Northern Lights

Rating:
Summary: Strong writing overcomes simple mystery/cliched situations
Review: After the death of his partner (for which he holds himself responsible), Nate Burke leaves the mean streets of Baltimore and heads as far away as possible--to Lunacy, Alaska where he has been offered the job of police chief. In Lunacy, he begins to find himself, to heal--and it doesn't hurt that the biggest crimes involve kids breaking windows and the occasional moose. The biggest crimes, that is, until a long dead climber is discovered in an ice-cave, with an axe in his chest.

Although he vanished many years before, Bush Pilot Meg Galloway has never really recovered from her father's disappearance. How could he just walk away, leaving her? When a group of climbers discovers her father's murdered body, Meg knows she has to find the killer--bring him to justice.

As these two damaged people work together to solve the mystery, they discover that the instant attraction that flared between them is more than just desire. Although Nate continually annoys Meg with his ordering her around and overprotectiveness, she recognizes that the loss of her father may have made her too independent, too unwilling to accept love because of the loss that love sometimes brings.

Author Nora Roberts shows her writing talent by taking the overused cliche of the embittered and damaged, partner-losing cop--and actually makes us care about this person, his problems, and his happiness. Her strong writing brings the cold of an Alaska winter to life, and paints each of the damaged citizens of Lunacy vividly.

My advice is to read NORTHERN LIGHTS for the characters. The romance is a bit simplified and readers are likely to guess the killer's identity a couple of hundred pages before Nate and Meg finally bite, but Roberts makes us care about these people--and that is the essence of romance.

Rating:
Summary: Nora does it again.
Review: Although this is a departure from her usual style and content, this is a terrific book. Nora has chosen Alaska for the setting and her characters are interesting and compelling. Our hero is a police chief who has a past as a detective in Baltimore where he saw his partner get shot and die. He is faced with a mystery involving a body found by hikers that has been dead for many years. The only complaint I have is Mrs. Robert's apparent rush at the end of the book for closure. The ending is not believable and I have a feeling her publishers asked her to make the book shorter than her original version due to the uneveness of the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't Care to Finish
Review: As a big fan of Ms. Roberts and a former resident of Alaska I was excited to hear that "Northern Lights" was coming out. Unfortunatly I got stuck about 1/2 way through the book and just couldn't make myself finish it. I didn't care who was killing of the townspeole and the heroine's family members including herself made me wonder what was in the water supply of the fictional Lunacy. Wait till paperback, or rent it at your local library.

Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Nora!!
Review: I just finished listening to the book on tape called "Birthright". I listened to this book before I listened to the other. The female lead characters were so much alike, I forgot which book I was listening to. I am a big time feminist but let me tell you these women she's writing about simply have penis envy. The writing is good. Don't get me wrong. That's why I gave it four stars. These last few women in her books don't have a soul. Not even a rabid dog would want to get anywhere near them. I don't mind a sexually liberated woman at all but these women she has been writing about have the morals of alley cats and they certainly have no respect for the men they are sleeping with. But they don't have respect for anybody period. Not their feelings. They are truely depressed, screwed up people. I have worked with the types of women she is writing about these days. I read fiction to escape the awful days I have at the hands of these types of individuals.

I gave up on Danielle Steel along time ago because she made her men too mushy and not at all believable. I gave up on Janet Dailey because she killed off great people that didn't deserve to be killed off. I gave up on Jayne Ann Krentz because she wore out the "crazy aunt" line. And, now I say goodbye to Nora. Unless I read otherwise, I have to assume she will continue on with these characters--The last three have been this way and I see a trend (I, for one, don't like). I have her old books and will always cherish them. She is a good writer. I wish she wouldn't continue with so many of these tiresome, boring individuals. I don't understand the men chasing after these women, either. Go find yourself someone nice to love.

Rating:
Summary: A different read from Nora Roberts
Review: I purchased this book, finished it, then read the reviews. I'm glad I did. I do enjoy reading the reviews and base some of my purchases on them.

While it did take several pages before I got into the story -because this book was different from many of the stories NR writes. That's what I liked about it.

While I've read many of NR books, sometimes they can be pretty much the same. I've liked them never-the-less. So much so, that I will continue to read her books as they come out.

I hope NR continues to write more books like this one. It was a good read, what a reader wants in a book. Something different from a favored author.

Rating:
Summary: one of the better ones
Review: I really enjoyed this book, I was traveling in the snow and the book made my adventure better. I read over a christmas vacation and was very entertained. I've never read a book based in Alaska and liked reading about the people in the book. I say one of her better ones.

Rating:
Summary: Northern Exposure?
Review: Ignatious (Nate) Burke was a detective in Baltimore. He went into a deep depression when he was shot and his partner was killed. He has accepted a job as police chief of Lunacy, Alaska.

Maggie GAlloway is a bush pilot in Lunacy. Raised by her mom, the town [...], who owns the Lodge, she is very independent. I found her unlikeable at first. Even later in the book I had very little connection with her character.

The beginning of the story is slow. It reminds me alot of the TV series Northern Exposure. There are some weird and wacky characters.

Finally the real story begins when Maggie's father is found murdered in an ice cave on the mountain. Everyone thought he had left her mother and her 16 years earlier. Trying to keep you in the dark about who was climbing with her father and murdered him doesn't seem to work very well. I will say that it was the one I thought, and wanted it to be. The book seemed alittle long to me and I just did not like most of the characters. They were not people I could identify with. So it was hard to feel compassionate. She has written much better books.

Rating:
Summary: Not Her Best
Review: Northern Lights isn't particularly Ms. Roberts' best, but it was an engaging romance mystery. Zany plot, interesting and well developed characters and exciting exit. A 3.5 on the scale. Also, read LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Rolyat. It's a different type read that is compelling, riveting, pageturning, jaw-dropping novel. The district attorney gets caught up in a web of destruction and deceit, lies, lust, romance, betrayal, murder, mystery, suspense and sex galore! Is he really the biological father of his wife's sexually promiscuous teenage daughter's infant son? Or has he been set up? An enlightening read through and through. Happy reading!

Rating:
Summary: Nora Roberts has another bestseller to add to her collection
Review: NORTHERN LIGHTS, Nora Roberts's latest novel, is set in Lunacy, Alaska, which has a population count of 506. The people in this town are quite unique; if a storm hits the area, Lunacy shuts down until the bad weather stops. This thought process is alien to one of the main characters, Nate Burke. Nate is a police officer from Baltimore who begins a job in Lunacy as the town's Chief of Police. He is hoping that the far-off setting will give him the space he needs to recover from the death of his partner while in the line of duty; he is haunted by memories of this incident.

Nate is immediately drawn to Meg Galloway, an independent pilot who has her own set of rules when it comes to men. Complicating matters is Meg's mother Charlene, who has her eyes (and hands) on Nate while he stays in her lodge. Nate tries to dissuade Charlene (in a gentlemanly manner) while working hard to get closer to Meg. Roberts creates a realistic romance between Nate and Meg, portraying two people who are drawn to each other from their very first meeting.

The minor characters in this novel are also interesting: Peach, the dispatcher who makes cinnamon buns; Professor, the man who always carries around a copy of a Henry James book; the Mackie brothers, who have problems with alcohol and their tempers; and Hopp, the woman who became Mayor of Lunacy after her husband died while playing in a hockey game.

In addition to the characters, setting plays a central role in this story. The harsh weather adds to the isolation that Nate and Meg experience. The cold symbolizes the distance that they initially keep from each other, while the eventual warmth between the two represents the heat that is so essential to survival while facing Lunacy's harsh elements.

NORTHERN LIGHTS is not just a romance, however; elements of mystery and drama are present throughout. There is a daring mountain rescue, a murder, and the whole psychological process of Nate dealing with his partner's death.

Nora Roberts has written many books throughout her career, and she has an impeccable talent for writing strong characters who readers care about. NORTHERN LIGHTS is no different; Roberts undoubtedly has another bestseller to add to her growing collection.

--- Reviewed by Melissa A. Palmer

Rating:
Summary: A Frozen Body in the Frozen North makes for a Super Mystery
Review: One bad night Baltimore homicide detective Nate Burke's best friend and partner was killed and Nate sinks into grief and despair. When it becomes too much for him to take anymore, he moves to Lunacy, Alaska, a small and isolated town populated by 506 colorful characters, well 507 with Nate. Nate has taken the job of police chief in a place about as far away from his past life as possible.

It's not long before he meets and falls in love with Meg Galloway, a no holds barred, feisty bush pilot. So when her father who has been missing for sixteen cold years is found frozen with an axe in his chest, he wants to find out who did it? However there are secrets held by some of those in the town and they want the past to stay buried. But Nate isn't one to buckle under and he decides to conduct his own investigation. This does not sit well with someone and soon Nate finds his position and new life in jeopardy. And now Meg needs protecting and Nate is just the man for the job.

Nora Roberts never fails to deliver. Action, suspense and beautiful description. I swear, you'd almost believe you were in Lunacy, Alaska, so well does she tell her tale. The only thing that kept me rooted in reality was the nice covers pulled up to my chin as I read away in a warm bedroom. Ms. Roberts gets right to the centre of your soul when she writes. She pulls you right in.