The Wreckage

In hellishly violent postwar Baghdad, an emotionally scarred journalist investigates a series of suspiciously well-timed bank robberies. In deceptively serene London, a retired police detective offers a helping hand to an abused woman, only to find himself drugged, robbed, and suspected of a gruesome murder. In a peaceful English suburb, a young mother searches for her missing husband. Somewhere in the chaos of a war-blasted land, billions of U.S. dollars have vanished without a trace, and someone wants to make very sure that they stay vanished. Robotham, a former investigative journalist and author of six previous crime thrillers (e.g., ), tells a fast-paced, gritty story that raises disturbing real-world questions. His Baghdad is a vividly rendered paranoid nightmare of unpredictable bomb blasts and pervasive corruption. His London, if less vividly soaked in blood and oil, is nonetheless a dangerous place for the well intentioned but ill-informed. Fans of Robotham's previous books will be glad to see continuing characters Vincent Ruiz and Joe O'Loughlin back in action. This fast-paced, gritty, and violent tale of international crime and investigation, with a sharp political edge, will appeal to readers seeking summer fiction with depth.—Bradley A. Scott, Texas A&M Univ., Corpus Christi

Banks in Baghdad are getting bombed, an ex-cop in London is relieved of his briefcase, and a leading financier disappears. Of course, these events are all connected, and they come together in a debut thriller that's said to tell us lots about Iraq—without actually dwelling on the war. The publicist declares that it's amazing. Watch.