The Wreckage [Hardcover]

Robotham's consistency makes him a sure bet, The Wreckage crossing continents from Iraq to London (and Washington) as a London scam-and-theft inspires a hunt for stolen goods that threaten some powerful and dangerous people. Richard North, a London-based financier is missing, currently suspected of embezzling millions. Holly Knight scampers from one robbery to another until stumbling across Good Samaritan Vincent Ruiz, her actions not sitting too well with the ex-detective. Meanwhile in Baghdad, journalist Luca Terracini has picked up the scent of corruption on a massive scale, intent on following the trail of unaccounted for billions under the umbrella of war in Iraq, aided in assembling the puzzle by Diana Garner, a genius at tracking the intricacies of accounting and fortunes hidden in numbered accounts.

Between London and Baghdad, Robotham fashions a compelling tale of power and greed, the recent bank crisis igniting both catastrophe and opportunity. The action shifts between the two countries, seemingly unrelated as Ruiz and Terracini follow convoluted clues that grow more threatening the closer each gets to identifying critical players. The action is fast-paced as two separate investigations become one, an appalling attempt to murder, defraud and disappear without a trace. The characters are multi-faceted, from the world-weary Ruiz and the driven Luca to the chronically suspicious Holly, who inadvertently throws a wrench into an international scheme with her choice of Richard North as a victim. Robotham displays his broad cultural experience as well as intricate knowledge of sophisticated financial practices that affect massive amounts of money in various countries: "Globalization in microcosm; profit as God."

This is classic good guys vs. bad, but these scarred warriors are no slick James Bond types, rather flawed men trying to make a difference in a broken world. The female characters are fully-fleshed, holding their own in an environment dominated by powerful men. The result is both shocking and realistic, any margin of good tempered with the exigent circumstances of government and corporate self-interests: "Every side has men who kill for a cause. Some motives are easier to understand." With this edgy thriller, Robotham is staking his claim as a major player, but without the sophisticated cynicism that sometimes defines this genre. Luan Gaines/2011.

Michael Robotham writes thrillers/mysteries that grab the readers attention from the first sentence. The stories are complex, the conclusions satisfying. What sets Robotham apart are his characters. In the first book, SUSPECT, the author introduces Joseph O'Loughlin, a psychologist, happily married man, and devoted father. The protagonist of LOST is Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz who played a minor role in the first book. THE NIGHT FERRY focuses on a character in a previous book and offers the reader the very compelling and sympathetic Detective Alisha Barbi, Ruiz' partner in LOST. Joe O'Loughlin gets the lead again in SHATTER and Ruiz has another turn in the spotlight in THE WRECKAGE.

Robotham keeps favorite characters alive in the books while always creating a fresh way of inserting new characters into a story. THE WRECKAGE continues the trend of introducing new characters the reader sincerely hopes will appear again.

THE WRECKAGE opens in Baghdad. "The most important lesson Luca Terracini ever learned about being a foreign correspondent was to tell a story through the eyes of someone else. The second most important lesson was how to make spaghetti marinara with a can of tuna and a packet of Ramen....Luca had added a few of his own over the years - advice that came down to possessing three vital tools for survival: a natural cowardice; several US$100 dollar bills sewn into his trouser cuffs; and a well-developed sense of the absurd." Luca is a freelance reporter chasing the story that could make his career - the robberies of banks and the disappearance of billions of dollars in American aid. He gets help on his story when he meets Daniela Garner, a finance expert who is investigating the robberies for the UN.

The story moves to London where Richard North, an executive in a major financial institution, is robbed by a young woman he picks up in a bar. When she pawns some of the items she took from his home, Holly Knight and her target, North, find themselves dropped into a situation that is well over their heads. An assassin is looking for Holly, demanding she return one item in particular that she took from North but she has no memory of the object. When Holly and her partner-in-scam stage a performance witnessed by Ruiz, he takes it seriously and comes to Holly's rescue. The disappearance of Richard North and a clear sign that the assassin, the Courier, knows where to find Holly pushes Ruiz further into his role of white knight. That Holly doesn't want to be rescued doesn't deter Ruiz from his new role.

Elizabeth North, Richard's wife, has reported her husband missing. She hasn't seen him since she and their four-year-old son left to spend the weekend with her family. Elizabeth is eight months pregnant and Richard has been missing for five days. In her world, Richard is dependable. He has never been gone this long on business for the bank and he would certainly be in touch with her; the baby could come any day. She knows that the people at the bank are lying to her and that is a double betrayal.

In this book that is impossible to put down, Robotham ties three separate stories, in three separate cities, together into a whole that reflects the unsettled and unsettling world that spins out from the war in Iraq. The loss of billions of American dollars after the money has been delivered to banks in Baghdad is a real life template for one of the stories. The covert operators that are tracking Holly and who may be responsible for Richard's disappearance certainly exist in the "down-the-rabbit-hole" world of spies and counter-spies who believe sincerely that they are all that stands between peace and chaos. And there is Elizabeth, who cares about nothing more than the ties of family that seem to have been severed by people she doesn't know for reasons she can't discover.

Vincent Ruiz, now retired, is getting ready for the marriage of his daughter. Ruiz knows he failed his children when he walked away from them when their mother died. He betrayed their trust, turning his back on his role as father. Maybe he feels he can be a substitute father for Holly although she is not going to be anyone's child. Ruiz is an unwelcome complication in her plan which is already complicated by the fact that she has no idea what notebook it is that everyone is chasing.

Robotham is a genius at creating characters and this brilliantly clear with Elizabeth. She is a woman of privilege, born to money, living a life that reflects the comfort and security she expects. Suddenly, in the last month of her pregnancy, her world slips sideways. Her husband has disappeared and no one will acknowledge it. She has a young child who may have lost his father. She is about to give birth without the support of the man with whom she created Claudia, the name they decided to give the baby. Despite her family's wealth and connections, Elizabeth takes upon herself the job of finding out what happened to her husband; she is not going to depend on anyone else. As she becomes increasingly convinced that she will not see Richard again, she becomes increasingly strong. She will not be broken. Elizabeth is a character I would like to see in subsequent books.

THE WRECKAGE is one of those books that leaves such an impression that it isn't possible to move on immediately to another. With its setting so clearly established in today's headlines, THE WRECKAGE describes what has happened to the world since the American president wanted a war. Iraq has been destroyed by American bombs and American money that has fallen into the hands of the profiteers who make money off the blood of soldiers and civilians. When the world stopped demonstrating against the war, it became a profitable business. Robotham takes a thriller and imbeds it with issues that should be examined.

Foreign correspondent Luca Terracini knows the rules of survivability in a war zone; recently affirmed by the bombing of the chain hotels in Baghdad. He gets around the country without being imbedded due to his being an Iraqi-American and having a terrific local entourage starting with his driver Jamal. However, he has broken his prime rule of cowardice ever since his Nicola died in a suicide bombing.

Currently Luca is investigating the bank bombings with the eighteenth for the year being the Zewiya Branch of Al Rafadain Bank. His theory is these incidents are thefts on a massive scale rather than terrorism or insurgency. As Luca follows the money trail, he encounters UN representative Daniela Garner, who apparently is the expert on the bank robberies. Her appearance affirms his belief about the robberies.

At the same time in London, international banker Richard North disappears. Governments, mobsters, and financial institutions employ the best to locate him. The North incident ties back to an amazed Luca who is thrown out of Iraq by Iraqis who he believes were pressured by American authorities; apparently the west wants the missing money to remain secret.

Based on real bank robberies in Iraq, the IG report of nine billion dollars in Reconstruction money unaccounted for and a UN chief claiming drug money saved the finance industry during the recent meltdown; The Wreckage is an exhilarating financial thriller. The story line is fast-paced as the hero follows the money in which Baghdad, London and several other finance centers connect. Readers will relish this solid tale while wondering about the underlying plausibility as this cannot have happened yet facts are stranger than fiction.

Harriet Klausner

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