Identity

Identity is Nora Robert's springtime release for 2023, and it is everything you want in a Nora Roberts novel. There is suspense and romance. It has a strong family bond, both found and genetic. It even stars an adorable and goofy dog. I finished reading it on a dark and rainy Sunday afternoon, and it was the perfect read for such a day.

As usual, Identity starts with a strong-willed, independent woman who suffers a terrible loss and must uproot her life. Morgan is the type of heroine we expect from Ms. Roberts. She has a good head on her shoulders and prides herself on her independence. But she is not too proud to learn to accept help when needed and to recognize that asking for help does not denote weakness. Morgan has serious goals show more and detailed plans to get there, which include an endearing use of spreadsheets and lists.

We all know that none of Ms. Roberts' heroines end their story without finding love. Morgan's love interest in Identity is everything you want for her. Serious, steady with a strong family bond and deep roots, and as goal-oriented as she is, Miles is her equal. They fit together with the precision of a puzzle piece, and their scenes together flow like magic.

In every novel, I find I am much more interested in the heroine's profession than I would ever consider. The same is true in Identity. This time, Morgan is a professional bartender. Ms. Roberts makes it seem so damn cool. She doesn't hide that it is difficult, tiring work. And yet, Morgan's ability to read people is impressive. At the same time, the pride she takes in her work and the smoothness with which she handles flirty or rude clients make me envious. I even find myself thinking that I should try bartending. Ms. Roberts does this to me with every one of her novels. It is a testament to her writing prowess when Ms. Roberts can get someone like me, an avowed introvert and burgeoning misanthrope, to contemplate a career in the service industry!

I enjoyed the slow build of tension in Identity. Whether the suspense is from the slowly-building relationship between Morgan and Miles or from watching Gavin plot his next moves in his quest for revenge on the one that got away, Ms. Roberts takes her time creating an undercurrent of unease that keeps your interest. It is something Ms. Roberts does in all of her novels, and I never tire of it.

Once again, Ms. Roberts proves to be the queen of the romantic thriller. Identity hit all the right notes for me. The dog Howl made me smile and laugh. Miles and his family made me envious of their tight connection and mutual respect they have for each other. And I fell in love with Morgan, her mom, and her grandmother. Morgan's story kept my interest, and I read with bated breath to find out how it would end. Ms. Roberts never disappoints me, and neither did Identity. show less

Nora Roberts never, ever, ever fails to deliver. Logical, well-executed, smooth, fast-moving plot. Strong, passionate characters who know when to give, when to take and when to put it all on the line. The elements are always there, but you also get a unique, original story that captivates you, keeps you guessing, make you draw back in fear or reach for a tissue to dab your eyes – and has your total attention first page to last.

Morgan Albright has finally settled down and started planning a future. She’s found the perfect best friend housemate in Nina, she loves her job as a bartender and is working towards owning her own bar some day and isn’t opposed to a little casual flirting and dating, especially with the cute IT guy who has show more started hanging around when she’s working. It’s a good life. Until Morgan comes home the day after the dinner party she and Nina threw for IT guy Luke and Nina’s fiancé Sam. Morgan finds evidence of a break-in: door glass smashed, cash, jewelry, laptop, car stolen – and Nina savagely murdered. And that is the day Morgan’s life changes forever, and not for the better, because while Luke does in fact have excellent IT skills, he’s not Luke and he’s not a regular guy. He’s a crazed serial killer who steals identities and brutally kills his victims – after taking away every single thing they have.

The transition from good Luke to monster Luke is abrupt and flawless. Very effective. You’re just starting to develop a mental picture of this cutie and hoping he’ll fit into Morgan’s life, when he shows up at her house, discovers Nina is unexpectedly there and becomes viciously and violently angry in a methodical and terrifying way. His careful planning is disrupted by “having” to kill Nina; that day he intended only to begin the identity theft. Morgan’s murder would come at the appropriate time. He’s already unstable and dangerous. Now he’s unstable, dangerous and blames Morgan for the house not being empty when he broke in.

The process Gavin (Luke) follows to terrorize Morgan is indeed chilling. Step by step he goes about destroying her reputation, financial security and peace of mind. After a year of rebuilding every time he destroys she can’t do it anymore: she’s depleted personally, professionally, financially and emotionally. She goes home to her mother and grandmother in Vermont to try and start over, or at least feel safe again. But while Gavin may be a psychopath he’s a smart one and of course he knows where she is. He continues his ever more erratic plan to finally catch up with her and make her pay for ruining his life.

Miles Jameson’s family owns the resort hotel where Morgan finally begins to work. He’s not all that friendly and has a reputation as a demanding, aloof man. Well, maybe so, but there’s something there and author Roberts fans that flame and unpacks that relationship as only she can. Friendships (and more) grow, relationships between families are uncovered, rifts among relatives are healed, job satisfaction is once again a possibility. Sounds like a great place for Morgan to be, except for the lunatic who lets her know he’s coming – and soon. Roberts makes you feel each step he gets closer.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Identity via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. It has the trademark Nora Roberts dialogue, cadence, romance and thrills readers have come to love. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it without hesitation. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less

This is a book I read right through. As is usual with Ms. Roberts, the writing is superb and the story is well-paced with interesting characters.
Morgan Albright has a good life, a home of her own, a roommate who's her best friend, and two jobs she loves. She's on her way to opening her own bar when she meets Luke, an IT consultant who charms her. Then she arrives home to find her roommate murdered and her identity stolen by a serial killer who first steals their money and credit before killing his victims. She goes home to her mother and grandmother in Vermont to start over, but the killer doesn't like that she's the one who got away.
While the book is mostly about Morgan's rebuilding her life, including a new man, Miles, she never show more forgets that there is still a killer after her. The FBI is tracking him, but he's elusive, though he grows sloppy as he obsesses over Morgan. A terrific conclusion fits the theme of powerful women and family ties.
Miles is the stoic hero, while Morgan is more social, fitting her bartender persona. Their various family members and friends make for a well-rounded group of people that add a lot to the enjoyableness of the book (as does Miles' dog). Some details about bartending and the hospitality business add to the story and help create the slow-burn romance between Morgan and Miles.
I'm always dumbfounded at how Ms. Roberts can make each book fresh and interesting while being so prolific, but she proves once again why she is the queen of romantic suspense. show less

Morgan Albright had a childhood as an army brat constantly moving to follow her father's career. Now she wants roots and thinks she's found them in Baltimore. She has two jobs and a mortgage on a home she has big plans for. She shares that home with her best friend Nina.

When she meets Luke at the bar where she bartends, she begins a relationship with him. She doesn't know that he's targeted her to be his next victim in a plan for identity theft and murder. Unfortunately, it is Nina who is murdered by being home sick when Luke comes to retrieve the device he's installed on Morgan's computer.

Morgan needs to deal with her best friend's death while trying to untangle all the financial chaos Luke left in his wake. He's maxed her credit show more cards, taken out new cards in her name and maxed those too, taken out a home equity loan, and borrowed money from a loan shark.

Morgan feels that her only choice is to move to Vermont with her mother and grandmother and build her life anew. There she finds a new close relationship with her mother and grandmother, a job she loves at a resort bar, and a new relationship with Miles Jameson whose family own the resort.

But Luke hasn't forgotten her. He blames her for the way his luck has turned bad since he wanted to murder her and failed. And he's coming for her.

This was an excellent story filled with great family relationships, a slow-burn romance, and the chills that come with being stalked by a serial killer. show less

Morgan Albright has always wanted to put down roots. It's something she missed in her formative years while moving from place to place while her father was in the army. Now, she's finally found her place and has her future planned out: Work hard to save enough money to open her own bar. She doesn't have time for dating. But then she meets Luke. In town on business, he stops in the bar Morgan works at and now Morgan begins to think she might be able to make space for other things in life besides work.

But then one day Morgan comes home to find her roommate is dead and her laptop and car are stolen. She learns that the happenstance of meeting Luke was anything but, he's done this before: preying on an unsuspecting woman, gaining their show more trust before stealing their identities and murdering them. Except this time, Morgan was the one that got away.

While Morgan tries to move on and move forward with rebuilding her life, he'll never let her get away.

Nora Roberts has a very methodical pacing to her stories. The summary of the book clearly lays out what will happen in the beginning, but the rest of the book pulls readers into the everyday lives of the characters. I enjoyed so much seeing Morgan build her life up again even with all the mundanity that may entail. Even when the plotlines border on the familiar, there's just something about the way Nora Roberts crafts the story together that makes me invested. Maybe it's the detail and minutia that has everything feeling so lived in, so familiar, that I just want to curl up and settle in.

It's been a little while since I've read one of Roberts' romance suspense/thrillers. In this case I wish there was a better balance between the suspenseful moments. I thought the story started out very strong, but then the threat - while still very real - almost felt like a side-thought.

I felt like it was interesting how your Identity plays a part in the book. We get to see it in a kind of dual perspective. Morgan has - literally and figuratively - lost her identity. Those things this built to make her who she was and was going to be. She has to rebuild and in a sense build a different side to herself. On the other hand, "Luke" also loses that which makes him who he was when he's unable to complete the cycle he perpetuates. How each of them deals with this change in direction - for better or worse - sets them on the inevitable conclusion that the story drives forward.

There's not much more to say. I think if you've read a Nora Roberts romance suspense book before, you'll enjoy this read as well. I come back to Nora Roberts again and again as like a comfort read. I know what I'll be getting when I turn those pages and I'm always guaranteed to get invested in the story and characters. show less

WOW!!! What a fantastic book. It had a little romance and a whole lot of suspense with one of the most evil and depraved 'bad guys' that I've encountered in a book in a long time. Once I started, it was almost impossible to put down -- I'd decide to read just one more chapter and then read for hours. This is Nora Roberts at her absolute best!

Morgan was an army brat and spent her childhood moving around. Her goal as an adult was to put down roots and find a place to call home. She had no relationship with her father and even though she loved her mother and grandmother, she didn't make much time to see them. She had a job as a bartender and shared a house with her best friend Nina. She met Luke at the bar and there were definite sparks show more between them. She and Nina decided to host their first dinner party and invite Luke and Nina's new boyfriend. Everything goes well and Morgan decides that she really likes Luke and would love to spend more time with him. Her new life is shattered when she comes home from work to find out that her house has been robbed, her car stolen and Nina lay dead on the floor. When she finds out what happened she is devastated -- she let the monster into their lives. The FBI informs her that 'Luke' is really a serial killer named Gavin who enjoys becoming part of women's lives, steals their identity and eventually murders them. His only mistake this time was that he murdered the wrong woman - his goal was really to murder Morgan. She flees to her grandmother's house in Vermont and moves in with her mother and grandmother. The FBI continues to keep her updated and it appears that Gavin is going to come after her again. She works hard to re-build her life and become a real family with her mother and grandmother but Gavin continues to send her small gifts to scare her and remind her that he's going to be coming after her soon. The chapters that are told by Gavin are very disturbing and they make the reader keep turning pages to make sure that Morgan will survive. She continued to grow stronger and more resilient as the cat and mouse game continued -- will Gavin be successful or will Morgan be able to survive?

This book is fantastic -- I loved Morgan and her attitude toward life and her love for her family and friends. Morgan, her mother and grandmother had a special bond that really helped Morgan grow after the tragedy. The book is a roller coaster ride from beginning to end but the last 50 pages or so are really intense and kept me rapidly turning pages. This was a fantastic book from a great writer and I highly recommend it. show less

Morgan Albright has a plan. After spending her childhood moving from military post to military post, she is committed to putting down roots, buying a home, and working two jobs to make her dream of someday owning her own bar a reality. Morgan’s plans are right on track when she meets Luke, a seemingly nice guy who wanders into the bar she works at - except Luke is not as he seems. Luke is really Gavin, a con artist (and heartless murderer) who breaks into Morgan’s home, stealing her identity and killing her roommate. As Gavin racks up incredible amounts of debt and destroys Morgan’s credit, she is forced to abandon her dream, sell her home, and move into her mother and grandmother’s home in Vermont. But as Morgan starts show more rebuilding the shambles of her life, Gavin knows he isn’t done with her.

Heading into this book, I thought of “romance” when thinking of Nora Roberts. However, this book blew that image out of the water. This story is tense, suspenseful, and terrifying in just the subject matter alone. Anyone can relate to the risk of identity theft, and many become victims every day. Roberts connects this genuine risk to a strong female protagonist who is instantly likable. The story moves quickly at first and Morgan quickly understands the self-discovery necessary to move on. However, despite the relatable subject matter and intensity of the story in the beginning, the storyline starts to drag at certain points in the second half. The Kindle edition of this book is roughly 450 pages which felt overwhelming, and I found many of the descriptions/details of gardens, inventions, architecture, etc. onerous. Fans of Stephen King’s descriptive writing might enjoy these bits, but I struggled not to skip over them completely. Additionally, there are many characters in Morgan’s new life, and keeping them straight along with the relationships they share with each other, etc. was very difficult. I could have used a family tree/flow chart to keep them all straight. Likewise, the small bits of romance included in the story felt almost forced, the characters seeming to go from “I don’t know you” to “I can’t live without you” overnight. I found myself wishing these ancillary characters/side plots didn’t exist because they took away from the main storyline without adding any strong benefit.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read and a thought-provoking concept. I found myself wondering what I would do in the scenario of identity theft and doing so helped me connect with Morgan. The suspense/murder aspect kept me interested as I wanted to see what would happen between Gavin and Morgan. After finishing the book, I would feel confident recommending it to readers looking for a book with a little bit of everything: suspense and thriller aspects, light romance, humor, and heartwarming moments. show less