Review: High Noon – Nora Roberts

SYNOPSIS: Police Lieutenant Phoebe MacNamara found her calling at an early age when an unstable man broke into her family’s home, trapping and terrorizing them for hours. Now she’s Savannah’s top hostage negotiator, defusing powderkeg situations with a talent for knowing when to give in-and when to jump in and take action. It’s satisfying work-and sometimes those skills come in handy at home dealing with her agoraphobic mother, still traumatized by the break-in after all these years, and her precocious seven-year-old, Carly.

It’s exactly that heady combination of steely courage and sensitivity that first attracts Duncan Swift to Phoebe. After observing her coax one of his employees down from a roof ledge, he is committed to keeping this intriguing, take-charge woman in his life. She’s used to working solo, but Phoebe’s discovering that no amount of negotiation can keep Duncan at arm’s length.

And when she’s grabbed by a man who throws a hood over her head and brutally assaults her-in her own precinct house-Phoebe can’t help but be deeply shaken. Then threatening messages show up on her doorstep, and she’s not just alarmed but frustrated. How do you go face-to-face with an opponent who refuses to look you in the eye?

Now, with Duncan backing her up every step of the way, she must establish contact with the faceless tormentor who is determined to make her a hostage to fear . . . before she becomes the final showdown – via Goodreads

Another Roberts recommendation from my bestie, Natasha. Now, while Roberts still isn’t a favourite of mine, and while I may not be the biggest fan she has, her books are alright for a read to pass the time with, as long as you are not expecting too much. I think one of the biggest problems I have with her is how incredibly unrealistic her characters are. Then throw in unrealistic situations, romances, etc. and you have sort of lost me. Also, and this is a huge one for me: I find her so sexist. There is always this strong woman who ultimately needs saving, and this guy that comes along and decides he is going to break through her defenses, no matter what, and she best suck it up. Add to that, the guy’s manhood is permanently brought into question and defended in arguments. He has a pair, she will not deny him that, bla bla bla bla bla, he is the protector and alpha male and pushy because he wants her and everyone is always fighting over stupid shit because they are all stubborn. Then, in this novel, the amount of times Duncan’s dick was mentioned independent of a sexual act was just bizarre. But there we have it, typical Roberts. Something that really got under my skin in this book was how Phoebe was assaulted in the stairwell, physically and sexually, and nobody seemed perturbed by that, everyone was concerned that a woman was hit and that her face was bruised. Right after the assault? Duncan is playing macho man and Phoebe gets a sexual thrill… right after she was sexually assaulted? Wut?! I just don’t buy into that right now. There was Essie, too, with her extreme agoraphobia that had all the potential to be fascinating, yet nothing came of it. Ava and Dave, and all the fuss made about their relationship? Went nowhere, either. This book simply ended. Nothing was tied up. The villain in this one, however, was better constructed than a lot of the others in the last few novels of her that I have read. It was not the obvious one, and when he was discovered, it fit in quite right, and it was fine. Much better than her average villain. I wish that the themes of sexual violence as well as the aspect of women not receiving the respect that they deserve in the workplace had been explored more. The one detective, Liz, was one character that I enjoyed. She was the only character that seemed to have been more fleshed out than even the mains, and she only made an appearance from time to time. I know this sounds like an immense bitch session, and I suppose it was, but if you are looking for a simple filler read, this isn’t the worst book you could be looking into.