The Liar by Nora Roberts

Title: The Liar

Author: Nora Roberts

Series: n/a

Oh, Nora. Take a break, honey. I’ll wait for you.

I love Nora’s books. Love them. But I was thoroughly disappointed with this one.

This was a good book, mostly because of the name on the cover. Not the best Nora Roberts I’ve read–I was able to put it down and go to bed–but it wasn’t horrible. The characters were the tip of the iceberg, but I’ll start there. No one, aside from the villains, who were required to be psychotic, and Shelby’s repressed personality, had any flaws. Many of the Pomeroys were unbelievably affable and disgustingly exemplary persons, and most of the characters–except for the villains, actually–kind of ran together. That could be because one: there were so–many–of–them. Most of the time when someone besides Shelby, Griff, or Forrest was speaking I had to stop and think about who they were and how they were relevant (made all the harder by the people who had two names, first and middle). I understand that family was a major theme, I love when family is a major theme, but did we have to meet everyone and their third cousins twice removed? And two: everyone but the villains seemed to share the same opinions, speech patterns, and thought processes. It got a little tedious.

That makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the characters. I really did. I’m not sure Griff is my type of romance hero, he was very steady, almost boringly so (I almost didn’t catch when he got mad, it was all so calm). Dispassionate might be a good word for him. It could be his word of the day. But I understand how he appealed to Shelby. And I liked Shelby, too. In general. Apparently she used to have a temper before she ran off, and she demonstrates it a few times toward the middle and end of the book, as if she’s rediscovering herself, which is the point I suppose. But it just seemed those sudden bursts of temper–though amusing–were at odds with her low-key, stay-out-of-the-way habits and mannerisms. I know Richard had suppressed her personality into those habits, but except for those few sudden (dare I say uncharacteristic?) bursts of temper, she didn’t show very much spunk, which is so unlike a Nora Roberts heroine. I didn’t get the feeling that any dormant boldness lied under her surface. She even thought passively. She showed determination, sure, regarding the debt that wasn’t at all her responsibility, yet she insisted on paying it back. But ‘bad-ass’ is not a word I would use to describe her. The Shelby Pomeroy everyone remembered so fondly seemed, to me, gone for good.

And–I have to say it. I have to. Shelby had to be the stupidest Nora Roberts’ main character I can remember. I don’t mean because she got knocked up by and ran off with a stranger when she apparently had the best family and friends possible at home. It happens to the best of us. But get this: Her sociopathic maybe-husband had never been confirmed dead, thirty million dollars were missing and everyone thought she knew where it was, a dead body was found in a town that had probably never seen real murder, a criminal escaped from prison, their homes were broken into, and someone tried to seriously injure Griff, but only because they couldn’t get to Shelby to seriously injure her. And every time Griff tried to keep her safe, specifically follow her when she drove home, she said something like “Is that necessary?” or “That’s silly.” If I could have reached into the book and smacked her, I would have. All that going on, and neither she nor anybody else did a thing to protect her, save perhaps locking the front door. And Forrest gave her pepper spray. Gee, that’ll stop those pesky murderers. Griff mentioned a security system, but I don’t remember him using it. I’m not exceptionally smart, but even I would have been at least looking over my shoulder, and only because carrying an AK47 into the supermarket is frowned upon.

There were two characters who stole scenes and took no prisoners. Well, three–Callie (Shelby’s daughter) holds a place in my heart. Forrest and Emma Kate (Shelby’s brother and best friend) stood out to me, because they were the only two characters that weren’t villains who didn’t seem to be on Xanax. They were grumpy at times, a little bossy but not pushy, and I am so surprised they didn’t end up a couple. I started wanting to see more of them than Shelby and Griff. Nothing against Matt (Emma Kate’s beau and Griff’s best friend and business partner), he seemed nice, though he was still a stranger to me at the end of the book. Too bad this was a stand alone novel, because I would give my brother’s firstborn child for Forrest and Emma Kate’s story, which I bet would have been very passionate in many ways. (Sorry, Matt.)

Okay, enough picking on the characters. I feel Nora’s powers of description deserve an honorable mention. She put more effort into describing the topography of Tennessee than developing the half-assed plot. Maybe she was trying to make the setting its own character, which is awesome and I can’t fault her for. She made me want to visit. But I spent almost as much time reading about what the picnic area looked like as I did about what happened there. But that’s not all. A contractor could use her descriptions of the houses as blueprints. I love architecture, I almost became an interior designer, but holy crap, leave a little to the imagination, please. I skipped most of the remodeling discussions, of which there were many, and imagined the places as I darn well wanted to. It’s a fiction novel, not a textbook. I understand potential romantic interests need things in common to discuss, but it became a lesson. I almost took notes.

Your husband’s an amazing person, Nora, and the best contractor in the world. We get it.

And lastly, the plot. Wow. A very un-Nora-like plot. What a cluster. At the beginning, in fact for most of the first half, we get very invested in Shelby, and remain mostly invested in her. Only a handful of times did Nora switch to Griff’s point-of-view, which is unusual for her writing. It’s usually a good fifty-fifty. But this book was predominantly about Shelby, which is why everything else in it seemed secondary and almost subversive. I’m tempted to be blasphemous and say this was a work of women’s fiction. Her romance with Griff started late and was poorly fleshed out. We barely got to know Griff. I definitely did not think they were ready for marriage. The sub-plot of murder and grand larceny was in no way suspenseful or intriguing. It seemed to be written in as an afterthought, like Nora’s editor told her to put some action into a manuscript about Shelby’s homecoming and rebirth. I think Shelby’s personal rediscovery would have made a nice story by itself; a repressed and abused widow with a small child returns home to reclaim her fortitude and lets her loving family heal her wounded heart. Melody, the “old” Shelby everyone remembers, and her relationship-PTSD would be the antagonists. It’s been done, but it’s still inspiring. A woman doesn’t need to fall in love with a man in order to find herself. Letting a man dominate her got her into the mess to begin with. But I’m digressing.

This whole book seemed lazy to me. Maybe Nora needs a vacation. She used an occupation she knows very well, when her atypical occupations for the characters are usually what I love about her books. She drew out the book like she had a minimum word count to meet, and half-assed the suspense–she can do a LOT better than that, I’ve read it. She’s one of my top five authors, which is saying something because I like a lot of authors, but I’m disappointed this is the book I eagerly anticipated since last spring. Usually her writing style is unique and could tell the same story differently from any other. But her quick wit was scarce and she could have used more action, like gestures and mannerisms, during dialogue, not to mention vary the dialogue. Even the sex scenes seemed shorter and just…less…than normal.

What’s sad is that any spoilers I might have given away in this review, didn’t really spoil anything. You could guess the ending within the first chapter, you know all the characters are going to fall in love and get married. I mean, I know the happily-ever-after is a given, that’s why I love romance novels, but that doesn’t mean I want their relationship rushed just to get to it. I have a theory that I haven’t really researched, but I noticed in some of Nora’s books the climax and resolution begin on the twentieth page from the end. It’s like there’s a template she follows.

This review probably made me seem like a mean person, but I really do have the utmost respect for Nora. I collect her books, have a copy of every title. It’s probably because I care about her work so much that I felt compelled to write such a nitpicky, and maybe cruel, review. She’s one of my role models. I wish I could be half the writer she is. I hope she’ll find more inspiration for the next stand-alone. I know she can do better.

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