On July 22, 2005, many lives were changed forever in Rockport Maine, a town not far from Portland. Three teenage boys, JJ Hobart, Kent Whitehall, and Devon Paulson went on a shooting spree at the local mall. JJ took the theater and the other two started in the mall proper. They were to meet inside the mall, but Simone Knox had seen someone covered in blood come out of the theater she was about to go back into after having gone to the bathroom. She immediately called 911 and they told her to go back to the bathroom and hide, which saved her life. By calling the police she saved lives and ended the life of JJ because the police arrived quickly and officer Essie McVee shot him down.
But still, around 96 people died, including her best friend Tish and her other best friend Mi-Hi Jung was put in the hospital in critical condition, but pulled through. Others weren't so lucky. Reed Quartermain had been going to ask Angie out on a date and she died while he survived and managed to save a four-year-old boy. His best friend Chaz hides some people in the shop he works at in the back.
Time passes and Simone decides to go to Columbia in order to be near Mi who chooses that college because it's in New York City which is where Tish planned on going to after high school in order to pursue her dream of being an actress. Mi dreams of being a scientist, but Simone doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She really just doesn't want to think about much of anything, especially that night. Her grandmother Ci-Ci is a famous artist and believes that Simone has an artistic bent but doesn't want to push her in any direction. Simone's parents want her to be a lawyer and marry well. Finally, Simone must choose what she wants to do with her life.
Reed knows what he wants to do with his life. He wants to be a cop. He goes to the Academy after college and joins the force that Essie McVee is on in Rockport and the two deepen their friendship. McVee finds love with a professor and marries. Reed dates, but doesn't find anyone in particular to love or that one house he's been looking for to own that is calling to him, so he stays inside his ratty apartment. Meanwhile, he and Essie get notified when one of the victims of the massacre die and Reed is beginning to notice a pattern with the deaths even though some are accidents some are suicides, some are murders.
It turns out that the real brains behind the massacre was Patricia, JJ's younger sister. She manipulated the three boys into doing what she wanted them to do. She planned the event for Christmas time so there would be maximum damage, though. They jumped the gun and got killed in the process. Patricia plans on getting revenge for her brother's death by killing the survivors. She'll start off by killing just three a year so no suspicion will fall on her endeavors. She's saving McVee and Simone for last.
This is an amazing book and quite a departure for Roberts. There's a touch of romance, but it's certainly not the main component. Not by a long shot. It examines the lives of people touched by tragedy who try to move on with their lives in the best way they know how. And how the one person who orchestrated it goes after the remainders in honor of the brother she loved so deeply. As you read, the survivors pull their lives back together and make successes of themselves while Patricia slowly falls apart and devolves into a horrific monster. This is one of Roberts best works. I give it a strong five out of five stars.
Bloggers Note* Roberts set this book in Stephen King country and gave it a King touch with a psychopath on a rampage. CiCi claims to be psychic. And there's an Overlook hotel. No idea of what happens inside this hotel, though. In the book she wrote before this one, Year One, it has been compared to King's Stand. Is she further exploring King's world? This is just one blogger's speculation.
Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Shelter-Place-Nora-Roberts-ebook/dp/B076BGDMK9/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1544015538&sr=8-3&keywords=shelter+in+place+nora+roberts
No comments:
Post a Comment