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Summary
Summary
Nora Roberts "just keeps getting better and better," says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now, after the triumphant success of River's End, she reminds us why readers have already bought 35 million copies of her books--and keep coming back for more--with a suspenseful story of a woman struggling to survive in both body and spirit. Tory Bodeen grew up in a small, rundown house where her father ruled with an iron fist and a leather belt--and where her dreams and talents had no room to flourish. But she had Hope--who lived in the big house, just a short skip away, and whose friendship allowed Tory to be something she wasn't allowed to be at home: a child. After young Hope's brutal murder, unsolved to this day, Tory's life began to fall apart. And now, as she returns to the tiny town of Progress, South Carolina, with plans to settle in and open a stylish home-design shop, she is determined to find a measure of peace and free herself from the haunting visions of that terrible night. As she forges a new bond with Cade Lavelle--Hope's older brother and the heir to the Lavelle fortune--she isn't sure whether the tragic loss they share will unite them or drive them apart. But she is willing to open her heart, just a little, and try. But living so close to those unhappy memories will be more difficult and frightening than she ever expected. Because the killer of Hope is nearby as well."Nora Roberts delivers the goods with panache." --Publishers Weekly
Author Notes
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland on October 10, 1950. Her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published in 1981. Since then, she has written more than 200 novels. She writes romances under her own name including Montana Sky, Blue Smoke, Carolina Moon, The Search, Chasing Fire, The Witness, The Perfect Hope, Inner Harbor, Dark Witch, Shadow Spell, The Collector, The Villa, The Liar, The Obsession, and Shelter in Place. She writes crime novels under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb including the In Death series. She has been given the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Doyenne of the bestseller lists, Roberts (River's End) may have achieved her personal best in this tense Southern gothic. As atmospheric and unsettling as a Tennessee Williams play, the story takes us into the gifted mind and troubled soul of visionary Tory Bodeen, whose childhood in Progress, S.C., was marked by her father's beatings, her mother's passivity and, when she was eight, the rape and strangulation of her best friend, Hope Lavelle. Now 26, still haunted by Hope's unsolved murder and memories of an unsettling experience in New York City, to which she fled at age 18, Tory returns to Progress after a quiet four-year stint in Charleston. Although profoundly ambivalent about her psychic ability to connect with other minds, she knows she'll never find peace until she uses her unsettling skill to find the murderer. And by opening a shop full of beautiful objects, she wants to show Progress that she's more than the bruised spawn of despicable Hannibal and Sarabeth Bodeen. She doesn't reckon on being swept off her feet by Hope's older brother, Cade, or by making an enemy and then a fine friend of Hope's twin, Faith. Nor could she have imagined that she would stumble on a chain of past murders seemingly linked to Hope's death. The mystery heats up as a wave of new murders sweeps Progress, but the increasingly intricate plot developments never overwhelm the human element. Roberts--again like Williams- seems disgusted only by unkindness; she treats most of her big cast with affection and compassion for their foibles. Cade doesn't yield an inch to his mother's snobbish contempt for Tory, and the complicated Tory is allowed to hate her own mother and wish her father a painful death: there are no saccharine reconciliations here. Even when a few over-the-top sex scenes and hackneyed phrasings slip in, Roberts's witty dialogue and moody descriptions soon counteract them. This is romantic drama at its best. 400,000 first printing; Literary Guild Main selection; author tour. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Roberts has firmly established herself as one of the major stars of the romance genre, yet this novel is darker, more serious, and more pensive than most of her previous work. It's the story of Tory Bodeen, a young woman haunted by the murder of her childhood friend years ago. Tory's own childhood suffered from a deplorable lack of love and kindness. At the mercy of her ruthless father, who routinely beat her, Tory found brief solace with her friend Hope Lavelle. After Hope's unsolved murder, Tory grew up, left home, worked hard, and now financially independent has returned to her birthplace to open a small gift shop and try to put the memories of the past to rest. When another young woman in the town is brutally murdered, Tory realizes her premonition that the killer is still at large is horrifyingly true. Although Tory's romance with Hope's brother, Cade, takes second place to the childhood grief and trauma that imbue the plot with atmosphere and foreboding, fans are unlikely to be disappointed. Roberts develops her many characters thoughtfully, builds suspense, and gives readers a satisfying if somewhat surprising ending. Essential for public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/99.]--Margaret Ann Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
