7/08/2021

Northern Lights by Nora Roberts

A thrilling novel I read many years ago. Back then, I had a phase where I literally was addicted to her books and way of telling a story. This one I consider one of her best novels.

Northern Lights

by Nora Roberts
Publisher Berkley on September 27, 2005
Genre Novel
Pages 672
Format Paperback
Source Library
Goodreads
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As a Baltimore cop, Nate Burke watched his partner die on the street - and the guilt still haunts him. With nowhere else to go, he accepted the job as Chief of Police in a tiny, remote Alaskan town with the hopes of starting over. Despite the name, Lunacy provides a balm for Nate's shattered soul - and an unexpected affair with pilot Meg Galloway warms his nights... But other things in Lunacy are heating up. Nate suspects the killer in an unsolved murder still walks the snowy streets. His investigation will unearth the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath the placid surface, as well as bring out the big-city survival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And his discovery will threaten the new life - and the new love - that he has finally found for himself.

Story

After his partner died in his arms during an operation, Nate wants only one thing in the wilderness of Alaska: to get rid of his nightmares and to rest. He arrives in Lunacy in the middle of winter and soon finds himself in a closed community where everyone knows everyone. And where there is a cohesion that has seldom been seen before. The community sticks together helps each other and the new police chief is accepted as such, but he still must explain his attitude to his job and the community more often. He makes one of his first memorable acquaintances with the independent, extremely self-confident, and extremely freedom-loving pilot Meg Galloway, who makes it unmistakably and directly clear what she wants from him. Him as a man and that he will find her father's murderer. The body of her father, who had disappeared for about fifteen years, was discovered by teenagers in an ice cave, and the fact that an ice pick was stuck in his chest leads to the assumption that it was not suicide. At first, the case does not seem difficult for Nate. However, when the owner of the local Lunacy newspaper is found dead in his office and the medical examiner suspects suicide, things get personal for Nate. He does not believe in suicide. Rather than an unknown murderer is up to mischief. He investigates on his own in his spare time and slowly but surely drives the murderer into a corner.

Style

When it comes to the choice of words for the character Meg Galloway, Nora Roberts wrote the plot with feeling, clear and very direct. The descriptions of the locations, scenes, and events are so pictorial and stylish, so full of warmth, color, and liveliness, I could see the wonderful landscape, the snow, and the other things right in front of me. Could smell it and in some places, I was really annoyed about the arrogance of a certain character. It was very impressive.

Nora Roberts has divided the plot of the novel into three parts and with the names "Dark", "Shadow" and "Light" she found an absolutely fitting heading for the plot taking place in it. In the first part, it is emotional. In the second part, although emotions also play a major role here, the plot becomes shadier, which is not only due to the days but also to the events themselves. Light is slowly coming into the events. Nora Roberts then wonderfully combined the third part with the spring awakening and finally with the summer in Alaska and brought the fascinating backdrop into harmony with the plot itself in a wonderful way.

Characters

Nora Roberts has not given her characters an easy fate. Nate, Meg, the mayor, or any other character in this storyline is not without some black spots in the past, and the author portrayed them with great feeling. They act convincingly, speak an extremely direct and open language, and appear so vivid and lively that one or the other reader may recognize himself in it. Conflicts between the individual characters that have been simmering for years do not make it easy for them and yet there is a bond between the individual characters for the reader to discover, which makes the plot an exciting and highly erotic affair despite the terrible events.

The main character, Nate, comes out of his own infernal darkness and experiences a very believable and convincing change to healing during the entire story, which first symbolizes the shadows and then the light. For me, it was an absolute pleasure to observe this character, to experience how he practically heals himself and deals with his new task and environment.

Conclusion

Fantastic! The thrill and a romantic love story rolled into one. With this book, Nora Roberts has again presented an absolute top book that captivates from the first to the last page, is exciting, and guarantees tingly reading pleasure with a dash of eroticism.

Happy reading

Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts born in Silver Spring, Maryland, is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981. 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.” She is also the author of the bestselling futuristic suspense series written under the pen name J. D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

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