Lying Beside You

By Michael Robotham

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Feb 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781668011218

Michael Robotham

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; and Lying Beside You. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia. 

Reviews for Lying Beside You

[terran_9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had read the first two books in this series, but didn't remember much about the characters when I started reading this third one. I will definitely remember Cyrus and Evie from now on. They are two very interesting characters and the case they become involved in has many twists and turns, with action and suspense on every page.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great quote about auto racing - “…but calling it a sport is like saying that Neil Armstrong was an athlete when he piloted Apollo 11 to the moon.” I totally agree!“The truth doesn’t have a side.”I really have become a big fan of these two characters, Cyrus and Evie! And I enjoy the way the chapters take turns telling one or the other's point of view. I think this was a very good number three in the series and I truly hope there are more to come!

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Michael Robotham handles multiple plot strands with such ease. And even though this is the third in the series we get new insights into both Evie Cormac and Cyrus Haven and their relationship.Cyrus is not sure whether he can handle his brother Elias coming out of psychiatric hospital and Evie is fearful about what it means for her life as a lodger in Cyrus's house. For despite the fact that Elias is medicated, he is still not normal.Meanwhile Cyrus is continuing to work in his usual job, as a forensic psychologist, and Evie observes on the fringes of his work.An excellent novel.Readers will ask if they need to read the first two in this particular series - the answer: yes you do - before you read this one!

[pgchuis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was excellent: it kept me guessing all the way through. I like the characters of Cyrus and Evie, especially the latter's ability to detect lies. The thread concerning whether Cyrus' brother should be released from Rampton was thought-provoking and well done. I could perhaps have done with the final scene being a little shorter - I'm more about the mystery than the thriller/adventure.