Recently I made a trip to the bookstore and added more books to my pile to read. Northern Lights, the newest book by Nora Roberts was one of the books I got. I started reading it as soon as I got home.

Nate Burke took the job as sheriff in the small town of Lunacy Alaska to start over. He’d been a detective on the Baltimore force for several years. His partner had been killed, and Nate felt guilty. His life started to fall apart. He decided to take the job in Lunacy, though he wasn’t sure how long he would last. Some people in town weren’t happy that an outsider had been brought in to fill the position. Nate started to adjust to the short days and cold weather. There wasn’t much for him to deal with on the job. He was getting along all right with his two deputies. He started to make a few friends, though he was still battling his depression. He met Meg Galloway, a local bush pilot, and was drawn to her. She’d lived in Lunacy her whole life. Her mother, Charlene, owned a hotel in town. They didn’t have a good relationship. Meg wasn’t interested in having a relationship with anyone, but she did end up involved with Nate.

There were several mountains near Lunacy that people liked to climb. After a bad storm, a body was discovered in a cave the mountain known as no name. The man had been murdered. His body was frozen so it was preserved exactly as it was when he was killed. The man turned out to be someone that had lived in Lunacy and left many years before. He was supposed to be going to look for work, but he never returned. People in town assumed he just took off. The state police took over the investigation, but Nate kept digging. Something else happened that was connected to the murder. Evidence pointed to one thing, but Nate believed that something else was going on. Someone in Lunacy didn’t want Nate to uncover the truth. That person was willing to go to extreme measures to keep the truth hidden.

Northern Lights was longer than some other books by Nora Roberts. It could be too long for some people, but the length didn’t bother me at all. The book was complex and had a lot going on. It wasn’t hard for me to keep up with what was going on. There were subplots that dealt with some of the characters’ lives and relationships. I didn’t feel that the subplots took away from the main focus of the book. The things explored in the subplots helped to make some of the characters more rounded. I thought they were interesting and wasn’t bothered by them. The book covered several months, so it wasn’t rushed. The book did skip over some days and weeks at times. The pace seemed just right to me, though some people may think it was too slow.

At different times, exerts from a journal turned up. The journal was written by someone climbing no name in February 1988. Entries from a few different days during the climb were shared. The author of the journal wasn’t identified in the pages, but that seemed normal to me. I don’t think many people refer to themselves by name when writing in a journal. Things written in the journal indicated that the writer was a man. He was climbing with two friends who also weren’t identified by name. The three men had started to call each other by the names of characters from a movie. Those names were used in the journal. It was very obvious when an exert turned up. The exerts did slow down the pace of the book slightly, but that didn’t bother me. They added to the plot because they were tied to the murder.

The setting of a small town in Alaska did impact the plot. Lunacy was a very small town with only around 500 people living in and around the town. People knew just about everyone else. Once the body was discovered, people were shocked by the thought that there might be a murderer living in the town. The body stayed hidden for years. It was left in a cave that was probably covered by some avalanches over the years. People were shocked by what developed after the body was discovered and identified. Nate was still new to town when he started investigating. He didn’t have as much trouble believing that a killer was in Lunacy since he was still new to town and only had a few friends. The parts of the book that dealt with Nate adjusting to life in Alaska reminded me of the television show Northern Exposure and even the movie Insomnia . In Northern Exposure, a doctor had to adjust to living in Alaska. In Insomnia, a police detective traveled to a small town in Alaska to help investigate a murder. He went only to help with the investigation, and had major trouble dealing with the very long days. Nate took the job as sheriff, but he didn’t expect to be dealing with a murder investigation. He also had to adjust to the length of the days, but they were very short when he arrived. Nate also got to deal with some situations that wouldn’t normally happen in other places, like a moose causing a car accident.

I think that Northern Lights is considered a romantic suspense book. The romance part of the book wasn’t the main focus and didn’t detract from the mystery. Nate and Meg ended up involved, but there really weren’t that many romantic scenes between them in the book. Their relationship did seem to grow quickly since they ended up in bed not to long after they met. There were some sex scenes in the book, but they weren’t too descriptive. Meg’s mother Charlene was known for going after as many men as she could. She hit on Nate as soon as she saw him. She was very blatant about what she wanted from him, but he wasn’t interested. Charlene wasn’t use to being turned down, and she was a bit upset that Nate preferred to become involved with Meg instead. That did add some tension to Charlene and Meg’s relationship.

Nate adjusting to life in Alaska was a major part of the first several chapters of the book. Even after he settled in, there were still new things for him to experience or deal with. Once the body was discovered in the cave, the focus of the book shifted more to the investigation into who he was and how he had died. For the first several weeks he was in town, Nate only had minor things to deal with. Certain things happened after the body was found and identified that pointed to a particular explanation. Nate thought something else was going on and kept digging. Other things then happened that Nate thought were connected to the old murder. The book kept my guessing, but it wasn’t so complicated that I couldn’t keep track of what was going on or who was who. There were several times when I wasn’t sure what would happen next. There was violence in different scenes of the book. There were a few things that were a bit disturbing to read about. The violence was descriptive, but it didn’t seem excessive. People who don’t like to read books with violence in them may want to pick a different book. Even though the book is considered a romantic suspense book, I think it is more of a mystery with a little bit of romance added in.

There were several characters in Northern Lights. Nate was the main character and most developed. He had a lot of depth, and that made him seem more realistic. The main characters in books by Nora Roberts are usually well developed. In most romantic suspense books, women are the main characters. This isn’t the first book that Roberts has written with a man being the main character. It seems like when the man is a main character in one of her books, the woman character isn’t anywhere near as developed. Meg was missing for large chunks of the book. She did act a bit insensitive toward Nate a few times. She did have her own business that required her to leave town at times, but she did have a habit of going off on a flight without letting Nate know she would be gone. She was all right as a character, but the way she acted did annoy me a few times. I didn’t like her as much as I did Nate. Charlene seemed to be just obsessed with hitting on men and sleeping with them, but there was a bit more to her that came out a little later in the book. None of the other characters were as developed as Nate was, but that didn’t bother me since they weren’t main characters.

Nora Roberts also writes a futuristic mystery series as J.D. Robb. The books in the In Death series have much more focus on mystery. I have read all of those books and really enjoy them. I actually started to read those books before moving onto the books she writes under her own name. There is usually more violence in the In Death books. I really enjoy all the books she has written, with both names. There isn’t that much difference between the different books, so I think that people who enjoy Nora Roberts books may also like J.D. Robb books.

CHARACTERS

Nate Burke - Former Baltimore detective that took a job as sheriff in a small town in Alaska. His life fell apart after his partner was killed and he was still dealing with guilt and depression from that. Nate was a good cop and determined to keep looking into the old murder even though some people in town would prefer he let it drop. He wanted to help people.

Meg Galloway - She was born and raised in Lunacy. She was a bush pilot. She lived outside of town with her two dogs. She liked being alone at times. She didn’t always act nice to people who cared about her. She did try to shut Nate out at different times. She was independent and made that known several times.

Charlene - She was Meg’s mother. Charlene had never been married to Meg’s dad. Charlene owned the hotel in town that also had a restaurant where many people ate at. Charlene enjoyed being with younger men, and she hit on every man that turned up in town. She did things that were hurtful to a man that had been in love with her for years. Charlene was very upset when she couldn’t get Nate in bed. She and Meg didn’t have a good relationship.

Northern Lights was published in October of 2004. The book is available as a hardback and an audio book. I have the hard back version.

I really enjoyed Northern Lights. Meg wasn’t my favorite character, but I still enjoyed the book overall. It was very entertaining and kept my interest. The book is a must read for fans of Nora Roberts.

Other Nora Roberts Book Reviews
Dance Upon the Air ~ Heaven & Earth ~ Face the Fire ~ Reflections ~ Dance of Dreams ~ Hidden Star ~ Captive Star ~ Secret Star ~ Night Shift ~ Night Shadow ~ Night Smoke ~ Night Shield ~ Cordina's Crown Jewel ~ Cordina's Royal Family ~ Once More With Feeling ~ Midnight Bayou ~ Three Fates ~ The Villa ~ Sweet Revenge ~ Genuine Lies ~ Chesapeake Blue ~ Birthright ~ Engaging the Enemy ~ Remember When ~ Key of Light ~ Key of Knowledge ~ Key of Valor ~


Recommended: Yes