When She Was Good by Michael Robotham

My daughter is currently (2020) training to be a psychologist in Nottinghamshire, so when I heard that this book features both, I couldn't not read it. It's great to read about places that I know, such as the Lace Market, Wollaton Park and the university, and I can see the story play out. Also Rampton Hospital, how does Robotham know it so well when he's from Australia? 

Anyway, this book is a follow on from Good Girl, Bad Girl, which I should have read first but I wasn't aware of it at the time and sometimes felt as if I was missing something. However, this is a fairly good stand-alone novel and sliding into the story is easy. It is told from two perspectives, the psychologist (who has his own issues to come to terms with) and a strange and disturbed teenage girl who is very good at spotting liars.

​These are two great characters and the world is vividly expressed from their perspectives. Unlike many different point of view books, I was always aware of whose story is being told. Robotham's ability to write in different voices is excellent.

This is an uncomfortable story of abuse and mental illness, cat-and-mouse chases, action, murder and high-level corruption. What makes this book different is the unusual aspect of including scenes within British institutions. At the heart of this masterfully told tale is the theme of truth: the psychologists belief that it's the best policy and will set the victims free, and the opposite view that, basically, it is dangerous and over-rated. One quote, that I will pin on my notice board, sums it up - "It's not honesty we want but consideration and respect."

A good book, expertly executed. Recommended. 

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Published by Little, Brown Book Group UK, Sphere on 28 July 2020.
​Advance review copy supplied by the publisher.

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Before becoming a novelist, Michael Robotham was an investigative journalist working across America, Australia and Britain. As a journalist and writer he has investigated notorious cases such as the serial killer couple Fred and Rosemary West. He has worked with clinical and forensic psychologists as they helped police investigate complex, psychologically driven crimes.

Michael's 2004 debut thriller, The Suspect, sold more than 1 million copies around the world. It is the first of eight novels featuring clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, who faces his own increasing battle with a potentially debilitating disease. Michael has also written four standalone thrillers. In 2015 he won the UK's prestigious Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award with his standalone thriller Life or Death.
He lives in Sydney.

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