HIDDEN NATURE

5 stars out of 5

Inquiring minds want to know: Could this be the start of a new series? If it is, count me in; Maryland Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper won me over from the git-go, and I warmed up to the rest of those I'd expect to be recurring characters almost as fast.

For most of the book, though, I almost felt like I was channeling another favorite series - Kate Carlisle's Shannon Hammer. Both lead females are strong women, and both are heavily involved in the construction industry (Shannon owns her own company, while Sloan's family, including her sister Drea, are in that business here in a place called Heron's Nest while Sloan focuses on the business of being a cop. I'll also say construction is a subject near and dear to my own heart after growing up with a DIY father who could build just about anything; what that means is for the most part I really enjoyed all the details about home construction and remodeling that might be a bit of a turn-off for others.

But that part aside, the plot centers on Sloan's returning to her family's home to recover from gunshot wounds when she was off-duty and unexpectedly attacked in a convenience store. As she begins to recover, she's afforded an opportunity for a promotion and relocation right where she is - an offer that takes on a whole new meaning when both she and her sister run into very intriguing - and very hunky - guys who relocated here to start a (what else!) construction business.

But duty calls as well; a young woman who's vanished under very mysterious circumstances catches her attention - and a search for similar disappearances is a great way to spend time while she's on limited duty. Soon, though, it becomes almost an obsession as several other cases turn up in three states; all vanished with no trace, no evidence and no apparent connection. Sloan, though, believes otherwise and sets out to find one while she's in the midst of kindling a new love as well as redoing a fireplace so she can kindle a fire on cold winter nights.

And so it goes, with chapters detailing progress on the building projects, Sloan's investigation and insights from a couple of very psychologically damaged people. Everything gets resolved by the end, though with no shortage of edge-of-seat action. It was a thoroughly enjoyable journey for me, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another book by a long-time favorite author.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2025); 448 pp.

MIND GAMES

4 stars out of 5

A titch scary. A little hard to believe. A lot sappy. But dang it all, I didn't want to put it down.

The scary part comes early on with the gruesome murder of 12-year-old Thea Cox's parents - a horrible incident that Thea and her grandmother, Lucy, both "see" as it happens. Thea and her younger brother, Rem, then go to live in Redbud Hollow in rural Kentucky, Thanks to Thea's visions, the killer was caught, convicted and sentenced to life in prison - and since then the children have for the most part thrived. But it seems the killer himself has the vision - and from his prison cell, he uses it to torment Thea by entering her mind. Over the years, she's learned to shut him out for the most part, but he finds new ways to burrow in again.

While in college, Thea learns how to develop computer games, which she turns into a highly profitable business. Grandma Lucy is a businesswoman as well, making handmade soaps and similar items from her home workshop in Kentucky. Over the years, Thea keeps her gift alive by helping police solve otherwise unsolvable cases - much as she did to bring her parents' murderer to justice. 

Things take a new turn when an elderly neighbor passes away, leaving her property to an on-hiatus rock star and his adorable young son. As chance would have it (yeah, right!), Thea once had a huge crush on the guy, which of course is rekindled when they meet. The romance heats up - until her gift collides with his way-over-the-top reaction (at which point I'd have kicked the idiot to the curb, but then that's just me). 

Finally, Thea reaches the limit of her tolerance and vows to bring the head games to a halt - hopefully without losing herself in the process. It all makes for an exciting ending. Definitely worth reading, and for the record, I wouldn't be opposed to reading more on the adventures of Thea and her grandmother. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. 

Mind Games by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2024); 352 pp.

INHERITANCE

4 stars out of 5

Reading any book by one of my favorite authors is always a treat - and both can be said of this one. Still, I have a few reservations - most notably to become aware of an inevitable event and then having to wait till the end - and wading through pages and pages and pages of "stuff" that was interesting and fun and well-written but not all that relevant to said event - for it to actually happen. On the plus side, though, it did boost my anticipation for the next book in this, the first in the author's "Lost Bride" trilogy.

After she's barely recovered from a gobsmacking personal setback, Sonya MacTavish, a graphic designer, is visited by an attorney who gobsmacks her once again with news that she's got an uncle she never knew she had. Actually, that's because her father never knew it, either - he was a twin, no less. Now deceased, that twin has left Sonya much of his personal estate, which includes a huge Victorian house in Poole's Bay overlooking a Maine coast. If she claims it as her own, though, she must agree to inhabit the premises for a minimum of three years. In large part curious as to why her father and his twin were separated at birth - a factoid Sonya's mother would like to know as well - she decides to have a looksee. After all, the house itself is a bit of a curiosity, known to the locals as Lost Bride Manor because of a history of just-wed grooms whose new wives never made it much beyond their "I dos" (starting with one named Astrid).

Oh, and did I mention the house is haunted? As things start to go bump in the night and day, Sonya becomes a believer - attested to by the hunky, marriage-eligible young attorney who's familiar with the house and shows her around. I was a little more skeptical; it was a little hard for me to believe the "spontaneous" eruptions of perfect-for-the-occasion musical numbers blasted from Sonya's computer and harder still to accept the mysterious whole-meal clean-ups that happened during the 15 minutes everyone was gone from the kitchen.

Meantime, Sonya and her best friend Cleo Fabares, who plans to move into the multi-room manor, spend a lot of time inspecting all the rooms, nooks and crannies - finding reminders of those who once lived there (and with them, clues to days gone by) and figuring out how all those weighty objects can be relocated to lived-in parts of the house. In the process, Sonya, at least, manages to land graphic design clients hand over fist - everything she touches, it seems, turns to gold - and she gradually begins to trust most of the "ghosts" and wants to find out why they haven't yet left the building. As might be expected, though, not all the ghosts are the friendly variety; at least one initiates all sorts of bad vibes and experiences that test Sonya's will to continue living there.

Meantime, interspersed chapters give readers a look at the fates of those foregone brides, adding important background. But by the end, both Sonya and Cleo have decided to stick it out - in no small measure because love tends to conquer fear (or at least cancel it out for a time). The actual end, which came as no surprise to me, is a big cliffhanger that no doubt will be the opening chapters in the next installment, which I'm hoping comes soon. Before that happens, I'll thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to get in at the beginning of this intriguing series by way of a pre-release copy.

Inheritance by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, November 2023); 448 pp.

IDENTITY

4 stars out of 5

I doubt I've missed a single book in the popular Eve Dallas series this author writes as J.D. Robb, but to the best of my recollection this is the first I've read that she's penned as herself. And my reaction is weirdly mixed; while I enjoyed it thoroughly - to the point of not wanting to put it down - in other ways it kind of made me crazy.

The story is a mix of romance and suspense starring Morgan Albright, who tends bar at night after her day job to earn enough money to refurbish the small house she bought in Maryland. At the bar, she meets - and takes somewhat of a liking to - a friendly, uber-considerate guy named Gavin. Not only does he steal her identity and wipe out her entire financial life, he's a monster who kills her beloved roommate Nina, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Morgan then learns from the FBI that he's a suspected serial killer, and it's likely she was to be his next victim.

In financial free-fall and owing thousands of dollars - I guess her bank and credit card companies had no fraud protection - she heads to her mother's home in Vermont, where her grandmother lives as well. There's a backstory there, too, but all seems to be rosy now as the other two women - "My ladies," as Morgan calls them - take every opportunity to assure Morgan how great she is and how much they love her. Their local "connections" help Morgan land a posh job managing the bar at a nearby upscale family-owned resort.

Hanging over her head, though, is the realization that Gavin is a psychopath who isn't finished with her; she's the one who got away, after all, and he will stop at nothing to get her back. That, in her view, threatens the job she loves and complicates her budding relationship with the resort family's eldest son, Miles, who isn't the most pleasant of characters in his own right. But here, too, Miles, Morgan's "ladies," all the family members who run the resort and all but one of the employees constantly reassure Morgan that she's smart, beautiful and far too valuable to be thrown to the wolf who hasn't found the door (yet).

The rest of the story tracks the romance and the killer's progress in working his way to Morgan - and of course, you'll get no details from me on those issues. The whole thing held my attention throughout, even if I did quickly tire of an excess of dialog, mostly arguments over who's more perfect, or who loves who more and lengthy explanations of why good bartenders know so much about so many things (hint: yes, there's a ton of repetition). The ending didn't come as a big surprise nor increase my fondness (or lack thereof) for any of the characters, but it was satisfying nonetheless. All in all, it's an enjoyable read - with the end result that I'm looking forward to the author's next book. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Identity by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, May 2023); 448 pp.

THE LIAR

4 stars out of 5

As I neared the end of this book - which I'd call a romance/mystery, I guess - I thought to myself, I'm enjoying this. But when I tried to determine why, my brain just couldn't spit out an answer. The mystery part is predictable (I suspected the "twist" by the end of the third or fourth chapter and yes, I was spot-on). The romance part is borderline sappy - but then I admit I'm not big on the lovey-dovey stuff unless you count the interaction between the dashing Roarke and Lt. Eve Dallas, characters from one of my favorite series penned by this author writing as J.D. Robb. In fact, this is the first book by Roberts writing as Roberts that I've read in a very long time.

Still, whatever the reason, the book is worth reading; I won't say I hated to put it down when the need arose, but neither did I ever consider not finishing it. It begins as Shelby Foxworth, the mother of an adorable, precocious three-year-old, starts to collect her life following the death of her husband in a boating accident. What she learns is a real shocker: Not only was he a cheater and liar, he left her with a staggering amount of debt. A would-be singer, she'd run away from her small-town Tennessee home to pursue a career and married the guy on the spur of the moment, and now she is forced to return to her family and start life anew.

As she collects things from her highly mortgaged Philadelphia house that's headed for foreclosure, she discovers a key in one of her late husband's jackets that appears to be from a safety deposit box. She runs to every bank in town until she's successful (begging the question in my mind as to why a liar and cheat would open a box he clearly wanted to keep secret under his own name). In it, Shelby finds not only a substantial sum of money which she uses to help pay down some of the debt, but documents that reveal her husband had, and no doubt used, multiple identities.

Back home in Tennessee, she's welcomed with open arms by her picture-perfect family that includes a policeman brother and good friends (well, most of them, anyway), and within days she meets - you knew this is coming - the picture-perfect guy. Needless to say, she's more than a little gun-shy at this point, so there's plenty of angst as she tries to sort out her feelings. Then, her past comes back with a vengeance as outsiders come to town - both good guys and bad - all believing that she knows more about her late husband's illicit past than she's admitted so far. Spice things up with a couple of murders and an ending that wraps everything up with a big bow, and there you go.  

That the ending is too neat and tidy, I suppose, is my biggest complaint (in fact, that description pretty much sums up the entire book). Still, as I said at the beginning, it's quite enjoyable, if only for the in-depth look at down-home-style family dynamics and relationships. From now on, though, I think I'll stick with the author's far more enjoyable J.D. Robb books.

The Liar by Nora Roberts (G.P. Putnam's Sons, April 2015); 501 pp.

OBSESSION IN DEATH

4 stars out of 5

It's hard to believe there are 41 books in the J.D. Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts) Death series. I missed out on the very early years - the first, I believe, was published in 1995). What I know for sure is I'm always excited when a new one is released.

Except for this: New York police lieutenant Eve Dallas happens to be married to a man who's high on my Top 10 list of favorite heroes - the super hunky, uber-rich Irish rogue named Roarke. And every single time I get the latest book, I hesitate to start (honest!) simply because I'm so afraid he'll be bumped off. In most of the books, you see, the bad guys and gals have a nasty habit of targeting people close to Eve - and sometimes, they're successful. Eve herself may be hurt in the process, of course, but unless the series is coming to an end, I figure she's not likely to bite the dust. But Roarke is another story.

This latest effort is no different; set in 2060 - complete with 'droid cops, machines that can be programmed to spit out dinner and such that add to my enjoyment - Eve becomes the target of someone who's obsessed with her. The culprit goes on a murder spree, leaving cryptic messages outlining his or her special bond with Eve and explaining that the murder was committed on Eve's behalf.

But who's doing it? And even more important, who's next? Clearly, the killer is choosing victims that are related to cases Eve has worked on in the past - cases that might not have ended quite the way they "should" have - and has set out to make things right to impress Eve, the killer's BFF. The problem, of course, is that neither Eve nor anyone with whom she works (including her lovable, pink-obsessed partner Peabody) has a clue as to the killer's identity. Almost every step of the way, the killer is ultra-careful, leaving nothing behind except the messages to Eve. 

As Eve - with the help of her beloved Roarke and talented team members - try to identify the killer, it becomes a psychological battle more than a physical one. For whatever reason, Eve just didn't seem to have the fire that's driven her in previous books; some of the tension - and my concern that somebody close to Eve will become a victim - just wasn't there (hence my 4-star rating). Still, I enjoyed this one thoroughly, and yes, I'm eagerly awaiting publication of the next in the series (reportedly Devoted in Death, to be published Sept. 8).

Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb (G.P. Putnam's Sons, February 2015); 405 pp.

WHISKEY BEACH

3 stars (out of 5)


Put my feet to the fire and I'd consider giving this one 3-12 stars, but for now, 3's my story and I'm stickin' to it. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - every time I had to put it down for a while I looked forward to opening it up again, at least sort of. But from the git-go, it just didn't grab me the way a thriller should (especially one from the usually talented author Nora Roberts, whose books I've enjoyed in the past).

My lack of interest mostly centered on the characters -- starting with Boston lawyer Eli Landon, who's been convicted in the minds of many of  murdering his wife even though he was never charged. In semi-disgrace, he returns to Bluff House, his family's home on Whiskey Island. There, he meets the offbeat Abra, who left a life in the corporate world and personal trauma behind to "find herself" on the island (of course, they quickly become an item). Thereafter, another murder happens and Eli becomes a suspect once again - and continues to be hounded by a Boston detective who's convinced Eli is twice guilty is bound and determined to prove it.

Problem is, not one of these characters is particularly credible, or even very likeable. Any detective who harassed private citizens to the extent this one did wouldn't be a detective very long. Abra is simply too "perfect" to be believed; in fact, I spent most of the book convinced that she was so goody-two-shoes that she just had to end up a villain. Despite his protestations of innocence and attempts to prove he didn't commit either murder, I just couldn't muster up much sympathy for the very stubborn Eli. Even the fairly explicit love scenes between Eli and Abra were, well, lackluster - mostly because I never felt much real chemistry between the two.

Then too, words and phrases kept appearing and reappearing, sometimes in the same paragraph - and although it's been said that repetition is the key to learning, it does nothing to boost the excitement level. In fact, it's downright boring, and it made me conclude that this tale could have been told more effectively in half the number of pages. Leave out some of the multi-talented Abra's endless accomplishments (good lord, is there anything the woman can't do?) and I was sure of it. At one point, in fact, I even envisioned her in the Yoga downward facing dog position while chopping apples with one hand, washing the dog with the other and balancing Eli's laptop on her upward-facing butt.

All along, I kept thinking (make that hoping) that I'd come to a few plot twists that would spark a little emotion - perhaps that one of the characters wasn't who he or she purported to be and I'd at least get to be surprised. Whether or not that happened I can't write here without revealing too much, so I'll just say that while this isn't an awful book and I'm not sorry I read it, it's not even close to a favorite.  

Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts; Putnam Adult (April 2013); 495 pp.