Life or Death (novel)

Summary

Life or Death (2014) is a crime novel by Australian author Michael Robotham. It won the 2015 Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award.[1] This is his first book to not involve either of his two main characters; Joe O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz.[2]

Life or Death
First UK edition (publ. Sphere Books)
AuthorMichael Robotham
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime novel
PublisherHachette, Australia
Publication date
2014
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages434
ISBN9780751552904
Preceded byWatching You 
Followed byClose Your Eyes 

Plot summary edit

Audie Palmer escapes from a Texas jail the day before the end of his ten-year sentence for armed robbery and second-degree murder. His friend Moss Webster is mysteriously released from the same prison and told to find Palmer and, if possible, the money missing from the robbery of the armoured van; money that has never been recovered.

Notes edit

  • Dedication: For Isabella
  • Epigraphs:

"Life can be magnificent and overwhelming – That is its whole tragedy. Without beauty, love, or danger it would almost be easy to live." Albert Camus

"To be, or not to be: that is the question." William Shakespeare

Reviews edit

Jeff Popple in The Sydney Morning Herald found the novel, at its core, "a gripping thriller".[3] Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times noted that the author "isn't entirely at ease with the Texas vernacular, but he's responsive enough to the idiosyncrasies of the culture".[4]

Awards and nominations edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Michael Robotham beats Stephen King to win Britain's Gold Dagger crime-writing award". The Age newspaper. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  2. ^ "Book review: Life or Death, by Michael Robotham". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Book review: Life or Death, Michael Robotham", The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 2014
  4. ^ "Take the Money and Run", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 2015