Joe O'Loughlin appreciation post

If you've read my other posts on Michael Robotham, you'll know that he is one of my all-time favourite authors. I cannot recommend Robotham highly enough. He brings compelling, character-driven stories to the table and he always makes me stop and think about human behaviour. His writing is top notch and I am drawn into this books from the opening page.

Check out my review of the Cyrus Haven series and Robotham's standalone novels.

Joe O'Loughlin series | Books 1-9 | Published 2004-2018

I first came to Michael Robotham a few years ago via his Joe O'Loughlin series. I read one of the books and was hooked, subsequently working my way through the entire catalogue. There are nine novels in the series. The last one was published in 2018 and the series has been retired now. Robotham has said that he has no plans to write another Joe book, but he may consider a second-generation series based on Joe's daughter, Charlie, whom we left in the last novel studying psychology.

Robotham has penned a deeply character driven series in the Joe O'Loughlin books. The books do standalone just fine, but if my post ignites your interest in the series, I'd suggest you start at book 1, The suspect, and work systematically through all nine. Joe, a psychologist, his wife, Julianne, and their two daughters, Charlie and Emma, feature heavily in all the novels and there's a lots of development of these characters as the series rolls on.

The other main player in all the novels is Detective Inspector, Vincent Ruiz, who retires from the Met as the series progresses. I absolutely adore Ruiz and his relationship with Joe is one of the reasons why I love the books so much. Ruiz has a complicated history so he brings plenty of interest to the books, along with intelligence, unfailing loyalty and some typical dry British humour.

The books work in a similar way to Jonathan Kellerman's detective series, where Dr Alex Delaware, a psychologist, acts as a consultant to an LAPD homicide detective and longtime friend, Milo Sturgis. In Robotham's series, Joe gets involved in cases (situations?) either through his friendship with Ruiz (introduced in the first book after Joe is accused of murdering one his former patients) or Joe enlists Ruiz's help when a patient case requires police intervention. In book 4, Bleed for me, Joe is involved when one of Charlie's friend's fathers is murdered. Joe is brought into a murder case in book 8, Close your eyes, after a former student, calling himself the Mindhunter, trading on Joe's name, has jeopardised a police murder inquiry by leaking details to the media and stirring up public anger. The final book in the series features Joe's parents after his father, a celebrated surgeon, is attacked in his London home and left in a coma. This sets off a trail of destruction as Joe and Ruiz start digging into Joe's father's life,

I won't go into any further detail on each book; suffice to say I can't recommend the series highly enough, based on Robotham's consummate skill as a storyteller. His plotting is first rate and he creates a kaleidoscope of characters and pieces of a puzzle that come together as the stories progress. Robotham has created an authentic and stunningly-drawn character in Joe who faces numerous challenges in his life while trying to help others. Joe is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in book 1 and each novel charts the worsening of the disease. Robotham paints a genuine picture of Parkinson's that adds depth to all the books. I also love the banter between Joe and Ruiz and the series is definitely taken to another level through their friendship.

Robotham's books always make insightful statements about life and human behaviour. They are never preachy, saccharine or forced and I don't feel manipulated into thinking a certain way from these observations.

There is nothing more I can say other than to encourage you to read all of Robotham's books. I am in awe of his writing talent.

Series rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐