Teenager Cyrus Haven returned home from school one day to find his parents and sisters shot to death and his brother with a big smile on his face, calmly watching television. That moment haunts Cyrus into adulthood, but also spurs him to become a police profiler with an uncanny ability to solve confounding murder cases.
Evie Cormac also experienced trauma as a child, found hiding in a trunk in the house where her long-dead kidnapper's body was discovered. Now she's incarcerated at a juvenile facility for dangerous teens. Cyrus is brought in to determine whether she should be released or remain behind bars until she turns 21. Complicating the matter is the fact no one knows Evie's real age.
Cyrus's task is sidelined when the police seek his help in finding the killer of a local teen ice skating star, Jodie Sheehan, last seen leaving a party and taking a shortcut through woods. Cyrus soon realizes neither Evie nor Jodie are what they seem, and Evie might be instrumental in finding out what happened to Jodie.
Michael Robotham's writing is achingly beautiful in Good Girl, Bad Girl. He shows the redemptive power of love and trust on broken people who don't know how to ask for help. He also digs deeply into how well-meaning adults can hijack the aspirations of adolescents, causing irreparable damage. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer