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Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac, his former ward, are enjoying a beach vacation when people start screaming as corpses wash ashore. Cyrus jumps into the water to rescue survivors of the boat wreck, but Evie becomes catatonic when she sees him carrying the body of a little boy. So begins Storm Child, the heartrending fourth book in Michael Robotham's superb series, which finally delves into Evie's devastating past.
Robotham introduced Evie in Good Girl, Bad Girl, the series' first book, as the child known to the public as Angel Face, whom police found hiding in the walls of a house where a man had been tortured and murdered. No one knows how she got there, including Evie, whose mind has apparently blocked out traumatic episodes. Cyrus was brought in to evaluate her at a children's home and eventually became her guardian. Now that Evie is 22, they are housemates and friends. They try to live "a normal life" together, but Evie's triggered response to the beach tragedies--which are later determined to be murder--indicate she'll have to face her past in order to move on.
Robotham handles Evie's horrific backstory with great care and insight, and he provides enough details for readers who haven't read the previous books. Evie and Cyrus, who has his own nightmarish past, remain two strong survivors who refuse to let tragedy define them. The book isn't all grim; Robotham is adept at witty descriptions, as when a man is "so boring his preferred pronouns are ho/hum." And the novel's ending is cautiously hopeful, suggesting that normality might be within grasp for Cyrus and Evie. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja