Book review: The White Crow by Michael Robotham

The White Crow by Michael Robotham is the second in the Philomena McCarthy series, featuring the young cop from a family known to dabble in organised crime. Again it’s the antics of her father and uncles that put her career in jeopardy but at the same time, when the so-called rubber hits the road, Edward McCarthy will always put his daughter ahead of his own safety and any money to be made from nefarious means. And I must confess I’m a sucker for soft-hearted bad-guys.

Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police because her father and her uncles are notorious London gangsters.
On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store and millions are missing.

These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life.

In too deep, and falling further, Phil must decide who she can trust—her family or her colleagues—and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.

It really won’t matter if you’ve not read When You Are Mine because I hadn’t realised this was the second book in that series when I started, so I came upon the characters afresh and enjoyed getting to know them (again). Phil kinda manoeuvres her way into the investigation here after finding 5yr old Daisy and gaining her trust. However that’s short-lived when the investigators discover that Phil’s father and his brothers were regular visitors to the targeted jewellery store.

Robotham had me so invested in Phil, her life and her involvement here that I felt affronted on her behalf – that she so easily came under suspicion and so quickly was written off by those who had relied on her before knowing her family background.

I enjoyed the time we spent with Phil’s father and uncles as well. I’m unsure if the previous book was similar but in reality this is as much about attacks on the McCarthy family business as it is the police investigation and in some ways it’s only coincidence that the two cases connect. It’s not long however before it seems that the home invasion which killed Daisy’s mother – perhaps wasn’t as it seemed and the jewellery store heist may have been an inside job. Which begs the question whether the murder was part of the original deal or something went wrong.

There are a lot of threads here and Phil is determined to unravel them all. Again putting her life (and those of loved ones) at risk, but her family (again) has her back… even when it seems her colleagues (who she chose over family in pursuing her law enforcement career) do not.

It’s interesting that Robotham hasn’t settled Phil with a specific team though maybe that will change, but I kinda like that she’s a beat cop so gets thrown whatever comes her way on shift. I’m really enjoying this series and I love Phil and her husband Henry and their relationship. I’m secretly hoping they get to keep Daisy but can’t say why or how cos #spoilers sweetie.

I’m conscious I’ve talked a lot about the characters and plot but haven’t commented on Robotham’s writing, which (somehow) makes reading effortless. I’ve heard him speak a number of times and spoken to him myself and realised as I read the opening paragraphs here, I was hearing his gentle soothing voice…

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning. F Scott Fitzgerald wrote that line almost sixty years before I was born but it’s true enough today. London is not asleep at this hour. Merely resting her eyes and humming impatiently, waiting for the sun to rise. She is like an aging toothless beast, chewing through the years that she struggles to swallow. p 1 #magic

The White Crow by Michael Robotham will be published in Australia on 25 June 2025 by Hachette.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.