By: Nora Roberts
Synopsis
It was a typical summer evening at the mall in Rockpoint, not far from Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses at a kiosk. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game store tended to his 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, helplessly clutching her cell phone – until she finally found a way to pour the emotions of that night into her art.
Some people would devour the details of the tragedy obsessively, while others avoided anything that might trigger flashbacks. Some would strive to exploit the event for fame or profit.
But for one person, the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall wasn’t high enough, the incalculable sorrow inflicted not enough to satisfy. And as the survivors’ lives play out and intertwine in surprising ways, as they heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator has been lying in wait ever since that terrible night – and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.
My Thoughts
I am new to Nora Roberts. I’ve read a couple of her fantasy series and really enjoyed them, but this is the first stand alone. I appreciated that this book was not heavy on romance as I understand a lot of her books are a little more centered around this aspect of the story. The book grabs you from the very beginning. It can be difficult to write about mass shootings, but Nora Roberts handled it well. The storyline was very interesting in how it flowed into the lives of the survivors years after the event and the effect the shooting had on them. There were no real surprises as you know the whole time who the villain is, but that didn’t detract from the tension in the story. The characters were mostly likable, though I didn’t care for the sister and didn’t really get why she was alway so mad at Simone. At the end of the book, I really liked the way Simone honored her lost friend and the other victims of the shooting with the beautiful memorial. All in all, I really liked this book. I plan on reading more by Nora Roberts, so if you have any suggestions for me I’d love to hear them.