Thriller

Another winner from a go-to novelist!

Morgan Albright's identity gets stolen, and all her worldly possessions get compromised, her roommate gets killed and her life takes a complete 180. Needing someplace to recoup all her losses she moves to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother.

As Morgan starts to rebuild her life, the thief and killer makes it known that he hasn't forgotten about her and considers her the one that got away. He threatens to come for her and the FBI agents assigned to the case agree.

Morgan worries that this trauma from her past will affect her employment with the Jameson family and their resort. She took a job as the bar manager when she moved to Vermont. They consider her family and won't let this lunatic affect her job with them. This is good news because her feelings for the COO - Miles Jameson, are growing.

Will the killer get his comeuppance? Will he allow Morgan to life her life unscathed? Even though, as a reader, you know how the story will turn out, it's a very compelling story. One I thoroughly enjoyed.

I have been reading Nora Roberts ever since she wrote contemporary romances for Harlequin. So, about 40+ years. What's great about her novels is the development of the characters' relationships. They move through a realistic arc, and you cannot help but root for them. Her plots are usually thoughtful, well researched and mostly possible - except for her magical realism novels. If I have a complaint, it's that her main characters are amazing humans, and they meet other amazing humans, and everything is awesome. It works because you want to be a part of those characters' lives, part of their family. After this many novels, however, it does feel a bit formulaic. The bad guy in this case starts out very interesting but devolves quickly. It took away from the story, in this case, for me. All in all, this was another fantastic thriller from the queen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this novel.

Another thrilling suspenseful mystery by the masterful Nora Roberts. This is an unpredictable plot. Morgan, a former military kid, used to constantly moving, has learned to live by her wits and trust her instincts. Reading people serves her well as a bartender. Her dream has always been to own her own bar and settle down in a cute little bungalow she can remodel. The only person she is close to is her roommate Nina who helps with expenses. Morgan doesn't date - no time working two jobs - but a charming IT guy that frequents the bar seems harmless enough. She agrees to meet him for pizza on her day off. and a few weeks later she invites him over for dinner. Gavin is a serial killer. He steals the bank accounts of his victims, takes out loans in their names, kills them and disappears. He is a master of disguise. But he messed up with Morgan. It was Nina that was home alone, not Morgan. Morgan was the one who got away. His obsession with her is relentless. The FBI is doing their best to track him across the country and keep Morgan aware of any updates. He is coming for her - the question is When!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced review copy. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

4.5 ⭐️s rounded up to 5

A very big thank you to the publisher @stmartinspress and @netgalley for providing me with this ARC for my honest review. I was beyond ecstatic about this one.

I love Nora Roberts!  I've been a fan of hers for the past 20+ years and am always excited to read her newest book. Honestly, I don't think she can write a bad book.  She combines my 2 favorite genres, thriller and romance, and does it so well.

Morgan Albright has settled in a suburb of Baltimore to make a life for herself.  She's bought a house and works two jobs.  Her roommate/best friend Nina lives with her to help pay the mortgage.  She meets a man, Luke, whom she thinks may have some potential.  Unfortunately, she's very wrong, and her life is turned upside down, and she loses everything, including her best friend Nina.  It turns out that Luke is the ultimate con-artist and a serial killer.  Nina was collateral damage, and Morgan was the one who got away.  She really has no other choice but to go back to her Mom's in Vermont to try to start over.  But Luke, whose real name is Gavin, is not giving up.  Will she ever be safe? 

I really enjoyed reading this book.  The suspense of Gavin's escapades and whether the FBI would catch him really drew me in.  I loved the romance between Morgan and Miles Jameson, whom she meets in VT.  I highly recommend this book!  It comes out May 23rd, so make sure you pick up a copy😊

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Because it lasted over many months/years, it made Morgan’s progress in overcoming a tragedy feel believable. I especially loved Morgan’s relationship with her “ladies”, and seeing them grow closer and learn to depend on each other.

Is it really impossible to lock down your credit and prevent a hacker from doing additional damage? That is the part that scared me the most!

The only part that seemed a little off to me were some of the police procedures. It just seemed odd that they would be chasing him for a decade and had so many near misses. Also, it was a little too convenient that Morgan and Miles discussed a safe word on the very day it was needed.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its publication date.

I enjoyed this thriller and the fast pace of the story. Morgan is a young woman who is building her career with both an office job and a bartender. She lives with her friend Nina and they threw their first dinner part for Nina's boyfriend and Luke, a handsome man that Morgan met through her bartending job.

Days later, Nina is dead. The man that Morgan had fallen for is actually a murderer who lures in women of a specific type, steals their money, and leaves them dead. But Nina wasn't the one who was supposed to die. Morgan flees for safety and to start anew. But, "Luke" is still out there and still keeping tabs on her. A new job, new friends, new network, and new fears keep this book exciting and moving quickly.

Need a good thriller in your life? I have the perfect book for you! “Identity”, by Nora Roberts.

It’s the whole, “the one that got away” story but in this case, not in the romantic way. 😆 When Morgan Albright narrowly escapes being killed by a cute IT guy named Luke (who is actually a serial killer/con man named Gavin) she flees home to her mother where she attempts to pick up the pieces and start anew. But cold blooded Gavin, won’t stop until he gets what he wants. And that’s Morgan.

Serial Killer, romance, suspense. What more could you ask for in a thriller? I was instantly hooked while reading and could not stop until I found out what happened! If you’re a fan of Nora Roberts and/or love this genre, check out this book when it’s out next month! Thank you St Martins Press for the advanced copy on NetGalley!

Nora Roberts rarely misses when it comes to an engaging story and “Identity” is no exception. Readers are in for a thrilling ride from the very beginning. Full of mystery, intrigue, engaging characters, romance, and drama. The characters are so well done that readers will be left wanting more.

Its been so long since I've read a good romantic suspense and Identity was just the right book to get me hooked (again) to Nora's writing! Huge huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an early copy to sink my teeth into. Just the right amount of mystery, romance and secondary character involvement without it being just too much like some authors do (character dump). I loved the family connections and closeness, while still secondary to the storyline, still felt the importance of their connection. Just a great book to get lost into!

Morgan Albright has a plan. After spending her childhood moving from military post to military post, she is committed to putting down roots, buying a home, and working two jobs to make her dream of someday owning her own bar a reality. Morgan’s plans are right on track when she meets Luke, a seemingly nice guy who wanders into the bar she works at - except Luke is not as he seems. Luke is really Gavin, a con artist (and heartless murderer) who breaks into Morgan’s home, stealing her identity and killing her roommate. As Gavin racks up incredible amounts of debt and destroys Morgan’s credit, she is forced to abandon her dream, sell her home, and move into her mother and grandmother’s home in Vermont. But as Morgan starts rebuilding the shambles of her life, Gavin knows he isn’t done with her.

Heading into this book, I thought of “romance” when thinking of Nora Roberts. However, this book blew that image out of the water. This story is tense, suspenseful, and terrifying in just the subject matter alone. Anyone can relate to the risk of identity theft, and many become victims every day. Roberts connects this genuine risk to a strong female protagonist who is instantly likable. The story moves quickly at first and Morgan quickly understands the self-discovery necessary to move on. However, despite the relatable subject matter and intensity of the story in the beginning, the storyline starts to drag at certain points in the second half. The Kindle edition of this book is roughly 450 pages which felt overwhelming, and I found many of the descriptions/details of gardens, inventions, architecture, etc. onerous. Fans of Stephen King’s descriptive writing might enjoy these bits, but I struggled not to skip over them completely. Additionally, there are many characters in Morgan’s new life, and keeping them straight along with the relationships they share with each other, etc. was very difficult. I could have used a family tree/flow chart to keep them all straight. Likewise, the small bits of romance included in the story felt almost forced, the characters seeming to go from “I don’t know you” to “I can’t live without you” overnight. I found myself wishing these ancillary characters/side plots didn’t exist because they took away from the main storyline without adding any strong benefit.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read and a thought-provoking concept. I found myself wondering what I would do in the scenario of identity theft and doing so helped me connect with Morgan. The suspense/murder aspect kept me interested as I wanted to see what would happen between Gavin and Morgan. After finishing the book, I would feel confident recommending it to readers looking for a book with a little bit of everything: suspense and thriller aspects, light romance, humor, and heartwarming moments.

Nora Roberts usually writes a romantic suspense novel once a year. I always look forward to it because they are usually very good. This one is no exception, in fact it may be my favorite. Morgan is a young woman who has plans that are derailed when a serial killer steals her identity. She loses everything and has to start over, moving to Vermont to live with her grandmother and mother. The serial killer is still out there and is very angry that he didn’t get to kill her. This is the suspense part. There is also a great love story as well as the wonderful descriptions of food and drink, decor, beautiful setting, all the things that are part of a wonderful Nora Roberts book.

Huge fan of Nora Roberts and admire her writing. This story was very good and a page turner. Would highly recommend especially if a huge fan of romantic suspense like myself.

Nora Roberts can do no wrong in my eyes. She creates an entire world within her books! Highly recommend.

Wow, just wow! I would have read this in one sitting if I could have. Nobody does suspense romance like Nora Roberts. Her characters become the family you want to be in and their memory lasts long after the story ends. You will want to root for Jane and can't help but fall in love with Miles and his family as she does. Roberts creates realistic but strong women. I hope she is already writing Nell's story.

This book was absolutely amazing! You have the romance and the thriller rolled into an amazing story with spectacular characters. Morgan had so many dreams and goals for herself and they all can crumbling down in on day. The day she lost a true friend. A little after a year has passed and she is finally ready to move on and start over. She never dreamed of working in a place as fancy as the resort but it is absolutely amazing. Morgan loves her job and when she meets Miles at the bar she knows he is someone that will change her life forever. I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

IDENTITY is the newest Romantic Suspense novel by prolific author Nora Roberts. Here, Morgan Albright has grown up without roots but finally settles outside of Baltimore in her own home, with a fun roommate and two jobs she thoroughly enjoys. She is full of hopes and dreams and saving up to finance them. She even meets a gorgeous guy and feels like life is going her way. That is until she comes home one day to find something tragic has happened to her roommate. Morgan’s life is torn apart, and soon she must move to live with family to protect herself and figure out what she will do next with her life.

This book kept me entertained the entire way through. The author has built a main character who expressed her good or bad feelings and made them feel real to the reader. While I tend to prefer the author’s work as JD Robb, I enjoyed this outing as well.

The Nora Roberts book Identity was a fast-paced, page turner that I couldn’t put down. I haven’t read too many Nora Roberts’ books, though I know she has tons, but this book gave me the desire to perhaps go through her catalog and find more titles. The book opens up with the protagonist, Morgan, part-time bartender extraordinaire by night and office manager for a construction company by day. She and her roommate Nina share a house, and she has big dreams of eventually owning a house as well as a bar. Then she meets Luke one night in the bar, a handsome and charming man just in town for a few months doing IT work for a company. Soon after that, Morgan’s world is turned upside down and she loses everything, her house, her job, and her identity. She flees Maryland to Vermont, to her family, finds a new job and a new love. Her life is looking up. However, the man she knew as Luke is actually a serial killer named Gavin, and he’s hellbent on killing Morgan because she’s the one that got away. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game with the FBI trying to capture him before he can finish the job.

All in all, the book was very good and very suspenseful. The reader is riding along with Morgan and is rooting for her. The characters are very likeable, especially Gram, who is a hoot. The Vermont resort, a family business, would be a dream job for anyone as they are described as treating their employees as family—definitely not like most businesses! Morgan’s storyline is very engaging. The other part of the book, the cat-and-mouse game between the FBI and Gavin, also rings true and the reader senses the frustration of the FBI who (naturally) always appear to be one step behind Gavin as he winds his way through the United States back to Vermont, to Morgan, whom he has become obsessed with finding and killing.

What I had problems with was the lack of attention deserved to Gavin’s storyline. His fast decline due to that obsession didn’t quite ring true for me (who admittedly has read too many true crime books on serial killers), and the final confrontation between Gavin and Morgan seemed rushed and was anti-climactic. What I would have preferred was being spared the chase and instead the focus be on Gavin trying to get psychologically close to Morgan and tormenting her closer to home than far away. I even had Bailey, one of the bartenders, pegged as a victim, but it never happened. But that was my only disappointment in an otherwise very good book. Those who love suspenseful books, with a bit or romance thrown in, will definitely enjoy this book. You don’t have to be a Nora Roberts fan to pick this one up. I highly recommend it.

B.
Bartender Morgan Allbright has her future all planned out, and she's been setting money aside to make sure she can fund every step of that plan, But when a couple of casual dates leads a murderer to her doorstep, that future was as dead as her best friend and roommate. The FBI tells her that the man who killed Nina was actually a serial predator, and that he had cleaned out her bank accounts and taken out massive loans in her name. Worse. He had planned to kill her, not Nina.

Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson, whose family business has deep roots in town. But the killer is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away. Morgan will need to keep her mother and grandmother safe from the killer stalking her, and use his obsession with her to bring him down, once and for all. Nora Roberts once again portrays strong women fighting against long odds; her riders will love every minute. Recommended formal fans of romantic suspense. #NetGalley #Identity #SaltMarshAuthors

Morgan Albright was driven. She worked two jobs not because she was struggling to make ends meet. Morgan worked two jobs to build a nest egg for future renovations in her dream home. Morgan loved her work as both an office manager at a construction firm and bartender at the local watering hole. Those two jobs left little time for social life, but Morgan didn’t mind.

Morgan’s circumstances changed when she met Luke Hudson while bartending. Luke was smooth. A smooth talker, gentlemanly, and gorgeous. So after several weeks of casual bar conversations, Luke invited Morgan on a date. Morgan was giddy, flattered and felt to lucky to finally be with someone who was smart, handsome, and financially well off (based on the very generous tips she received from him.)

But Morgan would soon find out that you can’t trust anyone, anytime.

An unputdownable read, Identity was a page turning romantic suspense story. And I think that Identity was so much better than Roberts’ recent standalone, Legacy.

The characters are very well developed and it was easy to get caught up in all of the drama that unfolded. I especially loved the character of Morgan as she was determined, steadfast, and brave throughout the story. Secondary to Morgan was Luke. Even if he was the villain, his character scared the heck out of me. The rest of the cast filled in to shape the narrative.

The story unfolds from a third person’s point of view. And this method of storytelling works very well in this particular novel. Especially since there were different dynamics at play — family, romance, and murder. All of the elements were deftly combined into a surprising and thrilling suspense novel worthy of five stars.

I received a digital ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

I was gifted with an advanced copy of this book by Netgalley and I was thrilled.

Nora Roberts is on of my favorite authors and this latest installment doesn't disappoint!

Identity is an intense story that starts out like most of us can relate to, a person who works hard, has great friends and has big dreams. But unfortunately she become victim to identity theft and the murder of her best friend. Not only is she left with the guilt of losing her best friend, she is left to pick up the pieces of her life as it is so cruelly crumbling around her. I was so involved with the story line and I hated to put it down. If you're looking for romance or suspense this is the perfect blend of both.

Morgan Albright, is an office manager by day and still manages to tend bar at a local hangout at night.. She's bought a small home in Maryland and with her friend and room mate she is turning it into her dream home. One night while working at the bar she meets a personable stranger who seems harmless but is working her way into her confidence, so that he can gain entrance to her home to collect personal data. When he goes back to retrieve the software and data, Nina, the room mate happens to be home and is brutally killed. Nina.

Unable to hold on to her home and deal with her grief, Morgan returns to her Grandmother's home in Maine since she believes that she doesn't have any other options. But her story isn't over, Gavin the thief and murder can't let her be the one who got away and Morgan realizes that she has a lot to live for and she's ready to fight for it.

Suspense, Romance, family dynamics and characters you'll care about, it's a great summer read!

Identity is a book about finding one’s self after loss while still living in fear. The description is amazing, and though I’d never read a Nora Roberts book before, I was excited for this to be my first.

What I liked: the writing that made me feel like part of these families, many of the characters, the depth between the three generations of women, the thriller plot, the Jameson family, the empowerment, the freaking ending

What I didn’t like: the triller plot basically being a side plot, the over explaining and extra details that don’t add or a scene (like the many, many specific drinks, bartending details, or redundant information said to multiple people multiple times), the romance story going from 3 to 3000 with no real building it up

All in all, more than a hundred pages could have been taken out—much of it in the first 150 pages. However, the storyline was good. I’ll be giving Nora Roberts more chances in the future. Maybe I’ll check out her thrillers under her other name.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for my honest review.