The Night Ferry - Michael Robotham

Michael Robotham’s 3rd thriller, The Night Ferry, will be released on May 3rd and I can only urge you to get out there and pick yourself up a copy. This book is a worthy follow up to the 2005 Ned Kelly Award winning Lost taking the reader into the grim world of people smuggling, surrogacy and baby-brokering.

As he did with Lost, Robotham has taken a minor character from an earlier book and developed them into the protagonist. Detective Constable Alisha Barba, a young, athletic police officer who was severely injured while working as DI Vincent Ruiz’s driver in Lost has recovered and makes a fascinating lead. Her Indian (dot, not feathers) heritage adds to her appeal thanks to a family that is vaguely reminiscent of the Kumars At No. 42. She’s a fiercely independent and resilient woman and this serves her well in this story.

The plot itself is an intriguing one dealing with a form of exploitation of women that is not only extremely unusual but also extremely disturbing. The action moves quickly from London across to Amsterdam’s red-light district and back again (and, yes, a ferry is involved that travels after dark). It’s tightly plotted, the characters are fresh and alive and the story is stingingly relevant.

While you're looking at Robotham, make sure you go back and read The Suspect and Lost, you won't regret it for a moment.