''Life or Death'' (2014) is a crime novel by Australian author

Michael Robotham Michael Robotham (born 9 November 1960) is an Australian crime fiction writer who has twice won the CWA Gold Dagger award for best novel and twice been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for best novel. His eldest child is Alexandra Hope Robotham, ...

. It won the 2015 Crime Writers' Association

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

Award. This is his first book to not involve either of his two main characters; Joe O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz.

Plot summary

Audie Palmer escapes from a Texas jail the day before the end of his ten-year sentence for armed robbery and second-degree murder. His friend Moss Webster is mysteriously released from the same prison and told to find Palmer and, if possible, the money missing from the robbery of the armoured van; money that has never been recovered.

Notes

* Dedication: For Isabella * Epigraphs: "Life can be magnificent and overwhelming – That is its whole tragedy. Without beauty, love, or danger it would almost be easy to live." Albert Camus "To be, or not to be: that is the question." William Shakespeare

Reviews

Jeff Popple in ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' found the novel, at its core, "a gripping thriller". Marilyn Stasio in ''The New York Times'' noted that the author "isn't entirely at ease with the Texas vernacular, but he's responsive enough to the idiosyncrasies of the culture"."Take the Money and Run", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 20 March 2015
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Awards and nominations

* 2015 winner Crime Writers' Association

Award * 2015 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Fiction Book of the Year

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life or Death 2014 Australian novels Australian crime novels Novels set in Texas Hachette Books books