REVIEW: The Final Target by Nora Roberts
Content Note: Violence, sexual violence
Dear Nora Roberts,
Arden Bowie is a young, debut author from Columbus, Ohio, having her first book signing. The last person to request she sign her book is Dustin Dubecki. Dustin wants to write as well, he tells her, and is hoping she’ll have a coffee with him and give him some tips. And then he’s at her next signing. And the next. Arden gets cornered by him outside a coffee shop one day and agrees to have a ten minute coffee with him in the hopes he’ll move on but this just feeds his delusion of who he is to her. He stalks her and builds the plan in his head of how things will be between them, how she will cook and clean for him and look after him and he will provide for her and she will do what he says because that’s “what’s meant”.
Arden is 23/24 when the book begins. She works part time in a bookstore and wrote her first book while in college. When she was 14, her parents were killed in a car accident and she moved from her home in Brooklyn, New York, to live with her Aunt Jen and Uncle Doug (her mother’s brother) and their two children, Zoey and Travis. They folded her into their family and they’re as close as family can be. Zoey, two years her elder, is her best friend.
Zoey is about to be married and she and her fiance have plans to move to Oregon where they have both accepted promotions/new jobs, to start their married life. Arden will miss her but they will visit regularly and keep in touch by text, phone and zoom.
Before any of that happens however, Dustin attacks Arden, beats and sexually assaults her. She’s lucky to escape with her life. Dustin is from a wealthy family – everything he had told her at the book signings and over coffee was a lie – and his mother pulls every string to have him committed to a secure psychiatric facility rather than go to prison. He is ultimately sentenced to five years. It’s not enough of course.
Arden struggles to put the assault behind her and feel safe again. Ultimately four years later, she moves to Oregon to start a new life, be near Zoey and her husband and two daughters and also to Travis and his wife and children who live in northern California a few hours away. (Aunt Jen and Uncle Doug plan to retire in a year or two to the area as well.) Being so far away from Columbus and Dustin is a bonus. She doesn’t advertise where she lives. She feel safer in Oregon.
In Riverbend, Oregon, Arden finds her forever home. She also meets ex-LAPD detective Gideon Riley (who also has a woodworking hobby because of course he does). She’s doing some work on her house and meets Gideon through his grandfather, Joe, who runs the local hardware store. Crafting and renovations, independent bookstores and other local businesses are all to be expected from a Nora Roberts book and The Final Target is no exception. There’s probably slightly less renovation than other books, if anything. Some readers might be a bit tired of the descriptions of home remodeling but I like them just fine. They tend give me a strong sense of place and it helps me to visualise the setting and action of the story.
It’s probably true that Arden and Gideon are quite similar to many other Nora Roberts characters but that’s just fine with me. I like them. Gideon is not chatty, a bit… well, not grumpy, but something approaching that perhaps, but never surly. Plus, good looking (“hot and sexy” in fact), talented, loves his grandfather to pieces and has a strong sense of justice and right and wrong. (Oh if all cops/ex-cops could be Nora Roberts heroes.) Between Arden, Gideon, Joe and the various other cast members, the competency porn is strong. As usual. Again, not a complaint.
Arden settles into Riverbend with her black Labrador, Zorro, makes friends – especially with Jamie and Nick and their little dog, Isis, who live on the next property over – and tries to put out of her mind that Dustin is coming up for release in a few months.
Dustin, for his part, has been stewing and making plans since he was locked away. He’s playing the part of a dutiful son, a repentant young man suffering from a mental illness which has been successfully treated but he has intentions for everyone he regards as being responsible for his situation: his mother, the judge, his lawyer, the police officers who arrested him and, of course, Arden. It’s only a matter of time until things come to a head.
The Final Target has all of the beats I expect and want from a Nora Roberts romantic suspense. Arden is competent and clever but she’s not a superhero. Her actions make sense; she doesn’t miraculously develop super strength or amazing jujitsu skills. But she’s no pushover. She’s grown and learned in the years since she was attacked. She’s determined not to be a victim again. Gideon is all I want in a Nora Roberts hero and I loved the family, blood and found, the dogs and the setting as well. The book was maybe a tad less spicy than previous novels but it was plenty romantic and had lots of intimacy – sex is just one way of expressing it but by no means the only.
I look forward every year to the Nora Roberts standalone romantic suspense. I open the book with almost breathless anticipation and, usually, I finish it with a happy book sigh. Some books are better than others. Probably The Witness and The Search are objectively better books and would still be my favourites but The Final Target was exactly what I wanted and definitely hit the spot. I have no complaints.
Grade: A
Regards,
Kaetrin
I’m so glad to hear that you liked it. I have it in my TBR for our upcoming trip, and I just want it to be a solid NR suspense novel, as you said.
Can you tell me a little bit more about the romantic relationship — was there chemistry or courtship? Did you feel the attraction and the falling? I haven’t read a Nora Roberts book in years but your review has made me interested in this one, I just want to know a little bit more about the romance aspect.
@Sonoma Lass: Enjoy your holiday – I think this is a perfect holiday read!
@Janine: Yes, yes and yes. It’s a slowish burn which is not untypical of Nora. They’re two extremely competent adults who are initially a bit skittish about getting into a relationship for one reason or another. There’s no silly misunderstandings, realistic give and take/push and pull. He’s protective but he doesn’t step on her toes. She takes his advice on things he’s more expert in. They bond over woodworking and house renovations and by the time there’s a risk to her, they’re well and truly together.
@Kaetrin: Thank you!
Loved this one!! And, as always, another wonderful review from you!