Life or Death (novel)

Life or Death
	First UK edition (publ. Sphere Books)
Author	Michael Robotham
Language	English
Genre	Crime novel
Publisher	Hachette, Australia
Publication date	2014
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	434
ISBN	9780751552904
Preceded by	Watching You
Followed by	Close Your Eyes

Last updated December 21, 2025

Life or Death (2014) is a crime novel by Australian author Michael Robotham.^[1] It won the 2015 Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award.^[2] This is his first book to not involve either of his two main characters; Joe O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz.^[3]

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".^[4] 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".^[5]

Awards and nominations

2015 winner Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award^[2]
2015 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Fiction Book of the Year^[6]
2016 finalist Barry Award ^[7]
2016 shortlisted Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel ^[8]

References

↑ "Life or Death by Michael Robotham". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
1 2 "Michael Robotham beats Stephen King to win Britain's Gold Dagger crime-writing award". The Age newspaper. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
↑ "Book review: Life or Death, by Michael Robotham". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
↑ "Book review: Life or Death, Michael Robotham", The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 2014
↑ "Take the Money and Run", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 2015
↑ "Austlit — Life or Death by Michaael Robotham — Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
↑ ""Barry Awards"". Deadly Pleasures. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
↑ ""Category List – Best Novel"". Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved 21 December 2025.

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[1] "Life or Death by Michael Robotham". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2025.

[CWA-2] 1 2 "Michael Robotham beats Stephen King to win Britain's Gold Dagger crime-writing award". The Age newspaper. Retrieved 2015-09-30.

[3] "Book review: Life or Death, by Michael Robotham". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2016.

[4] "Book review: Life or Death, Michael Robotham", The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 2014

[5] "Take the Money and Run", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 2015

[Austlit-6] "Austlit — Life or Death by Michaael Robotham — Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 21 December 2025.

[7] ""Barry Awards"". Deadly Pleasures. Retrieved 21 December 2025.

[8] ""Category List – Best Novel"". Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved 21 December 2025.

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v t e Gold Dagger Award
1955–1959	The Little Walls by Winston Graham (1955) The Second Man by Edward Grierson (1956) The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons (1957) Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett (1958) Passage of Arms by Eric Ambler (1959)
1960–1969	The Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson (1960) The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly (1961) When I Grow Rich by Joan Fleming (1962) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963) The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating (1964) The Far Side of the Dollar by Ross Macdonald (1965) A Long Way to Shiloh by Lionel Davidson (1966) Murder Against the Grain by Emma Lathen (1967) Skin Deep by Peter Dickinson (1968) A Pride of Heroes by Peter Dickinson (1969)
1970–1979	Young Man I Think You're Dying by Joan Fleming (1970) The Steam Pig by James H. McClure (1971) The Levanter by Eric Ambler (1972) The Defection of A. J. Lewinter by Robert Littell (1973) Other Paths to Glory by Anthony Price (1974) The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (1975) A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell (1976) The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (1977) The Chelsea Murders by Lionel Davidson (1978) Whip Hand by Dick Francis (1979)
1980–1989	The Murder of the Maharaja by H. R. F. Keating (1980) Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981) The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey (1982) Accidental Crimes by John Hutton (1983) The Twelfth Juror by B. M. Gill (1984) Monkey Puzzle by Paula Gosling (1985) Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell (1986) A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine (1987) Ratking by Michael Dibdin (1988) The Wench Is Dead by Colin Dexter (1989)
1990–1999	Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill (1990) King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine (1991) The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter (1992) Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell (1993) The Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters (1994) The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (1995) Popcorn by Ben Elton (1996) Black & Blue by Ian Rankin (1997) Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke (1998) A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (1999)
2000–2009	Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (2000) Sidetracked by Henning Mankell (2001) The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza (2002) Fox Evil by Minette Walters (2003) Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (2004) Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason (2005) Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (2006) The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (2007) Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield (2008) A Whispered Name by William Brodrick (2009)
2010–2019	Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (2010) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (2011) The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (2012) Dead Lions by Mick Herron (2013) This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (2014) Life or Death by Michael Robotham (2015) Dodgers by Bill Beverly (2016) The Dry by Jane Harper (2017) The Liar by Steve Cavanagh (2018) The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven (2019)
2020–present	Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (2020) We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (2021) Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin (2022) The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green (2023) Tell Me What I Am by Una Mannion (2024) The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (2025)