Northern Lights (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Strapped into the quivering soup can laughingly called a plane, bouncing his way on the pummeling air through the stingy window of light that was..." (more)
Key Phrases: winter climb, bug dope, police log, The Lodge, Chief Burke, Patrick Galloway (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Roberts shines again with a nuanced tale of the Alaskan wilderness and the appealing eccentrics who cluster there. Former Baltimore cop Nate Burke accepts the unlikely post of police chief of Lunacy, Alaska (pop. 506), to stave off the depression caused by divorce and the traumatic death of his partner, for which he holds himself partly responsible. His early days in the close-knit town are quiet except for minor disturbances and a dalliance with a feisty bush pilot, Meg Galloway. Then Meg's father, who disappeared 16 years before, is found frozen in a remote mountain cave, an ice ax in his chest. The discovery that Pat Galloway was murdered—most likely by a local—shakes up the town and drives his murderer to commit a second, cover-up killing. Though state authorities dismiss that death as suicide, Nate pursues it as a crime—a decision that puts him at odds with many outspoken Lunatics, as the townspeople call themselves. With quiet inexorability he fields the flak, uncovers long-forgotten events and finds a tough but loving balance with the fiercely independent Meg. Though billed as romantic suspense, the novel forsakes artificial genre conventions in favor of a wry, affectionate look at community bonds, generational wounds and soul-testing landscapes. The result is a richly textured novel that captures the intimacy of smalltown police work, the prickliness of the pioneer spirit and the paradox of a setting at once intimate and expansive, welcoming and hostile, indisputably American and yet profoundly exotic to those in the Lower 48.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Nate Burke, a Baltimore police detective, blamed himself for the death of his partner in a shootout, and the resulting anger and grief sent him into a depression so dark and deep he thought he would never climb back out. Then Nate decides to accept the position of police chief in the small town of Lunacy, Alaska, and it seems as if life is giving him one more chance. Things are certainly different in Lunacy, and Nate begins to enjoy his encounters with the town's colorful inhabitants, especially bush pilot Meg Galloway. The unexpected romance that slowly develops between Nate and Meg becomes quite complicated, however, when the body of Meg's father, who disappeared in 1988, is found in an ice cave, and Nate has to try to keep his new love safe from a cold-blooded murderer who is willing to kill again to keep old secrets safely buried. RITA Award-winning and New York Times best-selling Roberts beautifully captures the rugged splendor of Alaska, and her cast of uniquely endearing secondary characters adds just the right touch of quirky humor to her splendidly entertaining, sexy, and suspenseful romance about two tough yet vulnerable people. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Jove (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515139742
• ISBN-13: 978-0515139747
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #294,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Northern Exposures Revisited . . ., October 19, 2004

By	Cynthia Jeffries "readerwriterone" (Capitol Heights, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Northern Lights (Hardcover)

And what a wonderful trip it is. Nora Roberts simply does not know how to write a bad novel and even though this one went more than 500 pages, as far as I'm concerned, she could have doubled it. What was unique about Northern Lights was that the love story was second to the love of the scenery. I've never been to Alaska, but after Northern Lights, I really want to go. I could feel that bone deep chill or see the four feet of new snow. Just as she has done in her other novels "The Vila," or "Midnight Bayou," Ms. Roberts sucks you right into each scene.

As for the "lovers," Meg had fewer flaws than some of her other female characters. She's a strong, independent woman who can truly take men or leave them. Initially, it seemed that Meg pitied Nate. He certainly was a pitiable soul.

And if there were two things that dropped this review from a 5 to a 4 star, it is based on two things: (1) I still felt sorry for Nate even when the book regrettably ended and (2)as others have commented, the love affair grew a little too quickly.

Will I invest in another Nora Robb book? You better believe it, pal!

66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charmed, as always, by Ms. Roberts..., October 24, 2004

By	Alphia D. Larkins "mimi3plus3" (Acworth, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Northern Lights (Hardcover)

After reading all the other reviews (I read the book before reading the reviews, thank heavens, as I might not have bought it if I had read the reviews first!) I am completely puzzled at most of the reviews. First of all, I was thinking that I could have done with a little less of the sexy love scenes, yet these other reviewers are complaining that there aren't enough, or that they aren't hot enough, I"m not really sure what their complaints are. I disagree with both complaints, as there were several pages dedicated to each happenstance of Meg and Nate's couplings, and they were graphic enough for anyone that wasn't looking for porn. We weren't supposed to feel sympathetic toward Charlene at the beginning of the story, she wasn't a very likeable character, it took the unfolding of her background and circumstances, what made her the way she was, to turn her into a sympthetic character. She still didn't ring any bells with me, but everyone reacts to life's blows in different ways and I am sure that there are some women in real life who would react to her man leaving her nearly penniless, with a small child to raise, as immaturely as Charlene's character did. She does change as the story evolves, and the mystery here that leaves us hanging is how she raised a daughter with such character and integrity. Meg is a little too independent for my tastes, but the Women's Movement may account for that, I'm old fashioned and not into the W.M., I like having men (one man)take care of me, but understand that there are women out there who feel entirely different, and as Meg is of a younger generation, I accept the character as written. So we accept Meg the way she is, feisty and independent, as Ms. Roberts portrayed her. What is wrong with that? It is the author's prerogrative to form her character's as she sees them, and wants them to be. The main part of the story for me, and the reason I bought the book, was the murder mystery, and none of the earlier reviews even touches on that, only on the romance between Meg and Nate! If romance was all I was looking for when I paid the high price that I did for this book, I would have spent less and bought a Harlequin Romance Novel! It was the deaths and who was committing them that kept me riveted with my nose in this book and could barely put it down
until the unveiling of the coldhearted murderer. I must say that I had an inkling of who it was about half way through, but wasn't sure until the actual showdown. The suspense kept me reading until the very end, and unable to put it down even when the wee hours of the morning told me to give it up until the next day, but the suspense overruled common sense and I kept at it until the end! The book is well worth the price I paid, as far as I am concerned, and I like it better than the supernatural books that Ms. Roberts has written a lot of in the past few years. It was completely realistic, and her description of the Alaskan Northern Lights is the best that I have ever read.
Alphia D. Larkins

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Northern Lights, February 6, 2008

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

I really enjoyed this book! I have spent alot of time in Alaska, and it is the perfect setting. It is a bit unusual, but there isn't just one story being told. The current drama involves Nate Burke, the new chief of police by way of Baltimore, and Meg Galloway, a local pilot. They are oil and water, but of course it is lust at first sight. While we are following the new journey for Meg and Nate, the other story being told from the past at the same time is of Pat Galloway. Meg's father has been missing for 16 years, and we learn what happened to him all those years ago. As both stories collide, the mystery and danger escalate.