Veena’s review of The Obsession by Nora Roberts
Contemporary Romantic Suspense published by Berkley 12 Apr 16
Photographer Naomi Carson has never stayed in a location longer than a few months until she comes to rest in the Pacific Northwest where a beautiful rundown house with a view to die for calls to her and gets her started on the road to putting down roots. Before she knows it, she’s acquired a dog, and Xander Keaton, a local heartthrob, is courting her. Unfortunately her demons are not far behind as first one and then another woman disappears from town and their bodies start turning up in the woods around Naomi’s house. This is a sweet, sexy story in a small town with chilling undertones that will sweep the reader in and under.
My son and daughter-in-law recently bought a home which they remodeled with the help of a great contractor who’s become a great friendm much in the same way as Kevin and Naomi. The story brings alive the joy and passion I saw them experience as Naomi makes decisions about color, furniture, style, dishes and all the wonderful things that make a house a beautiful home. I love the barn where Naomi and Jenny go shopping and their keen eyes pick out beautiful pieces with character that they plan to restore to beauty. I love Xander’s doubt when he picks up the proposed kitchen chairs and his mechanically oriented male mind fails to see the beauty that Naomi visualizes. The author does not neglect the outside as she brings in Lelo with his visions of scent and color to complement Naomi’s creativity.
Xander is well respected in Sunrise Cove, having lived his entire life there. Not that Naomi hasn’t experienced love and tenderness in her well-adjusted loving relationships with her uncles and her brother, but Xander just brings a whole new dimension in his quiet, tender way. His directness and honesty when he first meets Naomi and his no-bones approach about her making room in her life for him is as charming as his dousing her with water in the midst of a water fight at his friend Kevin’s house. The entire cast of characters in Sunrise Cove charmed the socks off me, and it’s great to see the solidarity as the town closes ranks when their own are kidnapped and killed in horrible circumstances.
The story is not all sweetness and lightness as the author gives us glimpses throughout the story of a killer’s twisted mind and his obsession with Naomi, though it’s not till the very end that all is revealed. A chilling story emerges as Naomi’s FBI profiler brother sits down and starts matching dead bodies to Naomi’s travels and pictures. These dark bits add a nice edge to the story, keeping the light and dark well balanced through all the other normal moments as Naomi takes pictures of Xander’s fellow band mates or creates post cards to sell to the tourists who come to enjoy the beauty of this picturesque town at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. All in all another winner from a prolific author who writes every genre she attempts as though it’s her specialty.
Grade: A
See Sandy M’s review.
Summary:
She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.”
Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes.
Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the kindly residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton.
Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.
No excerpt available.
