Sandy M’s review of Under Currents by Nora Roberts
Contemporary Romance published by St. Martin’s Press 9 Jul 19
Unlike some authors who seem to lose steam after a number of years of writing, Nora Roberts is still going strong, bringing to the forefront in her stories important issues of our day. As with her last book, Shelter in Place – about a mass shooting and its aftermath – Under Currents takes a look at child and spousal abuse, following our hero, Zane, and how he deals with the life of terror and rage he lived and then survived.
The story begins with Zane trying to watch out for his younger sister, Britt, to make sure she doesn’t become a target of their father. He beats his wife regularly and all his children can do is wait until the ugly evil is over. Then one night everything escalates and Zane finds himself beaten, arrested, and locked up – all because his father is an important man in town. Thank heaven for other family and friends who believe in him and Bitt. They save both children from further injury, emotional and physical, while their parents get what they deserve.
Darby is no stranger to abuse herself. After the loss of her mother, she decides it’s time for a new start in life. She picks the small town of Lakeview, North Carolina, and begins to set up shop for her landscaping business and make contacts to get started. It’s Zane’s Aunt Emily – who raised both children, along with her Chief of Police husband Lee, after their terror ended – who is the conduit between Darby and Zane. While this story is full of heartbreaking emotion, there’s plenty of banter and laughter and it begins with these two characters, despite their horrible pasts. Darby can talk anyone in to new landscaping with her visions of the outcomes she can produce, and Zane is hanging out his shingle for his new law office. From the moment they meet, they’re perfect together.
So much happens in this book, I don’t want to go into any more here. You need to read this one to discover it all yourself. Evil, of course, heads their way again and again, and in true Nora Roberts’ style, her characters work together to combat whatever comes their way. They get knocked down plenty of times, but they come back stronger because of their connections to one another and their unwillingness to be broken. Ms. Roberts’ romantic suspense stories are absolute favorite reads for me. She never misses the mark, pulls you completely into each and every character’s life, twists and turns you around and around before giving you that hard-earned happily ever after. And you’ll – and I – love every minute of it.
Grade: A+
Summary:
Within the walls of a tasteful, perfectly kept house in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, young Zane Bigelow feels like a prisoner of war. Strangers—and even Zane’s own aunt across the lake—see his parents as a successful surgeon and his stylish wife, making appearances at their children’s ballet recitals and baseball games. Zane and his sister know the truth: There is something terribly wrong.
As his father’s violent, controlling rages—and his mother’s complicity—become more and more oppressive, Zane counts the years, months, days until he can escape. He looks out for little Britt, warning her Be smart. Be careful. In fear for his very life, he plays along with the insidious lie that everything is fine, while scribbling his real thoughts in a secret journal he must carefully hide away.
When one brutal, shattering night finally reveals cracks in the façade, Zane begins to understand that some people are willing to face the truth, even when it hurts. As he grows into manhood and builds a new kind of family, he will find that while the darkness of his past may always shadow him, it will also show him what is necessary for good to triumph—and give him strength to draw on when he once again must stand up and defend himself and the ones he loves…
No excerpt available.
