River''s End is not the first book I
have
read by this author, Nora Roberts. I am not against reading a
good
romance novel. Especially one with the twists and turns of a
good
crime story. Which is what Nora Roberts does so well. But reader
beware, this is a romance novel and if you don''t like that kind of
thing - this book is not for you. But if you love a good love story
with more, read on.The book opens with little Olivia
Turner,
only 4 years old. She seems to have the perfect life with her parents
who are Hollywood stars. Living in a beautiful house with her
mother and father who dote on their little angel. But things start to go bad
when her father, Sam Turner, starts to see his career go downhill and
he turns to drugs to ease the pain and jealousy of his wife''s rising
career. As drugs take over his life, Olivia''s mother, Julie Turner,
is forced to throw her husband out of the house until he gets
treatment. Olivia is lost and confused by her parent''s problems. But
things go from bad to worse when one night Olivia wakes from a
nightmare and goes looking for her mother. Hearing lovely music, her
search takes Oliva downstairs where she finds her mother covered in
blood with her father standing over her mother, also covered in blood
with a pair of scissors in his hands. Scared to death, Olivia runs
and hides in her closet with her stuffed animals.This is
where detective Frank Brady finds her, in shock and unable to move.
She is convinced the monster is going to get her. But Brady coaxes
her out of the closet where she then clings to him and cries for him
to protect her from the monster. The case haunts Brady long after he
has locked Sam Turner away. It also comes to haunt his 8 year old
son, Noah, when Noah sees Olivia''s four year old face crying on the
television when the press swooped down on her. Noah is never able to
push that image out of his mind. In typical Hollywood
fashion, the media is unable to let go of the sensational tragedy of
the two stars. So Olivia''s family decides it is best to keep Olivia
out of the spot light and send her to live with her grandparents in
the beautiful Olympic rain forest on the Washington coast. Olivia
grows up and comes to love the forest as her mother and her twin,
Olivia''s aunt, did. But the monster never really goes away.Noah
grows up, never quite forgetting Olivia. He becomes a real crime
writer, to his father''s disappointment. Noah is surprised when
convicted murderer Sam Turner contacts him and asks him to write the
real story of what happened that night. Noah, who has been haunted by
the story since he was 8, agrees to it. But will the story he wants
to write destroy all who are involved or will it finally heal a wound
that has been covered, not healed.As this book goes on to
follow the lives of these people who the
murder had touched, I found
myself caring about them and losing myself in Robert''s
beautiful descriptions of the rain forest and the life Olivia came to
live. While the romance part of the book is very strong, I have to
say that the crime
thriller aspect of the book has a very strong
showing too, the book never lets you forget that it is also a crime
story. I can see this book not appealing to everyone. After
all, romance novels are a particular taste. If you don''t like that
type of book, then you will not have read anything by Nora Roberts
and this should be missed. As for the crime aspect of this book, I
thought it was very well done. The violence is descriptive enough to
get your attention, but far from graphic. The plot of the crime
aspect may be surprising to some, others may have it figured out
before half the book is read. Upon deciding to write this op
for here, I went to several other sites to read what other people had
to say about this book. I found it got very mixed reviews. Some said
it was a real page turner and they loved it. Some said that it was
not Robert''s besaid that it was boring and the
plot was obvious. My opinion of it was that it was excellent. I
really enjoyed it and couldn''t put it down until the end. But like
all things, it is an opinion. If this is your kind of thing - I would
say most definitely give it a go. I will enjoy reading this book over
again and am glad I own it. For those of you who can''t stomach
romance - you don''t know what you are missing.