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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Since this book is divided into three distinct parts, I’ll review it accordingly.
Part 1: I was hooked from the very beginning. As Sloan is thrust into a life or death situation, she’s forced to reevaluate everything and confront what truly matters. Her struggle to let go of her old life and fight for a new one was compelling and emotionally charged. I was fully invested in her journey and loved how the story explored the outcome of her trauma and need for survival.
Part 2: Unfortunately, this section completely lost me. While I understand that Roberts was aiming to develop Sloan’s character and provide context, the pacing slowed to a crawl. The focus on her daily walks and home renovations felt repetitive and unnecessary. It disrupted the tension and momentum built in the first part and made it hard to stay engaged.
Part 3: Wait….that’s it? After such a long build up, the confrontation with the killers felt rushed and underwhelming. I wish this part of the story had been introduced earlier and allowed to unfold with more suspense. A slower, more psychological cat and mouse game between Sloan and Clara could’ve made the ending fantastic, giving it more of a Silence of the Lambs vibe. The potential was there for a powerful clash of wills, but it didn’t fully deliver like I was expecting.
Overall, I really enjoyed the beginning and ending, but the middle dragged for me. Still, if you enjoy a slow-burn story with a dramatic, fast-paced conclusion, this might be right up your alley.
*Thank you to Nora Roberts, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts
Romantic suspense mixed with police procedural.
Nash Littlefield moves to Maryland to start a rehab business. He’s not interested in following the path his parents tried to push him down. His younger brother soon joins him and they start Fix-It Brothers for home remodeling and household repairs. Both men soon meet the Cooper sisters and fall hard.
Sloan Cooper is recovering from getting shot during her job as a Natural Resources police officer in Heron’s Rest, Maryland. She can’t leave the investigative habit behind even while on medical leave. When a local woman goes missing, leaving behind her car, Sloan starts asking questions and doing research. She finds several similar cases and knows there is a killer near by. Nash helps Sloan with her house remodel, while also listening and helping her work through the mystery and connections of the missing.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by January LaVoy who does a fantastic job of keeping the reader on the edge of the seat. The performance is wonderfully rich with Sloan’s exhaustion, her determination and her puzzle-solving mind, all clearly felt as the story progresses. There are distinct voices for the main characters, including the killer. It was chilling to hear the killer and Sloan talking together when they first met!
I did listen at and above 1.5 to more closely match my reading and conversational speed.
Thrilling and suspenseful. The audiobook bumped this from 4 to 4.5.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.
I think this type of Nora’s books are my least favorite: three long parts, ten chapters each, and the resolution in the very last one. They all could’ve been twice as short if there weren’t villains’ POVs and filler chapters about some abstract topic (building houses, in this case).
I read the first couple of POV entries from Clara and Sam, then skipped the rest. They made me uncomfortable and creeped me out. I think this is the first Nora Roberts book that includes some type of cannibalism (if human blood consumption counts).
I was frustrated with how long it took for Sloan and Nash to meet. They lived in close proximity for months and never even accidentally crossed paths. Drea and Theo’s romance in the background was more interesting than the main characters’.
It also got on my nerves how Sloan was supposed to be this super cop with brilliant memory and attention to detail, yet she missed Clara and Sam every time they were near. She had no gut feeling about them. Also, knowing she was one of the next targets, she did nothing to increase her awareness or personal security. She lived in a pretty rural area with very little traffic—so how didn’t she notice the car tailing her every time she went out?
The police had a possible witness who talked to the woman connected to the abduction. Why didn’t they use a sketch artist? The police work made no sense in this book. Why did no one look into the medical personnel connected to all the victims? Surely, they would’ve found a common denominator—a very helpful nurse named Clara. Then they would’ve connected her to her partner Sam. That’s it. Case closed.
So overall, by the end of the book, I was very annoyed and just wanted to be done with it.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
This was weird. People are nuts. Not my favorite Nora book but still a good one.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes