River's End

Olivia MacBride and her parents, a fairy-tale Hollywood family, had everything--fame, fortune, and love. But when 4-year-old Olivia awakens one night to find her mother brutally murdered and her father, Sam, standing over her corpse, the little girl's dreamland dissolves before her very eyes. Whisked away to the sanctuary of the Olympic Peninsula by her grandparents, Olivia learns to bury the past deep within her. Determined to protect herself from painful memories, Olivia limits her life to the emerald rain forests and the River's End resort. Years later, when Noah Brady arrives on her doorstop, Olivia allows her defenses to slip and opens herself to the passion that sparks between them. When she learns that Noah is fascinated with her mother's death and is writing a tell-all novel, Olivia is devastated. But as Noah helps Olivia acknowledge the lingering effects of her painful memories, she learns to trust him again. With careful research and the apparent cooperation of Sam, Noah begins to unravel the mysteries of that night. However, soon after Sam's release from prison, dangerous threats begin to pursue Noah and Olivia. When the killer enters the serenity of their world, Noah and Olivia must face the dark secrets of the past, or fail to secure a safe future. With the same skills that earned her the 1997 Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, Nora Roberts convincingly peers into the complex minds and motivations of her characters. Though Roberts stumbles in her attempt to write with the voice of a 4-year-old child, her luscious descriptions of Hollywood glamour and rain forest wilderness ring realistic and true. Both longtime fans and new readers alike will enjoy the intriguing suspense and electric passion in this romantic thriller. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien From Publishers Weekly Her signature florid style again serving a suspenseful mystery combined with a fated romance, bestselling Roberts (Hot Ice) tells a Helter Skelter-type Hollywood horror story lurid with murder, drugs and insanity. One summer night in 1979, four-year-old Olivia Tanner finds her doped-up father, Sam, bloodied shears in hand, poised over the dead body of her movie-star mom. Haunted by the image of "the monster" pursuing her, Olivia is sent to live with her grandparents in the Pacific Northwest, where she is sheltered from her memories by towering Douglas firs. Two decades later, the specter of the "monster" returns. From prison, her father urges young investigative reporter Noah Brady?son of the police detective who discovered Olivia after the murder?to research the crime. Noah accepts this task eagerly, heedless of Olivia's rebuffs and undeterred by violence and danger, especially after Olivia begins to remember the crime. The denouement brings both of them into a bloody confrontation with the past. Roberts's careful research, particularly into the ecosystems of the forests of the Pacific Northwest, makes for vibrant background detail. Her artful manipulation of the plot, contrived so that amour and horror escalate in tandem, reaffirms her ability to deliver entertaining fiction. 275,000 first printing; 300,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal YA-Life changes completely for four-year-old Olivia McBride the night she encounters the monster standing over her mother holding a pair of scissors covered with blood. Until then, she had been the only child of one of Hollywood's most glittering couples, dearly loved by her parents and loving them in return. But the monster, with her father's face, takes away her mother forever. She is whisked away from Hollywood and all the publicity surrounding the murder and her father's subsequent trial and imprisonment to live with her mother's loving and protective family. Growing up in the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, Olivia's monster is almost forgotten until a young writer, contacted by her father, agrees to write a book about the events of that night so many years ago. Thus, the monster that has been at bay for so long is reawakened. This novel, with elements of suspense and romance, also has vivid and atmospheric geographical descriptions. Pamela B. Rearden, Centreville Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Olivia McBride was only four the night she followed a scream and discovered her father standing over her mother's body, a pair of bloody scissors in his hand. In one short night, Hollywood's golden couple had ceased to exist. Olivia's testimony put actor Sam Tanner in prison for 20 years. Her grandparents then whisked her away to the Pacific Northwest, where her parents were never mentioned. Twenty years later, Sam wants to tell his story, his truth, and he wants Noah Brady, the son of the cop who arrested him, to write it. Noah agrees because pictures of the traumatized four-year-old have always haunted him. Noah and Olivia strike sparks off one another that quickly ignite a conflagration of emotions. Reminiscent of her Public Secrets (Bantam, 1997. reprint) but more mainstream in focus, Roberts's new work keeps you guessing until the end. Very highly recommended for all fiction collections. -?Jodi L. Israel, Jamaica Plain, MA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist The name Nora Roberts guarantees sales in the hundreds of thousands because she consistently gives her fans what they want--complex characters, snappy dialogue, and an intriguing plot--and her newest is no exception. It revolves around Olivia MacBride who witnessed a murder so horrific her four-year-old mind erased her memories of that night--the night her father murdered her mother with a pair of scissors. Why did Olivia become the object of intense media attention? Because her mother reigned as the hottest female star in Hollywood, while her father's star was falling. In the wake of the trial and the ongoing lack of privacy, Olivia's grandparents took her home to River's End Lodge in the Pacific Northwest. Now, 20 years later, the murder of Olivia's mother still fascinates the merely curious, die-hard fans, journalists, and writer Noah Brady, whose father was the first police officer on the scene. With several best-sellers under his belt ala Ann Rule, Noah decides to pursue his obsession with the unexpected help of Olivia's father, who contacts him from prison with an offer to tell his side of the story. Noah's investigation takes him to River's End, but Olivia wants nothing to do with his research or him, until his persistence has an unexpected side effect--the monster from Olivia's childhood has returned, determined to have her or to make sure no one else does. Even though Noah fails to make some obvious connections, Roberts' suspenseful tale is still a success, and demand will be high given book-club selections and a groundbreaking promotional stunt: the packaging of excerpts in 12-and 24-packs of Diet Coke. Melanie Duncan Nora Roberts is the #1��� New York Times -bestselling author of more than 200 novels. She is also the author of the bestselling��� In Death ���series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print. Read more