The Wreckage

Michael Robotham,
Sphere - NZ$39.99

I am reading this totally gripping, somewhat terrifying, totally unputdownable novel (set in London & Baghdad) at the moment while away on holiday so I was especially interested to come across the following story in Brisbane's Courier Mail.

Walking on a tightrope

• Felicity McLean
• From:The Courier-Mail

MICHAEL Robotham once said: ``I love the freedom of writing fiction but sometimes it feels like I'm standing naked on a high wire above Niagara Falls with everything hanging out in the breeze''.
For starters, Robotham constantly finds new ways to push himself to the edge with his writing. Given he has seven novels under his belt, not to mention more than a dozen books he's ghostwritten, that's no mean feat.

``What little hair I had beforehand, I lost in the writing of The Wreckage,'' Robotham says. ``But that comes down to my desire to never write the same book twice and to constantly challenge myself to write something a little bit different. To discover my own boundaries in terms of what I'm capable of doing as a writer.''

Then there's his habit of not plotting his novels before he starts out.

``The Wreckage was a really difficult book to write because of its multiple storylines and global setting (the novel spans four countries, at least three major plot lines and multiple investigations),'' Robotham explains.

``It was a very complicated piece of plotting. And because I don't plot in advance it just all had to unfold . . . it was a bit like playing three dimensional chess. It's a scary way of writing but it's incredibly organic and very exciting. It means that if I don't see the twists coming then the reader shouldn't see them coming either.''

Despite winning every crime award from Australia's Ned Kelly to the UK's Steel Dagger, Robotham continues to boldly explore the genre; prodding it and stretching it from atop his high wire.

``To begin with, I regarded myself as almost the accidental crime writer because I sort of stumbled into it. I didn't realise I was writing a crime novel when I wrote my first 117 pages,'' Robotham explains.

``I do regard myself as a crime writer now, although, what I love most about the writing process isn't the crime. It's the characters.

``Ultimately, if you ask even the most diehard crime fan to name their favourite novel and then ask them to tell you the plot, they won't be able to tell you. It's the characters they remember.''

Given his head for heights, it's surprising Robotham says his desire to write is motivated by fear.
``I'm firmly convinced that I'm a writer that's driven by the fear of failure rather than desire for success. And that every time I deliver a book but particularly when I delivered this one (The Wreckage) I was convinced this was the book that was going to prove I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and expose me as being a total fraud.'' Rather than expose him, The Wreckage only confirms Robotham's reputation as a skilled high-wire artist. It's based on an article Robotham read in the UK's Observer newspaper in 2009, in which the UN Office on Drugs and Crime revealed western banks accepted $352 billion in cash from drug cartels and organised crime gangs during the global financial crisis, to stay afloat.

Fans of Robotham will be pleased to hear The Wreckage brings favourites Vincent Ruiz and Joe O'Loughlin back. But Robotham also introduces a new character into his stable of regulars: Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Luca Terracini.

Full piece at Courier Mail.

About the Author

Michael Robotham was an investigative journalist in Britain, Australia and the US before becoming a full-time writer. He has ghostwritten twelve best-selling non-fiction titles, involving prominent figures in the military, the arts, sport and science. This meant collaborations with the likes of Rolf Harris, Lulu, Geri Halliwell, Tony Bullimore and Ricky Tomlinson.

He has won the Ned Kelly award twice and been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and many other awards.