34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What's the Problem?, December 16, 2005
I read all the reviews of Blue Smoke BEFORE I read the book, something I usually do not do...so I was expecting a real mess. To my surprise, I liked the book a great deal. I'm not saying it's Nora's best, but I am surprised by some of the vehemence of those who did not like the plot line.
Yes, this is the story of an arsonist cum serial killer who, like most serial killers I have heard and read about, escalates his crimes and violence with each killing. And yes, there are some brutal descriptions of him in action, one in particular, which takes place shortly before the end of the book. But this is not Nora's first foray into murder when she is writing as herself. "Sanctuary" comes immediately to mind; the descriptions of the dead mother in that book are scary and gruesome to the max.
I think that for an author as prolific as Nora, to be expected to churn out romance after romance after romance, with no twists or no new material, is too much to ask. This is a murder mystery with the patented Nora love interest thrown in. Is it perfect? No. Should the main character, Reena, have figured out on the first page who the perpetrator was, as so many reviewers suggest? Well, maybe, but having watched "Cold Case Files" (the real one on the A&E Channel) for years, I know that it doesn't work that way in real life. Sometimes the obvious is simply not all that obvious.
In sum, I thought Blue Smoke was a heck of a good read; that's my opinion. Yes, if you abhor violence, either skip the violent parts (there really aren't all that many) or skip the book. But otherwise, I think Nora deserves a bit of praise for a well-told tale.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't judge it just because it's not "typical Nora Roberts"..., October 26, 2005
BLUE SMOKE begins on the night Catarina Hale becomes a woman. Awoken by the unmistakable pains of female adolescence, Reena goes downstairs for a ginger ale in the late hours of an August night. When she steps outside for some fresh air, she notices a beautiful light coming from her family's pizza shop, Sirico's. What she at first believes to be a reflection of the streetlights in the windows of the shop turns out to be licking flames of orange fire. In the days that follow the fire, the arsonist responsible for the destruction of the restaurant is arrested, and the community covers the Hale family like a warm blanket during their trying times, working with them to rebuild Sirico's until the restaurant is even better than it was before. But 11-year-old Reena can't get the flames, the overwhelming heat and destructive power of the fire, out of her mind. She wants to study fires, to understand the arsonists who are obsessed with setting them.
Years later, Reena is an arson investigator for the Baltimore Police Department. And while her professional life thrives and she has plenty of fires to study and arsonists to arrest, her personal life is less impressive. She has had a string of failed relationships, ones that ended in tragedy and violence, ones that simply ended, anticlimactically. And now, at 31, Reena has just bought her first home and is ready to welcome love into her life. It comes in the form of the man next door, a carpenter named Bowen Goodnight, who spotted Reena at a college party 13 years ago and has been enchanted with his "Dream Girl" ever since.
But just when things couldn't get any better, they abruptly start to get much worse. Reena finds herself being courted by a psychotic killer, a pyromaniac and arsonist who has a personal vendetta against Reena and her family. And even more chilling is Reena's slow understanding that he has been stalking her for a long, long time, gradually getting closer and closer to exacting his revenge on her family for a long-ago event. And his next victim may be much closer to home: a member of her family, her new love...or Reena herself.
Before reading BLUE SMOKE, I had only read one other Nora Roberts novel (NORTHERN LIGHTS) and no J.D. Robb books. After looking at the other reviews here, I think this was a distinct advantage for me when reading BLUE SMOKE. It seems that authors as prolific as Nora Roberts are often pigeonholed, expected to write certain ways and about certain topics; and if they waver from their usual course, it's to the detriment of their fans' enjoyment of the novel. Judging from the other reviews here, this is the case with BLUE SMOKE. It seems that the majority of Roberts' fans who have responded to the novel here are disappointed with this offering because it's not what they expected out of a Nora Roberts book; some have indicated that BLUE SMOKE is more like a J.D. Robb book, what with all the grisly description and gory detail.
Since I am not really familiar with Nora Roberts' writing, I am not comparing this book to other Nora Roberts novels. I was able to read BLUE SMOKE with a clear head, not one clouded by expectations of the kind of novel it was. So what did I think? I loved it, and let me tell you why.
First of all, Nora Roberts is a very good writer. For someone who churns out as many books as she does, you'd think she'd get a little careless with her writing style (like Mary Higgins Clark, whose writing I believe has suffered greatly from increased production). But that's not the case at all. BLUE SMOKE is well-paced; the prose is distinctive and thoughtful; the bantering dialogue between the characters is fun and realistic. The romance is not overwritten and is expertly entertwined with the rest of the plot. Roberts' descriptions are breathtaking in many instances; her images of fire are particularly lovely and haunting. BLUE SMOKE is not just an exciting novel; it's also surprisingly well-written and lacks that churned-out feel I was expecting it to have.
Secondly, Roberts' characterization is phenomenal. Even the most minor characters are finely-wrought in Roberts' expert hands; she uses small, thoughtful details to help readers get to know them--and as a result, readers react when these characters meet harm. Reena's large Italian family is particularly accurate. From the love of food to the importance of the family unit, from the swearing in Italian to the beautiful women, Roberts hits the nail on the head with her descriptions of a modern Italian family. Reena's family is one that any person would be lucky to have; and again, each member of the Hale family is well-sketched-out. Reena herself is a thoroughly likable heroine, a woman who loves "the poetry of baseball" and is tough enough to fight fires for a living. But she's also sensitive and caring; she laughs, she cries; she's an independent woman who won't admit how much she really needs the support of her loving family. She's well-wrought, finely-tuned, thoroughly believable.
Contrary to other reviewers' opinions, I found the antagonist to be well-developed as well. His motives are clear, his mental state apparent. In BLUE SMOKE, Roberts gives readers the opportunity to actually get inside the villain's head, which ups the suspense of her story even more. He is an exciting and dangerous adversary, and Roberts' writing does him justice.
Yes, the novel is full of grisly descriptions. No, the novel is not centered on the romance between the main character and her perfect man. It's about something much deeper than that. It's about one woman's strength in the face of insurmountable odds, about one woman's determination to seek the truth and keep her family safe from harm. It's about the importance of family, and how wonderful it feels to find someone after years of searching who fits into your life like a glove. It's about how the decisions we make can affect the rest of our lives and about the consequences of our actions. Apparently, BLUE SMOKE isn't "typical Nora Roberts"--but it's still a wonderful novel in its own right.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You go, Nora, October 20, 2005
I guess I'm not surprised by the number of bad reviews on here. People tend to put other people into categories, and are rarely happy when someone tries to step out of the little box that's been created for them. Personally, I see it as a good thing that Nora Roberts can write both tender, sweet romances and dark, grittty suspense novels. It's a testament to her talent that she can do both, and do them both competently. Because, yes, this was a very well written suspense novel, despite what some of the reviews here have said. No, this wasn't a mystery. It wasn't supposed to be a mystery. Yes, we were supposed to know who it was from the beginning. That was, IMO, the point of the book: to follow the life of Reena, and see how this one person touched it on so many levels. This was more a book about relationships...and relationships are Nora's specialty. She didn't disappoint me at all in that area. Coming from a big Catholic family, I saw her portrayal of Reena's family as very realistic. I loved Bo. A good departure from the typical "alpha" male who remains cool and emotionally distant from the love of his life, Bo jumped in with both feet, enthusiastic enough so that it freaked Reena out, he was so enthusiastic. I loved that he embraced the whole relationship with open arms instead of standing back thinking, "I love her, but I must not allow her to see" like many "romantic heroes" do. Did we need the graphic descriptions? Hell yes. That's part of what made the book spooky and uncomfortable, and it was supposed to be spooky and uncomfortable. That's what a suspense story is. That so many of Nora's loyal fans were uncomfortable to the point where they couldn't read the story, or were so horrified by it that they gave it one star, only tells me that Nora did her job well. Bottom line is that if you're looking for a flowery romantic read with a little bit of suspense mixed in, this is the wrong book for you. If you like Nora's dark and gritty side, you'll probably like this one. Her best? No, but as someone here stated, I've read much worse. Here's hoping Nora doesn't allow the critics to put her back into her limited little romance box. I, for one, am looking forward to Nora's next suspense novel. You go, Nora.
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