Angels Fall
Nora Roberts, 2006
Penguin Group USA
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780786580439
Summary
Nora Roberts explores the wilds of the Grand Tetons—and the mysteries of love, murder, and madness—in her engrossing and passionate new novel.
Reece Gilmore has come a long way to see the stunning view below her. As the sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, she has been on the run, desperately fighting the nightmares and panic attacks that haunt her. Reece settles in Angel's Fist, Wyoming—temporarily, at least—and takes a job at a local diner. And now she's hiked this mountain all by herself. It was glorious, she thought, as she peered through her binoculars at the Snake River churning below.
Then Reece saw the man and woman on the opposite bank. Arguing. Fighting. And suddenly, the man was on top of the woman, his hands around her throat.
Enjoying a moment of solitude a bit farther down the trail is a gruff loner named Brody. But by the time Reece reaches him and brings him to the scene, the pair has vanished. When authorities comb the area where she saw the attack, they find nothing. No signs of struggle. No freshly turned earth. Not even a tire track.
And no one in Angel's Fist seems to believe her. After all, she's a newcomer in town, with a reputation for being jumpy and jittery—maybe even a little fragile. Maybe it's time to run again, to move on.
Reece Gilmore knows there's a killer in Angel's Fist, even if Brody, despite his seeming impatience and desire to keep her at arm's length, is the only one willing to believe her. When a series of menacing events makes it clear that someone wants her out of the way, Reece must put her trust in Brody—and herself—to find out if there is a killer in Angel's Fist before it's too late. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Also known as—J.D. Robb; Sarah Hardesty; Jill March
• Birth—October 10, 1950
• Where—Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
• Awards—Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame;
Romantic Times Career Achievement Award; Romance
Writers of America Centennial Award; Romance Writers of
America Golden Medallion Award (seven times); Quill Award
• Currently—lives in Keedysville, Maryland
Not only has Nora Roberts written more bestsellers than anyone else in the world (according to Publishers Weekly), she’s also created a hybrid genre of her own: the futuristic detective romance. And that’s on top of mastering every subgenre in the romance pie: the family saga, the historical, the suspense novel. But this most prolific and versatile of authors might never have tapped into her native talent if it hadn't been for one fateful snowstorm.
As her fans well know, in 1979 a blizzard trapped Roberts at home for a week with two bored little kids and a dwindling supply of chocolate. To maintain her sanity, Roberts started scribbling a story—a romance novel like the Harlequin paperbacks she'd recently begun reading. The resulting manuscript was rejected by Harlequin, but that didn't matter to Roberts. She was hooked on writing. Several rejected manuscripts later, her first book was accepted for publication by Silhouette.
For several years, Roberts wrote category romances for Silhouette—short books written to the publisher's specifications for length, subject matter and style, and marketed as part of a series of similar books. Roberts has said she never found the form restrictive. "If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations," she explained. "If this doesn't suit you, you shouldn't write it. I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure."
Roberts never violated the reader's expectations, but she did show a gift for bringing something fresh to the romance formula. Her first book, Irish Thoroughbred (1981), had as its heroine a strong-willed horse groom, in contrast to the fluttering young nurses and secretaries who populated most romances at the time. But Roberts's books didn't make significant waves until 1985, when she published Playing the Odds, which introduced the MacGregor clan. It was the first bestseller of many.
Roberts soon made a name for herself as a writer of spellbinding multigenerational sagas, creating families like the Scottish MacGregors, the Irish Donovans and the Ukrainian Stanislaskis. She also began working on romantic suspense novels, in which the love story unfolds beneath a looming threat of violence or disaster. She grew so prolific that she outstripped her publishers' ability to print and market Nora Roberts books, so she created an alter ego, J.D. Robb. Under the pseudonym, she began writing romantic detective novels set in the future. By then, millions of readers had discovered what Publishers Weekly called her "immeasurable diversity and talent."
Although the style and substance of her books has grown, Roberts remains loyal to the genre that launched her career. As she says, "The romance novel at its core celebrates that rush of emotions you have when you are falling in love, and it's a lovely thing to relive those feelings through a book."
Extra
• Roberts still lives in the same Maryland house she occupied when she first started writing—though her carpenter husband has built on some additions. She and her husband also own Turn the Page Bookstore Café in Boonsboro, Maryland. When Roberts isn't busy writing, she likes to drop by the store, which specializes in Civil War titles as well as autographed copies of her own books.
• Roberts sued fellow writer Janet Dailey in 1997, accusing her of plagiarizing numerous passages of her work over a period of years. Dailey paid a settlement and publicly apologized, blaming stress and a psychological disorder for her misconduct. (From Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Roberts's latest novel of romantic suspense is a cunningly calibrated portrait of a young chef's recovery from violent trauma. While driving in the Grand Tetons, displaced Bostonian Reece Gilmore stops in the small town of Angel's Fist, near Jackson Hole, Wyo., and considers the "Cook Wanted" sign in Joanie's, a local diner. Still rattled by a shooting spree at her Boston restaurant that left her wounded and the only survivor among 12 co-workers, Reece is easily spooked, as noted by her plainspoken new boss, Joanie, and the locals who frequent the restaurant. Among them is a wary, unattached mystery novelist, Brody. Indeed, when Reece claims to have witnessed a murder while hiking along Snake River, few except Brody are inclined to believe the skittish new resident: Sheriff Rick Mardson hasn't found any clear evidence of a woman struck down near the river; Doc Wallace is suspicious of Reece's fragile mental state; and Joanie isn't about to cut Reece any slack while running a busy kitchen. Roberts cleverly casts suspicions on the locals while developing the romance between the two feisty protagonists. A slow-burn start combusts in a satisfying denouement; Roberts's legions of fans will be enthralled.
Publishers Weekly
Once again, the best-selling, prolific, and endlessly imaginative Roberts deftly imbues a deliciously subtle sense of menace into a chilling and thrilling plot, thus creating yet another of her many irresistible and terrifically satisfying novels of romantic suspense. —John Charles
Booklist
(Audio version.) Reece Gilmore didn't mean to stop in Angel's Fist, WY, and hadn't planned to stay. Her job as a short-order cook is a far cry from her career as a chef, but it feels good. She is finally bouncing back from her life-shattering tragedy when she witnesses a murder. Reader Joyce Bean owns the town instantly: gruff, brusque, friendly, inquisitive, shy, suspicious, sweet—they all make an appearance in the diner soon after Reece makes hers. Reece is fragile, skittish, unnerved, and Bean makes the pain sound real, honest. She's no less successful with Brody, who doesn't want to fall for Reece but sees the person behind the tragedy and is attracted to her strength and gutsiness. Bean paces the story so that the tension builds to almost unbearable levels, and then she keeps it there, teetering on the edge. One of Roberts's best. —Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Salt Lake City.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Angels Fall:
1. How would you describe Reece Gilmore's state of mind as she settles into her new life in Angel's Fist? Why did she decide to end psychiatric treatment in Boston and head off for parts unknown? Do you consider her fragile, tough, neurotic, clear-sighted ... what?
2. What makes her decide to stay in Angel's Fist? Do you find the town's residents engaging—does Roberts do a good job of creating life-like characters? Consider Joanie, in particular. Who else do you find likable (with the exception of Brody... we'll get to him next)?
3. Yes, Brody: what draws Reece to him...and he to her? How does Brody respond to or treat Reece? Describe his character traits. Is he your idea of a romantic hero—is he a keeper? Was the romance predictable?
4. Talk about the wedding soup and the shopping scenes? Do you find them funny?
5. Why does everyone except Brody disbelieve Reece when she witnesses the murder? Why does Brody believe her? Could it have anything to do with his career as a mystery writer?
6. Discuss the tricks being played on Reece. How does she respond? How unnerved would any of us have been?
7. Was the ending satisfactory? Were you surprised by the resolution of the murder...or had you figured it out? Whom did you suspect along the way?
8. The novel is to a great extent the story of Reece's journey back to health. To what degree does she heal by the story's end?
9. Have you read other Nora Roberts books? If so, how does this one stack up to the others? If you haven't read Roberts before, does this one inspire you to read her others?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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