The Loss

Mickey was seven years old, blond and blue-eyed, and when she smiled you could see a gap in her teeth. She came into my life during the first week of the summer holidays, three years ago now. Eighty-five steps and then darkness. She disappeared into nothing. How can a child disappear into a building with only five floors and eleven flats? Mickey hasn't disappeared. She's still there. She's the ghost who sits opposite me at every feast and the voice I hear in my head when I fall asleep. I know she's still alive. I know it deep inside, where my insides are knotted. I know it, but I can't prove it.' Police inspector Vincent Ruiz narrowly escapes death. One night, his colleagues fish him out of the cold waters of the Thames, more dead than alive. Ruiz can't remember what he was doing there. His only clue is a photograph he was carrying, a photo of a girl who disappeared three years ago. Although the alleged perpetrator is behind bars, Mickey's body was never found. Ruiz believes she is still alive and that he tried to free Mickey on the night of his accident. Why else would there be diamonds worth 2 million in his closet? No one believes him, except psychologist Joe O'Loughlin - the main character in The Suspicion. Together with 'the Professor', Ruiz tries to reconstruct what happened to bring Mickey home safely. After all, he promised his mother to take care of all missing children in the world. The Loss is the sequel to The Suspicion, the thriller sensation of 2004 and an international bestseller. With this second literary thriller, Australian writer Michael Robotham proves his mastery.