Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham

Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham

The story starts with Sienna.  Sienna cuts herself. “you want to know the reason? you want to know why someone would want to bleed in secret?  it’s because i deserve it. i deserve to be punished. to punish myself.  love is pain and pain is love….you think you understand me.  you don’t.  i bleed for you.”

This book gets right to the business of sucking you in as a reader as any good crime fiction should. Ex-detective Ray Hegarty is found in a pool of blood in his teenage daughter Sienna's bedroom. She is found covered in his blood. It looks like a clear cut case of the daughter murdering the father. The protagonist, Professor Joe O’Loughlin is made  investigating psychologist on the case. Sienna happens to be his daughter Charlie's friend. When Joe starts his work of analyzing Sienna, murky details start coming up, with the murderer being someone totally unexpected.

 Professor O’Loughlin is battling the onset of Parkinson’s disease, along with battling separation from his wife and daughters. Parallel to the main story, we also get to know about the trial of a boy who has been accused of burning an entire family of immigrants to death. It seems like a racial hate crime. There are many issues dealt with in the book, e.g., psychopathic murderers, child abuse, and racism all dealt in a very plausible manner. 

I teach young girls like Sienna and Charlie. At certain points, the novel scared me. It does deal with teenage issues, like anguish, conflicted emotions and confusion. The novel resonated with me. Yes, I recommend this novel. To all crime fiction readers and also for teachers as well as parents. Do you really know what goes inside your child's mind?