Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Monday morning, at a quarter to ten, and I’m sitting in the reception area of Rampton Secure Hospital, an hour’s drive north of Nottingham. In fifteen minutes, a panel of three people—a judge, a consultant psychiatrist, and a layperson—will hear an application from my brother to be released. It has been twenty years since my parents and sisters died. I am now thirty-three. Elias is thirty-nine. The boy is a man. The brother wants to come home. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and look forward to reading the next instalment in the Cyrus Haven series.
A man has been murdered and his daughter is now missing...Cyrus needs to determine if she's a suspect or a victim. He also needs to deal with the reality of his brother being released from a mental facility after 20yrs, for murdering their parents and sisters. The guy can't write a bad book. This is one of his best, suspenseful and hard to put down.” — Stephen KingBoth missing women have dark secrets, and Cyrus will have to unravel their pasts if he's to understand the case. Both he and Evie know what it's like to have secrets to hide: as a child, Cyrus was Befriended. Bullied. Cosseted. Counselled. He was a hard child to love. Perhaps that's what he recognised in Evie. Detective Superintendent Lenny Parvel recognises the value he brings to her cases but the officer in charge of this case, DCI Gary Hoyle, isn't worried about voicing his reservations. He's also convinced that he's identified the killer: it's the man who sexually assaulted one of the abducted women six years ago and who has just been released from prison. There are several stories running through this book, foremost two women are missing and a man is dead. The only witness to the 2nd missing woman, who was abducted, is Evie, the troubled girl with the gift of being able to tell if you are lying. Both of the missing women have secrets that Cyrus must unravel so he can find them. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I can't wait for Number 4 and to find out what's next for this incredible pair.
As things start to heat up in the investigation, each of them will have a part to play in finding the missing women. Lying Beside You is the third outing for Cyrus Haven, a forensic psychologist whose brother Elias killed the rest of their family due to his schizophrenia. and has been in hospital for the intervening decades. Cyrus shares a house with Evie Cormac, a 21 year old refugee who has seen some terrible things and is hoping for a quiet life. She is a really interesting character with plenty of her own flaws, and the relationship between Cyrus and her is an unusual one built on tenderness and sensitivity. In this book, we are going to get a small insight of Cyrus life when he almost experienced a near death incident--his older brother Elvis murdered their parents and their twin sisters brutally years ago and was sent to a mental asylum. Now years later, Elvis was found sane to be released into the environment and was taken under Cyrus's care. Meanwhile, an elderly man was brutally killed and his daughter Maya Kirk goes missing. The police are clueless if Maya ran away or was being held hostage somewhere. Evie, a troubled teenager starts working in a bar and then she sees a woman named Daniela getting into a car and was never seen again. Daniela also has some ties with Maya. No one believes in Evie except Cyrus and...maybe the killer. If you love Lying Beside You, don’t miss Cyrus and Evie in Good Girl, Bad Girl and When She Was Good. Nothing Elias has said is new. It has been documented, discussed, and analyzed. He is a case study now, taught to university students who are studying psychiatry and psychology and sociology.This is the third book in the Cyrus Haven series but my first read and read happily as a stand alone thriller. The story is told first hand from both Cyrus’s and Evie’s POV rapidly building the pace and tension. Both Cyrus and Evie are great characters. Brilliantly written this book soon had me hooked, reading late into the night. The main storyline is masterfully interwoven with an old case some 8 years earlier. Told from the perspectives of psychologist Dr Cyrus Haven, and Evie, the mysterious survivor with a protected identity the characterisation is deep and brilliant. The dialogue between them sparkles, and even their introspective dark moments grab you and don't let go. Briefly, Cyrus is a Forensic Psychologist and the story opens with him attending a parole hearing for his brother Elias. Elias murdered their parents and sisters, as a teenager, 20 years before. He is to be released to Cyrus’s charge on day release. Cyrus lives in his parents house and has 21 year old Evie Cormac staying with him as a lodger. Evie had a very disturbing upbringing and has a gift of telling when people are lying. A man is found murdered and his daughter is missing. Cyrus is brought in on the case, even though the police have a suspect, however, neither Cyrus and Evie believe he is the killer.
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 MARWOODI am the boy who survived, the one who hid in the garden shed, crouching among the tools, smelling the kerosene and paint fumes and grass clippings, while sirens echoed through the streets of Nottingham. For example, I can no longer remember what color dress my mother was wearing, or which of the twins had her hair in braids that week. (Esme and April took it in turns to help their teachers differentiate between them, or maybe to confuse them further.) The case of missing Maya is also one that goes through multiple layers and has several twists and turns as the plot heads down blind alleys, then raises your suspicion antenna which twitches in several directions but as ever the author has surprises in store. At times it's quite emotional, you feel a gut punch at the unfairness and injustice that is delivered. The pace builds and the last part is a hold your breath, tension fuelled, suspenseful and dramatic confrontation. The setting for this is brilliant as it perfectly fits and matches what unfolds and adds to the intensity. It is riveting reading. I can always count on Michael Robotham to give me a five star read and this particular series is five all the way! I am sure you could read this book as a stand alone but if you read the two previous books first it is just so much better! A better me, a kinder soul, an empath, a religious man, would show mercy and give Elias the pardon he seeks. Unconditionally. Without question or hesitation. I am not that man.
The book begins with Elias being released to stay with Cyrus and Evie to start moving towards his eventual freedom. At the same time, Cyrus is called to work to help investigate a missing neonatal nurse who has not come home after a date; her elderly father has been found murdered in his home. The case is investigated and develops; Cyrus finds himself arguing against the police chief, who is very sure he knows what has happened whilst Cyrus is convinced that there is another motive. The missing woman is found dead, and her case shadows another from previous years. Then a second woman goes missing who is also a neo-natal nurse, and Cyrus and Evie start to spot connections that the police seem to have missed. And as they seek the truth behind a double abduction case, past and present collide – with devastating consequences . . . I devoured Lying Beside You in two sittings. What a terrific writer and a fantastic read - pacey, spare and engrossing' AJAY CHOWDHURY
Table of Contents
Cyrus is a criminal psychologist who works for Nottingham police, he is called in when a man is murdered in his own home and his daughter is missing. She later turns up dead and a full investigation is put in place. Cyrus also has personal issues from his past that he has to deal with. Elias, Cyrus’s older brother is being released from the psychiatric unit that has been his home for the past 20 years. He killed their parents and twin sisters, and now will be living with Cyrus. Evie doesn’t like Elias and doesn’t feel comfortable when he is around. This is also new information, although I’ve noticed him dropping Bible quotes into our conversations on my fortnightly visits to Rampton. He wipes perspiration from his top lip. I have tortured myself with what-ifs and maybes. What if I hadn’t stopped to buy hot chips on my way home from football practice? What if I hadn’t propped my bike outside Ailsa Piper’s house, hoping to glimpse her in her garden or coming home from her netball practice? What if I had pedaled faster and arrived home sooner? Could I have stopped him, or would I be dead too?
Great Deal 
New Comment