The Obsession by Nora Roberts Book Review

 The Obsession 

By Nora Roberts 

Published Year: 2016

Page Count: 453 pages

Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader 

Genre: Thriller, Romance, Suspense, Murder Mystery, Drama, Crime, Detectives, 2026-read.

Rating: 3/5 😎 😎 😎 

This is my introductory novel to Nora Roberts and it is very underwhelming. This book started off with a great promise and my interest started flagging off when the author introduced romantic angle and added other layers of yawning, small town drama into the mix. I was able to nail the identity of the serial killer, who is obsessively stalking the main character, about 70% into the story. It was obvious from the information that the author has divulged and kept off from the reader. I kept wondering why she was holding back when it suddenly dawned on me. And it took away all the thrill of revelation and left an unsavory taste, forcing me to rush through the last few pages. The romance between Naomi and Xander felt superficial and forced with loads of boring intimacy. I felt a pricking itch in my mind that wanted to find a clink in the perfect relationship, perfect heroine, perfect hero tropes defined here. 😂 😂😂

Coming to the story, a girl or twelve discovers her father is a serial killer, a rapist and a women torturer. She helps one of his victims escape and gets his father put away behind bars. Later, her mother commits suicide, unable to bear her separation from her "beloved" 😂, yet thoroughly flawed, husband. Her dead body is discovered by Naomi when she returns home from school. Both these incidents leave indelible scars on her psyche, creating in her a second nature to go vagabond and solitary for much of her adult life. She has casual link ups with men but never anything serious .. that is until she comes to a small town on the West coast where she falls in love with a big house, a pet dog and a man called Xander. Well, their love story felt less compelling and more like a concoction brewed to elicit envy and wonder. What should have drove the narrative forward was the suspense around the new serial killer in town who is offing women who look like Naomi! But no. The author has devoted a lot of page space to describe the efforts gone into renovating the new house which felt halfway boring and halfway interesting. The new serial killer in town is after women who look like Naomi and he is finally locked up obviously or else we wouldn't have a convincing story lol 😂 😆 😂. I guess the only thing I liked is the prose which is well written even if the content is rancid and the first few chapters which kept me hooked. 

Give this a try if you like small town drama, lots of romance with not much weightage given to the suspense/thriller angle of the plot. If you liked my review, post ur comment below!