Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Identity by Nora Roberts Published by St. Martin's Press on May 23, 2023
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 448
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan's job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.
Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. "Luke” is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.
What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn't flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away.
I was thrilled to be offered the chance to read this latest romantic suspense stand-alone from Nora Roberts. I’m a huge fan of her JD Robb books and the small number of her books I have read. I am slowly working on her backlist for me.
The style and tone of this book felt familiar to the JD Robb books. Morgan was easy to like. She worked hard for her goals, was compassionate with others. She exhibited one of my standards – expect nothing, be grateful for everything. Even when she did excellent work for her employers she didn’t expect them to like her or anything beyond a paycheck. But she built a group of real friends in Baltimore, a sort of found family. Until her identity was stolen.
Not only was her close friend murdered, but all her accounts were drained with loans being taken out in her name, against her house, new credit cards opened in her name with huge charges. Morgan works hard to pay the debts through her 2 jobs, but finally has to sell her house and move to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother to start over financially. I don’t think I would handle things as well or calmly as Morgan.
So the middle portion of the story finds Morgan working in a new job, a very good job, which is fulfilling. She is living with her Mom and Grams and getting to know them. They are not who she thought and it’s a blessing for all three to have this time together. She also finds a romantic relationship. During this time, she gets chilling updates from the FBI periodically. This middle, large portion of the book, was inspiring in her work and character growth, but not much in the way of action. Even the romance was relaxed, friendly and comfortable.
The serial killer, Gavin, has been devolving, blaming Morgan for his bad luck. It’s inevitable he will come for her. This caused tension for me throughout the book. The actual attack near the end was bad enough, but I was proud of how Morgan handled herself, as she was prepared. The story feels more like the development of Morgan as she learns to know herself and her family, a bit more than romance. I really enjoyed and recommend Identity.
About Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. She married young and settled in Keedysville, Maryland where she worked briefly as a legal secretary. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old.
Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.
Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time, they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore together.
Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms. Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice between figuring men out or running away screaming.
Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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I haven’t read Nora Roberts in a long time. I love how she’s able to write in different genres😁
yes, she’s versatile and prolific.
I’ve got a few of her older standalones on my audio shelf and I love the JD Robb series. This one sounds like an interesting mash of women’s fic and thriller.
yes exactly. This one is a blend. I’ve collected some audios of some of her backlist and need to fit in reading them. I’m up to date on JD Robb though.
I’m reading this one right now and enjoying it. I agree, the middle portion is low on action, but still engrossing and entertaining. I like the life Morgan is having with her mom, grandma and the setting.
yes exactly. It’s a good story. If it didn’t do so much, it could have been a bit shorter. But the drink mixing and flowers and all are interesting. But the relationship building with family and her new work family is important even if low action.
This was a good one! I really liked Morgan, and admired her growth (and grit) as she rebuilt her life and learned what she needed to survive the attack at the end. I liked Miles, too, but you are right that the romance is only a part of Morgan’s story and character arc. Good review!
Thank you! I enjoyed it. There are a lot of layers / genres in it. Morgan is strong. I can’t think how I would manage identity theft.
Alas, I don’t have to imagine it; I lived it. My identity was stolen by a total stranger. Luckily, things didn’t go nearly as far as in the book. We found out in time to freeze my credit so no one could take out additional loans or credit cards out in my name, other than ones that were opened in that first weekend before we realized what was going on. And thank goodness the identity thief didn’t get actual access to my accounts, so we didn’t lose any money. Since I was able to prove the new accounts were fraudulent, I wasn’t liable for those expenses either. But it took me months and months to get it all straightened out. And I was lucky; it could have be so much worse.
That’s horrible. I’m sorry it happened.
I just finished this one and really enjoyed it! I love how Roberts’ developed Morgan’s character but wow the bad guy definitely made this a tense read for me! Great review!
Thank you Katherine. It was a good read. I’m more used to the dark side.
I love her standalones on audio so I held out for that, which my library came through with yesterday. I’ll be starting it later today. Anne, I highly recommend her standalones on audio as she uses narrators we typically find on our top ten lists. This one is narrated by January LaVoy.
Really happy you enjoyed this one💜
yes I saw it was January LaVoy and almost went audio but I already had the eARC and so many audios for review this month. You would think I’d have more in June with #JIAM but no the audios are thick at the end of May instead.
I haven’t read Nora Roberts in quite some time but I did like her books. I do enjoy tracking a serial killer.
yes that’s more common in her JD Robb books where I am up to date. The backlist for me of standalones is more of a mix. Romantic suspense has always been a favorite for me.
I really enjoyed this and ended up getting my mom the audiobook.
It’s got a lot to enjoy with sort of a mix of character development, romantic suspense and a serial killer investigation.
I’ve read a couple by Nora Roberts. I wish I liked her stuff more.
Well Nora is prolific. I like the JD Robb books the best but there are some of her regular romantic suspense books I enjoy too.