less)

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Quotes from Shatter

“There is a moment when all hope disappears, all pride is gone, all expectation, all faith, all desire. I own that moment. It belongs to me. That's when I hear the sound, the sound of a mind breaking. It's not a loud crack like when bones shatter or a spine fractures or a skull collapses. And it's not something soft and wet like a heart breaking. It's a sound that makes you wonder how much pain a person can endure; a sound that shatters memories and lets the past leak into the present; a sound so high that only the hounds of hell can hear it. Can you hear it? Someone is curled up in a tiny ball crying softly into an endless night.” — 4 people liked it

“Sometimes I wake at night and worry that I might have disappeared in my sleep. That's what happens when nobody cares about you. Bit by bit you begin to disappear until people look right through your chest and head like you're made of glass. It's not about love; it's about being forgotten. We only exist if others think about us. It is like that tree that falls in the forest with nobody around to hear it. Who the fuck cares except the birds?” — 2 people liked it

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Shatter (Joseph O'Loughlin #3)

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