Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in Robotham’s latest page-turning, psychological thriller in this series.
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.
Book Info: Print length: 354 pages. Publisher: Sphere. Publication Date: 23 June 2022
My Thoughts
Lying Beside You is the 3rd book in the brilliant Cyrus Haven series which features two absolutely fascinating main characters.
Cyrus Haven older brother Elias brutally murdered their parents and younger twin sisters over 20 years ago and has been incarcerated in a high security hospital ever since his violent killing spree. Over the past 20 years Cyrus has managed to move on with his life by working as a forensic psychologist alongside the police in some truly horrific cases.
Evie Cormac is now 21 years old. She has a very dark and disturbing past, having been discovered at the age of 12 hidden in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. The police were unable to identify her and there were no DNA matches so she was moved to a secure children’s home for 6 years which is where she met Cyrus who was assigned to her case.
Evie is troubled and a compulsive liar which is ironic as she has a very unique gift of being able to tell if anyone is lying. This third book follows on approximately 12 months after When She Was Good ends.
Life for Cyrus and Evie is still a “work in progress” with Cyrus trying to ensure Evie’s future by encouraging an education and a job, however Evie would rather not work or learn and is happiest volunteering at the local animal shelter. But it’s the upcoming possibility of Elias’ release from the secure hospital into Cyrus’ home that starts to cause friction and concern between them.
As well as their personal issues, Cyrus is now involved in the murder and abduction of a local woman and when another woman goes missing, Evie is the last person to see her alive.
This is a brilliant series which I highly recommend as it offers the reader so much more than the usual police procedural thrillers. If you haven’t started the series yet, then do yourself a huge favour and download books 1 and 2 now as you are in for a treat.
