Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts

Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts
Pages: 436
Length: 15 hours 22 minutes


Genres: Romantic Suspense
Setting: Portland, ME
Source: Audible
Narrator: January LaVoy
Also by this author: The Obsession

Goodreads

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes Shelter in Place - a powerful tale of heart, heroism . . . and propulsive suspense.

It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game store tending to customers. Then the shooters arrived.

The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies' room, hopelessly clutching her cell phone - until she finally found a way to pour her emotions into her art.

But one person wasn't satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait - and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.

Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts is the type of story that I just adore. Roberts is such a masterful writer. In this book, she starts off with a mass casualty event. You see how it affects so many people-the young teen who makes the first 911 call, the college boy home for the summer who saves a little boy, the first cop on the scene who takes down one of the shooters, the families, and so many others. Its such a tragedy and to see how it affects the survivors over a number of years is stunning. You see the good and the bad of how people handle trauma. The story’s romance centers around Reed and Simone, but the story is about so much more than them.

Reed takes the tragedy and uses it to define his future by deciding to become a cop. His partner, years later? The first cop on the scene, Essie, who talked to him after the trauma and helped him find his path. Simone went to Columbia and lived her friends dreams and tried to be the daughter her parents wanted. She was miserable. She finally gives that up and begins her career as an artist, eventually settling on Tranquility island with her grandmother Cece. Cece provides this wonderful side character to the story and I loved that. Roberts manages to create dynamic side characters as well as main characters and they add such depth to the story.

You learn who the villain is pretty early on in Shelter in Place, so there isn’t really a mystery about who or what. The suspense is the slow build of the villainous plan and the waiting to see how it will all play out. Roberts manages to write this in such a delicious way that you simply can’t stop reading (or listening). Finally, I have to note that January Lavoy did a wonderful job with the narration! This would be a great book for anyone who is looking to start listening to audiobooks.

 

•   POV: 3rd
•   Tears: no
•   Triggers: View Spoiler »obviously, there is a mass shooting at a crowded mall. This might be difficult for some readers « Hide Spoiler
•   Series/Standalone: stand alone
•   Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »no « Hide Spoiler
•   HEA: View Spoiler »yes « Hide Spoiler

Jayne Ann Krentz, Karen Rose, Laura Griffin, Christina Dodd…then you will probably like Shelter in Place!

 

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