yep, two nora roberts books in a row. i finished the witness in two days and wasn’t quite ready for a “real book” just yet, so i decided to hit up roberts’ amazon page to see what else was on offer. there were quite a few options that were under $5 at the time, so i downloaded a few for future readings. for this go-round, i settled on the search.

the search is set on an island off the coast of washington state and is the home of fiona. when she was twenty, fiona escaped from the red scarf killer – his only surviving victim – and provided the testimony that locked him away for life, but she also lost her police officer fiance to the killer. she retreated to orcas island where she set up a new life for herself running a training school for dogs and organizing a volunteer search & rescue squad.

because these kinds of things are never completely over, there is a copycat killer who is using details from the original murders that were never released to the public. as the police and the fbi search for the copycat, fiona has to prepare for the fact that he will eventually come after her to finish the work of the original.

mixed in with all of this is fiona’s new relationship with simon, a wood artist new to the island who has hired her to train his new puppy. as fiona and simon spend more and more time together, both become determined to get rid of the copycat once-and-for-all.

although this one took me longer to read than the witness, i enjoyed it more. i liked the back-and-forth with the copycat killer, and i liked fiona as a character more than elizabeth / abigail. i don’t normally compare roberts’ books to one another, but because i read these back-to-back and because a majority of both are set in the woods, i couldn’t help but find some similarities. it was a good read, but probably not one i would read again. because yes, there are a few of hers that i like to re-read every few years. sometimes a girl just needs a break from the real world.

my goodreads rating: 3 out of 5 // average rating is 4.09

still currently reading: the old devils by kingsley amis. hoping to finish it this weekend!

xx