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It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three
teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the
girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the
manager at video game store tended to customers. Then the shooters
arrived.
The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies' room, helplessly clutching her cell phone--until she finally found a way to pour her emotions into her art.
But one person wasn't satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait--and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.
The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies' room, helplessly clutching her cell phone--until she finally found a way to pour her emotions into her art.
But one person wasn't satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait--and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.
Genre: romantic suspense
Publication date: June 2018
Mature content: yes
Review: I read a lot of good and bad reviews of Shelter in Place. Personally, I liked it - I liked the story, the plot, the characters and the general message the author is trying to pass on.
Is it the type of book we are used to reading from Nora Roberts? Probably not. But no one can expect an author to always revolve around the same subjects and story lines. So, yes, it is different, but different sometimes is good, and in this case I think it is.
Shelter in place is a fairly long book, with the plot spanning several years and including a lot of characters, but I was never bored or lost in the story.
My only complaint (and the reason for the 4-star rating): some of the characters (the "good" ones) and dialogs are so perfectly politically correct that they become unrealistic. Their words and actions are pretty and do convey all the right messages - but sometimes a bit too much. It almost seems like the characters are reading some rehearsed speech instead of having a normal conversation.
I put down Shelter in Place as a romantic suspense, but you should be warned that there isn't much of either romance or suspense, though the plot does have a few interesting twists and is original enough to be compelling.
Is it the type of book we are used to reading from Nora Roberts? Probably not. But no one can expect an author to always revolve around the same subjects and story lines. So, yes, it is different, but different sometimes is good, and in this case I think it is.
My only complaint (and the reason for the 4-star rating): some of the characters (the "good" ones) and dialogs are so perfectly politically correct that they become unrealistic. Their words and actions are pretty and do convey all the right messages - but sometimes a bit too much. It almost seems like the characters are reading some rehearsed speech instead of having a normal conversation.
I put down Shelter in Place as a romantic suspense, but you should be warned that there isn't much of either romance or suspense, though the plot does have a few interesting twists and is original enough to be compelling.
Happy readings,
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