Lying Beside You - (Cyrus Haven) by Michael Robotham

About the Book

"Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in Robotham's latest page-turning, psychological thriller in this "gripping and eerie" (Karin Slaughter) series, reaffirming why Stephen King has proclaimed this author "an absolute master." If I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters because he heard voices in his head. As defining events go, nothing else comes close for Elias, or for me. As a boy, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre and slowly pieced his life back together. Now, after almost twenty years, his brother is applying to be released from a secure psychiatric hospital-and Cyrus is expected to forgive Elias and welcome him home. Elias is returning to a very different world. Cyrus is now a successful psychologist, working with the police, sharing his house with Evie Cormac, a damaged and gifted teenager who can tell when someone is lying. Evie has gone back to school and is working part-time at an inner-city bar, but she continues to struggle with authority and following rules. When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, Cyrus is called in to profile the killer and help piece together Maya Kirk's last hours. Police believe she was drugged and driven away from the same bar where Evie is working. Soon, a second victim is taken, and Evie is the only person who glimpsed the man behind the wheel. But there's a problem. Only two people believe her. One is Cyrus. The other is the killer"--

Book Synopsis

Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in this "expertly paced and psychologically acute" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) thriller from Michael Robotham that's "one of his best, suspenseful and hard to put down" (Stephen King).

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre. The killer? His brother Elias.

Now Elias is applying for release from a secure psychiatric hospital--and Cyrus is expected to forgive and welcome him home. In this "brilliant novel" (The Globe and Mail, Toronto), Elias is returning to a very different world. Cyrus is now a successful psychologist, working with the police, sharing his house with Evie Cormac, a damaged and gifted teenager who can tell when someone is lying.

When a man is murdered and his daughter Maya Kirk disappears, Cyrus is called in to profile the killer and help piece together Maya's last hours. Soon, a second victim is taken, and Evie is the only person who glimpsed the man behind the wheel. But there's a problem. Only two people believe her. One is Cyrus.

The other is the killer.

Review Quotes

"This brilliant novel is a whodunnit that morphs into a serial murder that evolves into a chase-to-save-the victim, and then adds a final twist. . . . a simply terrific mystery novel."--Globe and Mail

"The guy can't write a bad book. This is one of his best, suspenseful and hard to put down." --Stephen King

"A riveting page-turner." --Megan Goldin, author of The Night Swim

"[An] expertly paced and psychologically acute novel . . . [with] insightfully drawn characters and [a] superb sense of place that the author conjures up with laconic ease, razor-sharp wit, and, above all, compassion. . . . Gripping and insightful." --Kirkus (starred review)

"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, author of The Wicked Girls

"Not just a cleverly constructed crime novel . . . it's also an achingly beautiful story about trust, redemption and love that had me intermittently catching my breath." --Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

"Thoughtful . . . it isn't easy to maintain a balance between two such different plot strands, but Robotham does it brilliantly." --Sunday Times (UK), Best Crime Books of 2022

About the Author

Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia's best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; Lying Beside You; Storm Child; and The White Crow. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia.