Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43107 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Synopsis
Alisha Barba's dreams of being a detective were shattered when a murder suspect broke her back across a brick wall. Now on her feet again, with her police career in limbo, she receives a message from an old school friend, Cate Beaumont, who is eight months pregnant and in trouble. On the night they arrange to meet, Cate is mown down by a car that kills her husband instantly. As paramedics fight to save her life they discover there is no baby. Her pregnancy is an elaborate lie, a cruel deception. Why? What happened? As Alisha sets out to answer these questions she is drawn deeper and deeper into a dangerous quest that will take her from the East End of London to Amsterdam's red light district and into a murky underworld of sex trafficking, slavery and exploitation. A gripping thriller, with twists at every turn, The Night Ferry is Michael Robotham's finest novel yet.

Customer Reviews

Kitchen Sink Included?
Although I quite enjoyed this book, it did feel like the writer threw everything bar the kitchen sink into the story - in fact, I'm sure if you look hard enough you will find it. I'm sure a good 100-150 pages could have been trimmed and moved the pace up a notch. As it was, there was a lot of reflection which didn't go with the thriller element of the book. Also, the story seemed to jump from location to location which didn't advance the plot greatly (or when it did it sometimes seemed unnecessary).
Despite this, there were some good action pieces and some good ethical questions raised, hence the three star rating.

Pretty good, in my view....
I am not sure how my co-reviewer could rank this with a lowly one star rating. I found this book to be enjoyable, full of pace and with a pretty sound plot which involves moral issues. The writing is stylish and has good injections of humour and some clever thinking.

The story revolves around an Anglo-Asian policewoman (Alisha) who tries to unravel what happened to a long-lost friend, who came to her while pregnant before being hit by a car.

Ruiz, the now retired detective from prior Robotham novels, makes a cameo appearance as a friend and helper to Alisha.

Yes, you can find criticisms - for example, why does Alisha continue to dig when she is already in trouble with her bosses and has been ordered to stop her ongoing inquiries on the case which she has not been assigned to?

Overall, however, I found the book to be both interesting and well-written. 9/10

Don't bother. Re-read his "Shatter"
The plot is far too complicated, the heroine unsympathetic, there's too much gratuitous violence, and some of the writing sub-Mills and Boon. The author's Shatter is in a different class.