River's End

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Sandra Burr

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents a seductively suspenseful tale of one woman’s shattered innocence, the terrifying search for truth and a heart’s journey toward healing...

Olivia’s parents were among Hollywood’s golden couples - until the night a monster came and took her mother away forever. A monster with the face of her father...

Sheltered from the truth, an older Olivia only dimly recalls her night of terror - but her recurring nightmares make her realize she must piece together the real story. Now, assisted by Noah Brady, the son of the police detective who found her cowering in her closet so many years before, she may have her chance. Noah wants to reconstruct the night that has become an infamous part of Hollywood history. He also wants to help Olivia and heal the longing in her lonely heart. But once the door to her past is opened, there’s no telling what’s waiting on the other side. For somewhere, not too far away, the monster walks again...

©2006 Nora Roberts (P)2006 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Her artful manipulation of the plot, contrived so that amour and horror escalate in tandem, reaffirms her ability to deliver entertaining fiction." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Sandra Burr adds her considerable talents to this tightly written romantic thriller. Her child's voice is eerily memorable, her teenage Livy aches of womanhood, but she shines with the adult Livy and Noah. Their sexual tension is palpable, and the story's suspense is even more tightly strung." ( Library Journal)

River's End

Great book! I was sorry when it ended. The narrator did an excellent job with the different voices. I love Nora Roberts to begin with and haven't listened to (or read) a good Nora Roberts book in a while. I am going to order another one next. I totally recommend this book for those who like a good mystery, love story.

Another Nora Roberts Winner

I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the first 5 minutes and enjoyed the development and maturation of the characters. I loved the beauty brought to my imagination with Roberts' narrative about the Black Hills. And the animals, it was awesome. I didn't like the villain (I know you're not supposed to) because I thought the reason he was fixated on the female character was loose. Beyond that it was a great listen. And Sandra Burr did a wonderful job with the narration with the exception of the voice she gave Lucy. That one was irritating. But just how many voices can one narrator have??? :)

An Early Nora Roberts

Written in the 90s. So, so. Her later works far superior. I would skip this one.

Great!!

I watched all Nora Roberts TV Movies from 8 of her books. However, I never read/listened to any of her books. Until a couple of days ago. This is the second one l've listened to and really enjoyed this book. The characters are amazing and I love a great mystery. Got it all. Started reading another on my kindle.

Illogical plotting. Not enjoyable.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
I was annoyed with Sandra Burr. She has a nice voice for general narration and women, but she is awful with men. She lowers her voice to create weird male voices. One guy sounded like a B-movie robot. The hero wasn’t as bad, but there was no emotional interpretation in his voice. It was monotone and wooden.

Less of a problem, but it still annoyed me was her twang (southern-ish or hillbilly-ish). She said “hees” instead of “his” And she did “ew” instead of “oo” for example stewed (stood) gewed (good) shewed (should). There are many actors who do a southern accent which I enjoy, but not this twang.

THE STORY:
Really bad plotting. Some crimes happen and there is no logical investigation or questioning. No logical evidence. Wrong people are accused. It was frustrating and not enjoyable.

When the main characters have a conflict or fight, illogical things were said. I think the author was tired when she wrote this book since she couldn’t come up with motivations fitting actions.


CAUTION SPOILERS ABOUT BAD PLOTTING:

Character A sees a dead woman and picks up the weapon/scissors. B walks in and sees A with scissors. B says “A killed her”. For the rest of the book everyone believes A killed her. No one even asks, did B sees A stab the victim? Or could someone else have done it? No, During the entire book, all characters say A killed her. There was no evidence or investigation or anything to question it. When someone wanted to talk about the murder, most of the characters would say I don’t want to talk about it.

Character A could not defend himself because he was high on drugs at the time of the murder and couldn’t remember what happened. A couple times later he said he killed her. But that was not true, he was just feeling guilty because he wasn’t the best husband. But the author used that comment to confuse the issue - not interesting.

The bad guy has no part in the story until the very end. So we don’t even get to watch his actions and motives during the story. That might have made things better, but no. He’s introduced at the very end.

Also the ending was too sad for me about an innocent man being in prison for 20 years.

A similar thing happened with a second crime. The victim sees his property destroyed and immediately says his ex girlfriend did it. That was not true but he assumes it was her. No one investigates or asks about her alibi until the very end of the book. But for the rest of the book all the characters talk about the exgirlfriend doing this.

END SPOILERS.


DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: about 4, not much detail. Setting: 1979 - 1999 California and Washington state. Book copyright: 2000. Genre: romantic suspense.

I wanted to like it.....

I did. I really wanted to like this book...but it just dragged on and on and had I not been on a long road trip with no other options - I would have given up in the first hour or two. Not nearly exciting enough to hold my attention and it lacked the twists, turns and intrigue I've come to expect from Nora Roberts. Not her best work....

Highly Disappointing

I truly did not like anyting about this book. I figured it out in the first chapter so it seemed endless. I just do not like books that are this depressing. I have enough things to get over, this is my entertainment therefore this book was a bad choice for me.

River's End

Any additional comments?

I love Nora Roberts but for me this was not my favourite book by her. It was ok but seamed to lack in that special kick here books give me.

Time line is a little strange

This story has the usual Nora Roberts quality. The narrator is not the best, but tolerable. The only problem I found was the dates. It would have been better if the dates weren't used because they don't always match the number of years and I found it a little distracting.

This will be a Best Seller

Wow! What a great story, wonderful characters, and a supurb narrator. This is the best Nora Roberts novel, and I listened and read many. I just know it will make the best seller's list at once and be there a long time. The book will hold your attention from begining to end with not being able to put it down and still not wanting it to end. I can't wait for her next book now.