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Fiction. Literature. Romance. Suspense. HTML:#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts explores the wilds of the Grand Tetons—and the mysteries of love, murder, and madness—in this engrossing and passionate novel.The sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, Reece Gilmore settles in Angel’s Fall, Wyoming—temporarily, at least—and takes a job at a local diner. One day, while hiking in the mountains, she peers through her binoculars and sees a couple arguing on the bank of the churning Snake River. And suddenly, the man is on top of the woman, his hands around her throat... By the time Reece reaches a gruff loner named Brody farther down the trail, the pair is gone. And when authorities comb the area where she saw the attack, they find no trace that anyone was even there. No one in Angel’s Fall seems to believe Reece—except Brody, despite his seeming impatience and desire to keep her at arm’s length. 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 Fall, before it’s too late.… (more)
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Unfortunately, fate has more in store for her. Out hiking, she witnesses a murder. But when she reports the crime, there's no body to be found and almost no one believes her - except the killer.
If you've ever seen the movie Gaslight with Ingred Bergman, you'll know where Roberts found her inspiration. Chilling, and very well-plotted.
Of course, thie book is far superior and what an entertaining read it was. Small town setting wihere everybody looks out for everyone and their business. Favourite characters, Mac
She takes a job as a fry cook and focuses on living one day at a time, slowly starting to feel at home in the small town.
Then she goes hiking and sees a woman being murdered.
Eccentric writer Brody believes her--he met her on the trail shortly afterwards and saw her distress. But he's pretty much the only one who does. The sheriff is unable to find any evidence of a fight, much less a body, and even her friends seem inclined to think that maybe she's imagined it.
Then strange things start happening, and even Reece isn't sure she's not doing them herself, backsliding on her recovery because of the stress.
There are a couple things that keep this from being a 5-star read. First, the title. Okay, that's not really a part of the story, but I think the publisher messed up on this one. I've seen it written "Angel Falls," "Angels Falls," "Angel's Fall," and "Angel's Falls" more often than "Angels Fall"... and that's on a Nora Roberts fan list. Besides which, "Angels Fall" doesn't get echoed in the book, except obliquely.
Then there's the secondary romance, which I had trouble believing, between Linda-gail (whose name I kept wanting to fix) and Lo (short for his nickname of "Lothario", which is another complaint altogether--do people really call man-sluts "Lotharios"? nowadays?). From the moment I met the characters, I knew their entire story, and yet it didn't convince me, the way Faith and Wade in Carolina Moon did, for example.
The real appeal of Angels Fall is the characters, particularly Reece. She's tough and strong, though she doesn't think she is. She recognized that she needed help after the restaurant shooting, and she sought it, then she also recognized when the drugs and psychiatrists had helped all they could and she had to do the rest on her own. Even when she's being made to think she's losing it again, she doesn't give in. She keeps working at making herself whole. And yet, at the same time, she has very realistic neuroses and phobias that make her both more sympathetic and more admirable than someone who'd triumphed over such a tragedy without any psychological effects. I'd like to think I'd react the same.
Brody isn't everyone's cup of tea in a hero. He's rude and abrasive, and what's probably most attractive to Reece is that he doesn't treat her with kid gloves. In fact, it's just the opposite. He flat out tells her not to cry, not to get hysterical when reporting to the sheriff. Which is just what she needs--he treats her, in short, like an equal, the way he'd want to be treated, not like a fragile victim.
Like most of Nora's single titles, Angels Fall is romantic suspense, heavier on the suspense. The mystery and Reece's personal journey are the focus of the story--the romance happens because of them. I admit, I was expecting a... bigger suspense story, I guess. I was expecting, frankly, for the killer to have been the same killer from the restaurant massacre. And that would have been exciting, but it would have made it a more ordinary story, and turned Reece into just another on-the-run romantic suspense heroine. I enjoy it when a book doesn't follow the expected path, and this is no exception.
This is definitely a summer book. The plot isn't too complicated, the characters are likable and it's a quick read. Roberts isn't a literary genius, but she's not writing dreck, either. I particularly enjoyed the setting of rural Wyoming. It seemed an idyllic place to settle down and build a life, with stunning landscapes and townspeople you feel like you're already friends with.
Brody was an appealing character in a strange way and not Nora's typical hero. He was very sarcastic and brash with Reece with very little sympathy for her. But he was exactly the type of person Reece needed to make her climb out of the obsessive compulsive hole she had been digging for herself and fight back. Instead of dishing out the 'poor victim' gentle sympathy, Brody was gruff with a dry sense of humor and their dialog was laugh out loud funny. Brody is very attracted to her but was not looking for a permanent relationship. He had no clue he had fallen in love with her until it was way too late.
After the murder strange things start to happen to Reece and she immediately thinks she's having memory lapses and is losing her sanity but Brody believes her implicitly and forces her to believe in herself. Their love affair becomes extremely hot and was another great part of the story. The scenery was stunning and beautifully described (no, Cindy, not lush) and I makes me want to visit the Grand Tetons some day. This book reminded me a little of Northern Lights but I liked this one a little bit more. The lively dialog, hot love scenes and beautiful setting made AF a great read. (Grade: A)
A very readable Nora Roberts book, I quite enjoyed it and was guessing up to nearly the end as to who was the murderer.