Book review: The Negotiator by Brooke Robinson
Moral dilemmas, culpability, and the weight of shared trauma
CCB rating: 4/5
Genres: Psychological thriller, suspense
Brooke Robinson's, The Negotiator, is an absorbing, slow-burn psychological thriller that delves into the complex web of choices and consequences through the perspectives of two characters forced to explore how their actions send ripples through time, profoundly affecting the lives of others and their own fates.
Here are my thoughts.
Let’s drop the synopsis:
Police officer Tia recently failed her exam to become a negotiator, her dream job. But when a peaceful climate change protest at a London museum escalates, and one of the radicalised members takes Tia and others hostage, she realises this is her chance to prove she has what it takes.
Only not everyone gets out of the siege alive.
Three years later, Asher is being released from prison for the part he played at the museum that day. He’s always maintained his innocence, but when someone starts threatening the survivors, leading one of them to take their own life, Tia isn’t convinced Asher is telling the whole truth. Refusing to have another death on her conscience, Tia begins to investigate.
But Tia was a hostage that day, too... and now she's a target.
CCB thoughts:
Brooke Robinson's The Negotiator opens with the following line: "The bullet enters Tia's thigh close to where her brother will look for the star-shaped mole when asked to identify her body." What follows is a slow-burn psychological thriller that explores the realities of managing survivor’s guilt and trauma.
At the story's heart is Tia, a former police officer who dreams of becoming a negotiator. Unfortunately, she fails the exam. Licking her wounds, one early morning, she visits a London museum on a whim. It’s not long before she spots something unusual: two University students not so subtly attempting to prise a painting from the museum’s wall. Soon, Tia finds herself in a startling situation: in the middle of a hostage crisis that rapidly spirals out of control. Presented with an opportunity to prove herself capable, Tia steps into the shoes of the negotiator.
From there on, things aren’t straightforward. As with all decisions made in the heat of the moment, they come at a steep cost. The siege ultimately becomes deadly, and not everyone survives.
The unveiling of the hostage situation sets an immediate gripping tone. It’s high-octane, and the museum very quickly becomes a pressure cooker. As the tension builds, individuals make hasty and questionable choices: many look out for themselves, some are forced to make impossible choices, and others display uncharacteristic ruthlessness. It leaves the reader questioning: What would I do in their situation? How far would I go to survive?
As we flash forward three years, Tia remains consumed by guilt, and the weight of the decisions she was forced to make is pressing down on her. Feeling untethered and unable to continue her career at the Metropolitan Police, she leaves the force. Now, she works on minor, domestic cases - shoplifting, public disturbances, security - as part of a group of ex-officers called Brilliant Bobbies. Her once-promising career heartbreakingly reduced to a shadow of what it could have been.
Tia is not the only protagonist in the book. Split into a dual narrative, we meet Asher, one of the protesters in the museum siege, on his release from prison after serving time for his role. Asher is an intriguing character who becomes increasingly perplexing as the novel progresses. He presents himself as morally ambiguous, claiming innocence and denying direct responsibility for what happened that morning, identifying as both a victim and a villain. His babyish mannerisms and, at times, exasperatingly childlike behaviour force us to grapple with the grey areas of human behaviour. Yet, beneath his attempts to minimise the truth, there's a lingering sense that Asher, an adult, knows right from wrong - no matter how hard he tries to deflect responsibility. Asher is not as naive as he likes to make out, giving us a philosophical conundrum.
Tia, the smart cookie she is, has never been convinced by Asher's seemingly 'innocent' demeanour nor by the timing of his release from prison. She is suspicious. It's a bit too convenient. Her doubts solidify when the wife of one of the siege victims approaches her, pleading for help after her husband is targetted by a malicious campaign of harassment - a campaign of fear that has wide-reaching tentacles.
It is important to mention Robinson's portrayal of environmental activism. It is both timely and thoughtful, capturing the intense passion that often fuels today's movements. Drawing on real-world parallels with groups like Extinction Rebellion, she vividly shows how far individuals are willing to go for their beliefs. However, Robinson doesn't simply critique these movements; she humanises them, showing the emotional and psychological toll such activism can take on both the activists and those affected by their actions.
Take Asher as an example. He has a background in activism, shaped by his mother's former radical tendencies, providing a crucial context for his motivations and attitude towards those less environmentally considerate than he. Robinson sensitively balances activism and extremism, portraying Asher as a character torn between being a product of his upbringing, owning his convictions, and his ability to make morally correct choices. However, there is another layer to Asher's character that explains his rapid descent into extremism: loneliness. From early on, it's clear Asher is searching for connection and community, a need that draws him to the activist group. His hero worship of the volatile protester who demands ‘true net zero’, Dominic, further underscores his vulnerability, suggesting that his involvement may stem as much from a desire for belonging as ideological commitment.
The Negotiator shines in its exploration of trauma. The aftermath of the museum siege isn't confined to Tia alone; it ripples out, affecting everyone involved - including Asher - in many ways. Robinson handles this gently, portraying how trauma manifests through guilt, fear, anger, and even numbness. The surviving hostages each carry their own scars, and their interactions with Tia as she investigates the harassment provide some of the novel's most emotionally charged moments. Robinson's writing is most potent here, capturing the raw, messy reality of living under a cloud of historical violence.
The ending provides a satisfying, if not entirely shocking, conclusion. However, we’re left with lingering questions about justice, forgiveness, and the limits of personal responsibility. There are no easy answers, which is part of what makes the story so compelling.
The Negotiator is a smart, engaging thriller that offers more than surface-level suspense. Its exploration of complex psychological and societal themes results in a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant read. Though it stumbles slightly in pacing at the midpoint, its character depth, moral ambiguity, and reflective narrative make it a solid entry into the psychological thriller genre.
Recommended for fans of:
Authors such as Clare Mackintosh, Louise Candlish, and Sebastian Fitzek
Flawed yet determined characters in TV shows such as Bodyguard (BBC)
The “cop haunted by a past case” trope and high-stakes drama
Content warnings:
Suicidal ideation, murder.
But the book:
You can purchase The Negotiator here and at your local bookstore.
Publisher: Harvill Secker | Page count: 336
Discover what others thought:
Thank you to Tracy Fenton (Compulsive Readers) for inviting me on this book tour and Harvill Secker (Penguin Books UK) for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the author:
Brooke Robinson grew up in Sydney, Australia. She's worked as a bookseller, university administrator and playwright in Australia and the UK. For a short time she wrote music reviews and interviewed rock musicians for streetpress magazines in Sydney, and for an even shorter time, considered a career in physics. Sadly, despite studying German and Mandarin at university, she does not speak any other languages.
Will you grab a copy of The Negotiator? If you do, please let me know what you think in the comments below.
As always, happy reading!
Until next time,
Sian | Criminally Creepy Books