Angels Fall

by Nora Roberts

2007

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley (2007), Edition: Reprint, 464 pages

Description

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)

User reviews

LibraryThing member SunnySD
The only survivor of a New York restaurant massacre, Reece Gilmore is running from memories and her own fragile mental state. Picking her routes by chance, she's worked her way across the United States staying only briefly in any one place. But car trouble and lack of funds lands her in Angels
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Fall, Colorado, and something convinces her to stay - at least for a little while.

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.
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LibraryThing member gogglemiss
Halfway through this story, it struck me that I had seen the TV movie of this, some time ago, and I knew how it ended.
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
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Drubber grocery store and Mayor, he had a soft spot for Reece, Lothario Lol and his ever patient sweetheart Linda-Gail. Reece and Brody made a cute couple
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LibraryThing member debbiescurlsandswirl
I have certainly enjoyed reading this book. Hope the movie has followed the book.
LibraryThing member wirtley
Woman escaping from tradegy in New York, lands in the small town of Angel's fist. She finds a job and friends. Then, weird events occur which make her and everyone else think she is crazy.
LibraryThing member bakersfieldbarbara
Excellent reading. My new favorite author. Good detective, surprise endings, and not one to put down too easily.
LibraryThing member Darla
When Reece Gilmore arrives in Angel's Fist, she's been running for a while. I was going to be cryptic about why she was running, because it was a bit of a mystery for me while I was reading it, but the reason is on the dust jacket blurb and in all the reviews, so what the heck. (This is one of the
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main reasons why I don't read dust jacket/back cover blurbs before reading a book.) As the sole survivor of a massacre in a restaurant where she'd worked as a chef, she recovered from her physical injuries only to be left with more serious psychological ones.

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.
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LibraryThing member miyurose
This is only the second NR I've read, and it came recommended to me. Great recommendation! I really enjoyed this. Reece and Brody's chemistry was realistic, as well as the portrayal of small-town life and Reece's own reactions to what happened to her. I guessed who the bad guy was shortly before
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the characters did, but it was a satisfactory ending. I liked it enough that I'm starting another NR right away, though I usually don't read books by one author in a row.
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LibraryThing member hafowler
Not her greatest work, but a nice portrait of a woman who manages to survive tragedy and become stronger for it... and fall in love with a sexy writer. LaNora always gives me exactly what I want, and this particular book was interesting to dissect for my current project of learning how to write
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mystery/suspense. She is my role model, I swear.I also got a really nice picture of the setting Nora chose -- Montana, I believe? And has a great cast of secondary characters, which LaNora does so well.
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LibraryThing member kayceel
This was an okay romance, though I saw the real killer coming pretty early. I hate it when that happens.
LibraryThing member BooksLT
The mystery in this is, admittedly, not the best I’ve read. But since I read romance for the romance, I can’t knock any points off. I absolutely loved the characters--particularly the hero, which surprised me as the gruff type usually doesn’t appeal to me. Ms. Roberts, however, manages to
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make him both brusque and loveable. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member EmScape
Nora Roberts delivers another entertaining novel of romantic suspense. Reece Gilmore is traveling across the country trying to escape her past trauma and maybe build a new life. When her car breaks down in Angel's Fist, Wyoming she decides to stay for a while. Soon, she becomes the only witness to
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a murder. With local resident and writer of mystery novels, Brody, she tries to solve the case. The murderer makes it more difficult by taking advantage of her past trauma, trying to make her think she's crazy. Suspicion is cast on several local residents, and the murderer must be one of them.
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.
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LibraryThing member reneebooks
Reece is the only survivor of a bloody massacre at the restaurant where she worked as a chef in Boston. She witnessed some of her fellow co-workers being murdered before her eyes and is still suffering nightmares and panic attacks, what you would call PTSD. When she eventually ends up in the small
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town of Angels Fist, Wyoming, she seemed like such a fragile person and she doubts whether she will ever recover and be normal again. She gets a job as a cook in the local diner and rents the apartment upstairs and seems to be settling in. While out hiking in the nearby mountains she witnesses a murder. Reece runs back down the trail straight into Brody, a mystery writer and the local recluse. Brody helps her report it to the police, but the sheriff can find no evidence that a crime had been committed there. Brody ends up being the only person in town who believes her. At about this point I had my suspicions on who committed the crime and it turned out... I was right!

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)
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LibraryThing member jennzy02
This was the first title I've picked up by Nora Roberts, and I am now eager to get to my next one!
LibraryThing member punxsygal
It was an enjoyable read. I liked the heat between Reece and Brody. And the "tough" character of Joanie was perfect. Small Wyoming town, Grand Tetons, a mystery and a chef--a good combination
LibraryThing member catmommie
My second NR read.A woman with a tragic history witnesses a murder in a small one-horse town in the mountains of Wyoming. Now she must deal with both tragedies and keep her sanity. Reminded me of the old movies, Gaslight or Rear Window.A nice blend of mystery and romance while leaving enough to the
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imagination.My thanks to my friends Carole and Mary for recommending this to me.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Reece Gilmour is running from her past and her nightmares and finds herself in the small town of Angel's Fist. There she finds a job and a hope of a future. A mutual attraction starts with Brody, a local writer. Reece, however, witnesses a murder for which there is no evidence or body. She starts
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to doubt her own sanity when strange things start happening.

A very readable Nora Roberts book, I quite enjoyed it and was guessing up to nearly the end as to who was the murderer.
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LibraryThing member bookwormteri
A good escapist read. If you have read one Nora Roberts, you have read them all, but that does not mean that they are fun to read individually once in a while.
LibraryThing member Jashrekn
I believed this book was very good, it was a mystery for Nora but it still has the same elements that Nora always adds in.
LibraryThing member JudithDCollins
Liked this book as read a while ago - Nora Roberts always pulls out a great story! 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.
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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. 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 . . .
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LibraryThing member Maya47Bob46
A favorite Nora Roberts it is lots of fun with a good mystery.
LibraryThing member Carol420
Reece Gilmore was a chef in Boston where she was the only survivor of a brutal slaying at her restaurant. After therapy and hospitalization, Reece takes to the road in search of peace. Still suffering some of the aftereffects of her horrendous attack, she is hoping that Angel's Fist will provider
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her some relief from the panic attacks and fear that have taken over her life. She settles into the small town working as a cook in the local diner, but while hiking Reece sees a murder take place. She is certain of what she has seen, and the only one that will believe her is a popular author Brody. Brody believes Reece, but has also been informed of her past. He sees some of her unusual behavior, but sticks with his gut instinct that she is telling the truth. I will be the first to say I am not a big Nora Roberts fan but I love her "In Death" series as J.D. Robb. (Yeah, I know that makes me from a different planet.) However I found that "Angels Fall" is an enjoyable romance with a nice mystery embedded in it. It's certainly possible to guess the killer's identity, but you're better than I am if you're completely sure until near the end.
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LibraryThing member seminolegal
I loved this book.
LibraryThing member whybehave2002
I loved this! It made me feel the need to look behind me when in a parking lot. 😉 I listened to it in the car and made excuses to run errands just to keep listening. 🙂
LibraryThing member Preston.Kringle
Good book with characters you care about and a storyline that at times is hard to put down.
LibraryThing member sanyamakadi
I needed a break after a couple of heavy books in a row, so turned to my old standby NR. I like books about food and cooking, and I love NR's descriptions of parts of the USA in which I have never been, but long to visit. However I am a fan of plotlines involving gaslighting and manipulation, so
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this didn't end up being one of my favorites.
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Awards

Quill Award (Winner — Book of the Year — 2007)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2006-07-11

Physical description

6.75 inches

ISBN

0515143170 / 9780515143171

Barcode

1603288
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