River's End (Hardcover)

by Nora Roberts (Author) "Olivia was four when the monster came..." (more)
Key Phrases: naturalist center, Sam Tanner, Frank Brady, Jamie Melbourne (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; FIRST EDITIION edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399144706
• ISBN-13: 978-0739402504
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (157 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #374,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nora does it again!, April 12, 2001

By	"intentaccess" (Boca Raton, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River's End (Paperback)

Sam and Julie, a Hollywood couple. Their four-year-old daughter, Livvy, was in the house the night Julie was murdered. She tried to find her mother and finds her father bending over her mother's bloody body. She hides in a closet where a very nice policeman, Frank Brady, later found her. Although her mother's twin sister, Jamie, and her husband, David, wanted to have Olivia live with them, she went to live with her grandparents who run River's End, a lodge and campground on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula far from the media circus. Livvy lives in the safe environment her grandparents provided for her. Loving nature, Livvy goes to college majoring in resource science and returns to River's End to open a naturalist center that she dreamed about. Twenty years after Julie's murder, Sam Tanner's parole has continued to be denied thanks in large part to the testimony of Frank Brady and Julie's twin sister, Jamie. Stricken with a terminal cancer, Sam contacts best-selling true-crime author Noah Brady (Frank's son) to finally tell his side of the story. Noah has long been interested in the case; and, particularly in Livvy, who he has had contact with a couple of times in the past 20 years. Noah knows he will have to get all sides of the story, not just Sam's which will mean seeing Livvy again. When Noah sees Livvy, the attraction is still there but little does he know that in his quest to get her father's story, her life will be in danger for there is one person who knows the truth of what happened that night 20 years before. RIVER'S END is one of Nora Roberts best.... way to go Nora!!!

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This time, judge a book by it's cover!, March 12, 2000

By A Customer

I'm sure all of you know the old saying when choosing a book to read, DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER? Well this time ignore the old saying. The illustrations on the cover of this book live up to and provide a perfect description of the book. The characters that Ms. Roberts portrays in this story seem to leap out from the pages and into the imagination of the reader. The characters are well defined and realistic. I became very involved in the story and finished the book in two days. I am a huge fan of the mystery/suspense and romantic genres and this book satisfied my urges for both genres. The only drawback to this book is the predictable and lackluster ending. I figured out who the killer was when I was halfway through the book. When Olivia faces her mother's killer, her reaction seemed unemotional and unconvincing. The well-written characters and the love story between the young couple is good enough to keep the story interesting. Nora Roberts wrote such a sexy love scene between the two young lovers that it made me want more. A definite MUST READ!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rivers End, February 16, 2008

By	Kelly "Reviewer for The Sinfully Sensuous" (Littleton, Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: River's End (Paperback)

When tragedy befalls 4-year-old Livvy, her life is forever changed when her father is convicted of murdering her mother. Since they were a popular Hollywood couple, everyone is curious about her, and the press won't leave her alone. To protect her, Olivia goes to live with her grandparents who raise her as their own. They live in the quiet Pacific Northwest, running a lodge providing vacationers the chance to be up close and personal with nature. Livvy loves nature, and majors in the field hoping to open a center at the lodge. As she settles into her peaceful life at the lodge, her past comes crashing into her present when her father decides to set the record straight. He has contacted writer Noah Brady to tell his story. As Noah and Livvy rekindle their childhood friendship and explore the future, they soon discover they have to resolve the past or there may be no future.

This is a suspenseful read with well-written characters interwoven into a very sad tale. Again, NR uses her descriptive talents letting the reader feel a part of the landscape.