I just love Nora Roberts books. I don’t think she has ever written one I didn’t like. Now granted I haven’t read every book she has written but based on what I have it should be okay to say that. Her latest Shelter In Place, in stores Tuesday, May 29, from St. Martin’s Press is another winner. It shows a tragedy and how people are ultimately able to overcome it and move on with their lives in unexpected ways.
It was a typical Friday night in 2005. Teens went to the movies at the mall and parents took their kids there as well to go shopping, eat dinner and just hangout. On the screen high school best friends Mi, Simone and Tish went to see the new Ewan McGregor movie The Island (which by the way is a good movie!). Simone has just been dumped by her boyfriend (who showed up at the movie with his new girlfriend) making things awkward. Mean while Reed is working at as a waiter in one of the mall restaurants making money to help pay for college while his friend Chaz is working at one of the stores. Simone decides midway through the movie she has to pee. While she is doing her business all hell breaks loose.
Three teenage boys show up with guns and start firing. One in the movie theater and the other two in the mall. Everyone is running for their lives. Simone calls 911 first and then Reed. Close by are cops Essie and her partner. They are first on the scene and Essie takes down the shooter in the theater. Soon the other two are dead as well and then the recovery and aftermath begins. There are a lot of people dead and injured.
Fast forward a few years and Reed who survived has decided to be a cop. Simone also survived and has had issues since the shooting is taking after her Grandmother Cici (a hoot of a character) and becoming an artist. Each trying to cope in their own ways. As time goes by people that were associated with the mall massacre, survivors and people who got a little fame are suddenly being killed. At first it is figured it is just a coincidence. Soon it is figured out it’s not and when the killer goes after Reed and fails. He is able to identify who it is and then it becomes a game of cat and mouse to find the killer as more people associated with the massacre are killed.
It also leads to new beginnings for Reed, Simone and others associated with that fateful night. It might even mean love and finally putting the past behind them once and for all.
A timely story since there does seem to be gun massacres frequently these days (and it could hit a little too close to home for some people). It shows how a tragic event can affect a person for a lifetime and it’s not an easy thing to get over. The story is rich in characters especially as I said above in Cici (one of my favorite characters in any book the last few years). I stout story that goes along in real time with characters that you will root for to find happiness and overcome.
Nora Roberts shows time and again why she is one of the top writers in the world these days with this new novel!
