Shelter in Place

by Nora Roberts

'If you're after the perfect pick-me-up, take-me-away-from-the-world read, then she's your woman'
The Guardian

'Nora Roberts is, quite simply, a one-woman phenomenon'
Heat

'I love Nora Roberts'
Stephen King

When the shots rang out in the shopping mall, Simone Knox knew what to do. Shelter in place. That's what they taught you to do in the event of a mass shooting. So on that terrible, hot summer day in 2005, Simone was lucky. She escaped death. But she would never be the same again.

More than ten years later, Simone still struggles with grief, trauma and the misplaced guilt of a survivor. She spends much of her time alone on Tranquility Island - a quiet, artistic community off the coast of Maine. But she is transforming - shaping herself the way she shapes her extraordinary and highly prized sculptures. As she heals herself, she opens up to Reed Quartermaine, who survived the shooting himself and has become a detective.

But someone has been watching all the survivors of the DownEast Mall massacre. They have spent years perfecting a plan to finish what was started that day. Now that Reed and Simone have found each other, they are in more danger than they can possibly imagine - from a killer who will not, and cannot stop.

• ISBN10: 0349417806
• ISBN13: 9780349417806
• Publish Date: 29 May 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[thebookdisciple]

Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts is the type of story that I just adore. Roberts is such a masterful writer. In this book, she starts off with a mass casualty event. You see how it affects so many people-the young teen who makes the first 911 call, the college boy home for the summer who saves a little boy, the first cop on the scene who takes down one of the shooters, the families, and so many others. Its such a tragedy and to see how it affects the survivors over a number of years is stunning. You see the good and the bad of how people handle trauma. The story's romance centers around Reed and Simone, but the story is about so much more than them.

Reed takes the tragedy and uses it to define his future by deciding to become a cop. His partner, years later? The first cop on the scene, Essie, who talked to him after the trauma and helped him find his path. Simone went to Columbia and lived her friends dreams and tried to be the daughter her parents wanted. She was miserable. She finally gives that up and begins her career as an artist, eventually settling on Tranquility island with her grandmother Cece. Cece provides this wonderful side character to the story and I loved that. Roberts manages to create dynamic side characters as well as main characters and they add such depth to the story.

You learn who the villain is pretty early on in Shelter in Place, so there isn't really a mystery about who or what. The suspense is the slow build of the villainous plan and the waiting to see how it will all play out. Roberts manages to write this in such a delicious way that you simply can't stop reading (or listening). Finally, I have to note that January Lavoy did a wonderful job with the narration! This would be a great book for anyone who is looking to start listening to audiobooks.

 

•   POV: 3rd


•   Tears: no


•   Triggers: obviously, there is a mass shooting at a crowded mall. This might be difficult for some readers


•   Series/Standalone: stand alone


•   Cliffhanger: no


•   HEA: yes

Jayne Ann Krentz, Karen Rose, Laura Griffin, Christina Dodd...then you will probably like Shelter in Place!

 

Shelter in Place

 

See full review on The Book Disciple