High Noon

This Nora Roberts standalone novel starts off with a bang. Phoebe McNamara is the top hostage negotiator for the Savannah Police Department and she is called in to talk down a man threatening suicide. She heads out on the ledge with him and is able to get him to put down the gun and come inside. This is just part of the job for Phoebe as she has worked suicides, kidnappings, hostage situations and robberies gone wrong with very few fatalities. The man who is talking to "suicide Joe" when she arrives is Duncan Swift who recently won several millions in a lottery. He falls for Phoebe and will not give up until she agrees to go out with him. Phoebe is not looking for a relationship as she is a single mother to a 7 year old daughter and she show more is the breadwinner and caretaker for her agorophobic mother. Unfortunately for Phoebe, something is happening and she does not know what. Someone is stalking and tormenting her. Dead animals are tossed on her porch steps, a man she has spent hours negotiating with is shot down as he walks out with his arms in the air, and Phobe doesn't have a clue who is taunting & terrorizing her. She is also dealing with a suspended police officer who hates her and when she is attacked in the stairwell of her own police building he is fired and only given community service. As the violence escalates, she fears for her family and the man she is falling in love with, Duncan Swift.

Nora Roberts never fails to deliver action, suspense, intrigue, chemistry, and romance. The plot development and action were well written. The suspense kept building and building as the stalker grew more violent and brash. I was never sure who the stalker was and neither was Phoebe until just before the final showdown (hence the title, High Noon). The family dynamics and history added another interesting storyline which added another dimension to the characters. The chemistry between Phoebe and Duncan was believable even if it did happen very fast. He was a great character, honest, loyal, loving and putting Phoebe's family right up there with her. He was the prince on the white steed, but not mushy or unbelievable. My only complaint was the abrupt ending. I would have loved an epilogue of what happened after that final scene where the showdown takes place. I assume they got married, but would love to have had something end the story a little less abruptly. A great romantic suspense novel for anyone who likes reading this genre. show less

Have you ever loved someone or something so much that if anything happened to them you would stop at nothing to seek retribution for your loss. That is exactly what this book is about love, loss, and the power they both have over people's lives. I have to say that I loved this book from beginning to end. The best and worst part of this book is that the characters were so real that you didn't want the book to end so, when it did you were left hanging wondering about the well being of all the characters not just those in the last few pages. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance, suspense, and a good mystery.

I am a HUGE Nora Roberts fan and this book did not disappoint. What most impresses me about her writing is that I am engaged from the very first page because her stories draw you in immediately. I love how each character is so fully developed, I feel like I can picture each one and get to know their personalities like a new friend. Each character also has a unique profession that is artfully woven into the story with such detail that it is clear Ms. Roberts has put a lot of time and research into learning about her character's chosen vocation.

The main character in this book is a hostage negotiator for the police department in Savannah. She meets the love interest by talking his former bartender down from the roof of a building. I show more learned a lot of fascinating aspects of hostage negotiation from this book, something I never expected to be interested in. I cared about the characters right away and I loved how the central character had both a prickly and a vulnerable side to her. The climax of the book was very suspensful and the romance was crafted perfectly. Highly recommend! show less

Thoroughly enjoyable romantic suspense filled with a wonderful cast of characters. Heroine Phoebe MacNamara is a single mother to seven-year-old Carly and she’s a top hostage negotiator. I liked that she’s a very strong heroine, has a very interesting profession, and I liked how she really held her family together. Her mother Essie is agoraphobic and never leaves the house. Essie is still traumatized by a break-in from years ago where an ex-boyfriend held her and her two children hostage for hours, an event that also set the path for Phoebe's career choice. Duncan Swift was such a fabulous hero. He won millions on the lottery and he owns a number of sports bars, and is working on other business ventures. He was such an all-around show more good guy, and I loved how he really took to Phoebe’s family. He was so kind, caring, and considerate towards them, and really made everyone feel special. The Savannah, Georgia, setting and the house where Phoebe lived with her family really added to the atmosphere with vivid descriptions. Add to that, lots of edge-of-your-seat suspense and this made for an extremely entertaining and captivating read. show less

Assuming I get this posted in a somewhat timely manner, High Noon is the latest blockbuster from the prolific Nora Roberts.

Police Lt. Phoebe MacNamara is a hostage negotiator. She meets Duncan Swift while trying to prevent the suicide of a bartender Duncan just fired. It's love at first sight for Duncan--or at first acquaintance, anyway, because he's entranced with her strength and skill (and beauty, of course). It takes Phoebe a little longer.

Phoebe really has too much going on to think about romance, anyway: a house she can't afford but can't move out of, a mother who's severely agoraphobic and can't leave the house, a 7-year-old fashionista of a daughter... to top it off, she's training cops in rudimentary hostage negotiation, and is show more catching a lot of flack from one particular misogynistic but well-connected cop.

And then she's brutally attacked in the stairway of the police station, and threatening messages and dead animals start showing up on her doorstep.

Duncan, well... Duncan won the lottery a few years ago. And he owns parts of several businesses. His best friend is a lawyer, and he's adopted his friend's family as his own. Basically, he's got plenty of free time to spend acting like the perfect man.

*sigh* Yeah, we're getting to why I'm giving a new Nora Roberts book only four stars. I... you could say I'm a fan. I'm not a squeeing fangirl for Nora the way I am with Crusie or Butcher or Pratchett or Kinsale or Gaiman, but I own every single one of her books and have read most of them multiple times, I moderate an email list, used to run a fan website, did a short stint as a moderator on ADWOFF, and have been to several signings at TTP. Yeah, I'm a fan. I tend to like her books a lot.

But too many things in this book just went nowhere. Phoebe's mother's agoraphobia, for example. Okay, she has agoraphobia, she can't leave the house. It eventually gets explained why she's not doing anything about it, but then it's just left hanging there. The house is apparently completely impregnable, so there's never a worry that she'll HAVE to leave the house for her own safety, and we never find out the terms of the will, so there's never a worry that if Phoebe marries Duncan she'll lose the house. I don't consider that a spoiler--it's not a major part of the plot--I consider it fair warning.

And the romance... just wasn't. It was love admiration at first sight for Duncan (though that's better than just lust, I admit), and Phoebe just seemed to bow to the inevitable presence of Mr. Perfect in her life. There was no development of emotion between them--Phoebe just kept listing obstacles and Duncan just kept using his money and charm to remove them.

Part of that, I admit, is my own preference--I can't think of anything more boring than a "perfect" hero. Never argues, never complains, never has a thought in his head that doesn't mesh exactly with the heroine's. *yawn* I can see how this fantasy would be appealing to some people. Just not me.

Worse yet, the romance/family plot and the suspense plot really didn't overlap except only briefly. I'd expected the villain to break in or bomb or burn the house, so that there would be a point to Phoebe's mother's agoraphobia, but there wasn't. There wasn't a point to the daughter being obsessed with shoes, either, and that could have tied in so easily. There wasn't even a romantic conflict over the danger in Phoebe's job. Perfect man Duncan just calmly supported her.

The suspense plot was great, though. It kept me guessing, and I enjoyed the resolution very much.

It's as if this were two stories, loosely connected: a suspense novel, and a slice-of-life women's fiction story. I'd have preferred the suspense novel to stand alone. Cut out all the agoraphobia, and Duncan's friend's family picnics, the fashion-conscious 7-year-old (that's my own prejudice, but it got on my nerves), and the romance, such as it was. That would bring the suspense story down to 350 pages, and I'd probably have given it 5 stars. show less

Review: High Noon by Nora Roberts. 01/05/2019

This is one of Nora Robert’s great reads. It was well-written, suspenseful and I love the characters. Robert’s uses her creative and clever mind in terms of exploring the psychology of a woman whose job is dangerous and also showing how she led a normal life in other ways. The romance part of the story comes to light at the beginning. It’s not often when the reader meets the hostage negotiator as the main character. Nora Roberts doesn’t waist any time with the suspense captivating the reader from the start.

Phoebe MacNamara has a challenging career as a hostage negotiator with the Savannah Police Department. Phosbe has personal challenges to deal with like being a single parent of a show more seven year old daughter and a mother that won’t leave the house because of she deals with agoraphobia that has been going on in her life for a long time. Phoebe’s romance almost starts at the beginning with Duncan who is very wealthy and the relationship goes well but Phoebe holds back at first. (I felt Duncans’s character was a little to goody-goody).

The violence emerges right away when Phoebe is attacked and fights for respect from her co-workers. In the story throughout the book it’s clear that someone has a deep evil obsession with Phoebe and he takes it all the way to the end of the book. The story does keep you on the edge of your seat and your mind is always wondering what’s going to happen next. Phoebe MacNamara had scenes of being a great negotiator when she was needed throughout the story. show less

This has some aspects of the In Death series, Duncan Swift is wealthy, he won a lottery a few years ago and now spends his time really doing what he wants, a lot of that making him money. He really enjoys it when his money makes the lives of those around him better, without charity.

She's Phoebe MacNamara, a hostage negotiator who is battling a few issues. Being a lone parent, having an agoraphobic mother, being chained to her house due to a complicated will and having to fight some pretty sexist workmates.

They meet when she tries to talk down a ex-employee of Duncan's. Duncan is entranced and decides that he's going to get her into his life. She's not sure he wants to deal with all her issues.

Then to complicate things it looks like show more someone has it in for her, or maybe several somebodies. The story kept me guessing until the very end and I really enjoyed it.

I've seen some reviews where they didn't like the more mystery feel but I found it a good read, I actually regretted putting it down. show less