THE OBSESSION
Nora Roberts
Piatkus/Hachette
Reliable is a bit of a weasel word. However, when it when it comes to Nora Roberts, it's an ideal way of describing the work of the prolific American writer. Whether she uses interns to help maintain productivity, I neither know nor care: the important factor is the consistency of her product.
The Obsession starts with a grim discovery by a 12-year-old girl, Naomi, which results in her serial-killer father being imprisoned for life.
At 30, Naomi has moved to the other side of the country but her new life in Washington state is threatened as the past she has tried to put behind her is catching up.
Among the standard fare - renovating an old house, getting a dog and finding a man she can love - a couple of harder issues raise their heads in The Obsession.
Firstly, obviously there is question of what baggage Norah is carrying because of her father's crime and secondly there is her mother's continuing dependence on the man who treated them so badly. These sharper points make The Obsession a better-than-average romantic thriller.
- Gillian Vine is a Dunedin journalist.
