In this fast-paced follow-up to his successful debut novel, Suspect , Australian writer Robotham takes his readers on a hair-raising journey through London's underworld (literally, since the London sewer system figures prominently in the story) to track the further adventures of Det. Vincent Ruiz and psychologist Joe O'Loughlin. Lost begins with a bang when police find Ruiz in the Thames clinging to a buoy. He has suffered a traumatic memory loss and, with O'Loughlin's help, tries to reconstruct an investigation he apparently had been conducting independently for the past three years involving the kidnapping and putative murder of a seven-year-old girl. A neighbor had been convicted and imprisoned for the crime, but then a new ransom demand surfaces, bringing with it the hope that the child might still be alive. The girl's divorced parents, a Russian-émigré mob boss and the daughter of a British nobleman, each bring their own complications to the situation. Just when you think you have the story figured out, Robotham takes a turn, leaving you unsure of how things will be resolved until the very last page. A former journalist, Robotham has found his true calling. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/05.]--Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR

Det. Insp. Vincent Ruiz (a supporting character in Robotham's debut, Suspect ) is hauled out of the Thames with a bullet wound in his leg and no memory of a shooting, let alone how he wound up in the water in Robotham's fine, moody second thriller. Keebal, a nasty cop from internal affairs, hounds Ruiz from the start, and everyone seems to know something Ruiz doesn't. When psychologist Joe O'Loughlin (the protagonist of Suspect ) shows Ruiz a picture of young Mickey Carlyle--a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years earlier whom everyone but Ruiz thinks is dead--he figures there must be some connection between her case and his shooting. Despite his injuries, Ruiz retraces this investigation with the help of his partner, a young Sikh woman named Ali. The past returns in dribs and drabs and none too gently. Mickey is the daughter of a Russian-born crime lord, Aleksei Kuznet; a cache of diamonds and a man known as a "grooming paedophile" also figure prominently in the splintered plot. The warm relationship between Ruiz and Joe, who suffers from Parkinson's, counterpoints the main story line's grit. Robotham works some good wrinkles into Ruiz's relationship with Ali and an empathetic nurse, too. The result is a thoughtful and subtle thriller, with convincing, three-dimensional characters. (Feb.)

Adult/High School -Robotham's second mystery features some of the cast from Suspect (Doubleday, 2005), including Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz and clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin. The fast-paced action opens with a half-dead Ruiz being fished out of the Thames. When he awakens from his coma, he has no memory of why he was in the river, almost dead from a bullet wound to his leg, nor can he remember anything from the week leading up to his injury. With the help of O'Loughlin, Ruiz begins piecing together details that show he was following up on the disappearance of eight-year-old Mickey Carlyle. The only problem? Mickey disappeared three years earlier, and a sexual predator has been convicted of her murder. As Ruiz retraces his steps, he relives several incidents from his past that are linked to his need to investigate a closed case. This is a fast-paced thriller with plenty of adventure; Ruiz's hunt for answers takes him deep into the sewers below London and into the cold waters of the Thames. The characters are complex; Ruiz, the son of a Gypsy woman raped by German soldiers in World War II, is haunted by the childhood drowning of his half-brother, even though he's estranged from his own children. Robotham understands that some quests are worth any sacrifice no matter how long the odds of success might be. This is a subtle and taut thriller with convincing characters and strong psychological components.-Erin Dennington, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA