River's End by Nora Roberts Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 5, 1999
Pages: 420
Format: Softcover
Source: Bookstore
A romance between a woman employed as a rain forest guide on the Olympic Peninsula and a reporter investigating her mother's murder. The heroine is Olivia whose father is in jail for killing her mother and she wants no reminders of the horror she saw as a child. But reporter Noah Brady is persistent, having been asked by Olivia's father to clear his name, and his persistence leads to justice for one and love with the other. By the author of The Reef.
My Review
Honestly, I do not know how Nora Roberts does it because everything she seems to write I absolutely love and that includes River’s End. I went into this book expecting a story about a girl who grows up knowing that her father killed her mother a burden that she would have to carry for her entire life. Let me tell you this story was so much more than that and the twist has me still thinking about this book days after reading it.
At the beginning of the book, we see a glimpse of the life that Olivia had with her parents in Beverly Hills before the monster came that night and changed everything. After Olivia testified to what she saw that night through a video (due to being only four years old) Sam Tanner (her father) is sentenced to fifteen or maybe twenty years in prison without parole. Livvy’s (Olivia) story starts again in a new home that is in a different state with her loving grandparents. Livvy is sheltered from that point on, she does not attend school with other kids because Val and Rob (her grandparents) do not want her to be a spectacle for the public eye. She is homeschooled and raised at her grandparent’s resort/campground where she is able to play with the children who stay and wander about in the woods. Rob and Val also shelter her from any movies her parents were in, magazine articles or books written about them, and also photographs which they locked up in the attic. Olivia’s relatives do not speak about Julie (her mom) or Sam because it is simply to painful. So needless to say she suffers from anxiety, PTSD, and panic attacks. However, Olivia becomes a very focused individual and does very well in school and college. Everything in her life seems to be going smoothly until she receives a visit from Noah who happens to be Frank’s son. Frank was the arresting officer at the murder scene of her mother and the man who rescued her from the monster when she was just four years old. Needless to say that the meeting with Noah did not end well once she discovered that he wanted to write a book about her mother’s murder. It will be six years before they meet again.
Noah has never been able to get the case of Julie’s murder out of his head let alone her daughter. His attempt six years prior did not go well with the book or his heart because he was struck by how Livvy was able to get under his skin in such a short amount of time. She is not only a beauty but she is smart too which really makes her the whole package for him. It isn’t until one day out of the blue that Sam Tanner reaches out to Noah to write his story which brings Noah back around to the idea of writing this book. Oh, I should mention that Noah writes nonfiction books that have to do with terrible crimes for a living. He has sold multiple books at this point and that is why he believes that Sam has reached out to him to write the story. I do have to say though that the timing of this coincides with Sam coming up for parole after twenty years in prison. The prospect of writing this book does not settle well with his family or the victim’s family. Noah however is determined to find out what happened that night so long ago and in doing so he has to meet with Olivia once again.
This story is so much more than a murder in my opinion. This book has murder, yes but there are also the after-effects of what murder can do to a family and how one continues on with life after such a horrific tragedy. There is also friendship and family in here along with first loves and heartbreak. Oh, and I can not forget to mention that there is a twist in here that completely took me by surprise. I do believe that this book at its heart is about love both familial and romantic along with not allowing your parents mistakes to define who you are meant to be in this world. If you are looking for a read that has a little bit of everything then this in my opinion is the book for you. I absolutely loved this story and as I said earlier I am still thinking about it days later.
Trigger Warnings:
- Murder
- Drug Use
- Incarceration
- Cancer
- Parental Death