Lying Beside You: The gripping new thriller from the No.1 bestseller (Cyrus Haven)

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Caveat on this review. This is the first book I have read by this author and had no idea before or while I was reading it that it was part of a series. The fact that I enjoyed this in its own right and didn't feel as if I was missing out on anything or that there were excessive info dumps on what had happened in previous novels is a testament to the writing. (If anything I quite liked the fact that certain elements were left vague and the reader was left to fill in the gaps for certain characters' motivations/ behaviours/ experiences and felt it stood out from the occasional 'over-detail' of some novels. So, not knowing what books one and two might have covered I am taking this on its' own merits. In the meantime Cyrus gets called out to the crime scene of a murdered man & his missing daughter..

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The guy can't write a bad book. This is one of his best, suspenseful and hard to put down.” — Stephen KingEach character was developed and I really felt like I knew all of them which made the book even more exciting as I kept wanting to know what will happen to them even more. So a 5 star book to savour and if you haven’t read the first two please do yourselves a favour and don’t miss those either they are all amazing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.” While Cyrus' role and what he actually does for the police are somewhat played down in this story - in part because it centres around his brother being released from a mental institution and is therefore perhaps a little more personal than the previous stories), he does have access to anything and everything in the policing world and finds himself involved with murder and missing person cases which may be connected. It… it… talked about someone else. ‘Can he stay awake all night?’ ‘Can he skip school?’ ‘Can he steal money from Dad’s wallet?’?” Upstairs, in the bedroom, Esme and April were doing their homework or playing games. Esme, older by twenty minutes, and therefore bossier, was usually the first to do everything, but it was April, dressed in a unicorn onesie, who ran towards the knife, trying to protect her sister. Esme had to be dragged from beneath her bed and died with a rug bunched beneath her body and a ukulele in her hand. This was a mind-blowing, heart throbbed, intense story. The plot was tight with fascinating characters. This to me was a fast paced novel.

Customer reviews

The book begins with Elias being released to stay with Cyrus and Evie to start moving towards his eventual freedom. At the same time, Cyrus is called to work to help investigate a missing neonatal nurse who has not come home after a date; her elderly father has been found murdered in his home. The case is investigated and develops; Cyrus finds himself arguing against the police chief, who is very sure he knows what has happened whilst Cyrus is convinced that there is another motive. The missing woman is found dead, and her case shadows another from previous years. Then a second woman goes missing who is also a neo-natal nurse, and Cyrus and Evie start to spot connections that the police seem to have missed. There are several stories running through this book, foremost two women are missing and a man is dead. The only witness to the 2nd missing woman, who was abducted, is Evie, the troubled girl with the gift of being able to tell if you are lying. Both of the missing women have secrets that Cyrus must unravel so he can find them. Nothing Elias has said is new. It has been documented, discussed, and analyzed. He is a case study now, taught to university students who are studying psychiatry and psychology and sociology. Elias Haven murdered his parents and his twin sisters two days after his nineteenth birthday. Voices told him to do it. Only two people survived the carnage - Elias, who was sent to Rampton, and his thirteen-year-old brother, Cyrus, who hid in a shed until the police found him. Twenty years later, Cyrus is a forensic psychologist and he's been told that his brother is being released. Can Cyrus forgive the sinner whilst having to live on a daily basis with the results of the crime? Can he bear to have Elias living in the same house? How will his lodger, twenty-one-year-old Evie Cormac, cope?

This level of detail inevitably slows down the plot, and while I love the character writing, I wish for a just a little more pace in the story. I loved Lying Beside You . Michael Robotham is such a wonderfully perceptive writer; rich, real characters who are constantly surprising . . . I could read about these two forever' ALEX MARWOOD Lying Beside You is the 3rd in the Cyrus Haven series by Aussie author Michael Robotham and it was excellent! This author never disappoints and I'm hoping this series continues for a long time to come. Plenty of twists, gritty tension and breathtaking moments, Lying Beside You is one I highly recommend.Evie is Cyrus's ward/lodger, she is 21 and still goes to school with a part time job in a bar. She is very damaged and was brought up in a children's home ( as I didn't realise this was a sequel book, I suppose you might read her story in a previous book). She has the ability to know when people are lying. I don't know how Micheal Robotham has escaped my book radar until now! This was my first book of his and I LOVED it: the plot and storyline are pure genius, the characters are great and real and the writing style is sublime! I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I can't wait for Number 4 and to find out what's next for this incredible pair. So... a man is murdered and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Enter Cyrus Haven to assist the police. He's a forensic psychologist and has assisted them before, with good results. Getting him in at the start gives him the best chance of finding Maya. Meanwhile