Disordered Daggers : Life or Death by Michael Robotham (2014)
(Gold, shortlisted). A prison break tale with a twist - why would a convict break out with just one day left of his ten year sentence to serve? “Life or Death” is written in efficient, frictionless prose which I gulped down in a couple of days. A cover endorsement by Lee Child (“I love this guy’s books”) highlights the sort of novel we have here - a resourceful, philosophical man on the run up against some corrupt forces of law and order, journeying across a scuzzy Southern landscape of strip malls, cheap motels, rundown towns with polluted rivers, gated communities, strip bars. So, yes, indeed, reminiscent of Lee Child, and also Stephen King, Don Winslow, and other genre giants. Michael Robotham’s own authorial voice comes out in the skilful weaving of flashback with the urgency of Audie’s day to day situation. Has a feelgood ending, which I don’t think I’m going to come across much in my Dagger reading this summer.