Title: Hidden NatureAuthor: Nora Roberts
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Mystery/Thrillers
Format: Kindle ARC
Date of Publication: May 25, 2025
No. of Pages: 448
My rating: 5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
The #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a new novel about an injured cop who must fight to bring down a pair of twisted killers…
Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.
After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.
She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.
Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror.
MY THOUGHTS:
Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts pulls you in from the opening pages. Sloan Cooper is still recovering, not just physically, but also emotionally after being shot during a dangerous case she and her partner Joel worked together. The injury was serious, and healing is slow, so Sloan returns to her parents’ home in the peaceful community of Heron’s Rest. What was meant to be a place to recuperate quickly becomes something more: Sloan unexpectedly feels at home. She even buys a house and dives into renovations, all while accepting a promotion and transfer that mark a fresh chapter in her life.
While settling in, Sloan and her sister meet two brothers who are taking on a major renovation project as part of their new development business in town. As hopeful new beginnings unfold for all of them, a darker thread winds through Heron’s Rest.
People are going missing—vanishing without a trace. There’s no obvious link among the victims, yet something about the disappearances refuses to leave Sloan’s mind. Piece by piece, she starts assembling clues like a complicated jigsaw puzzle, determined to uncover what’s happening and stop anyone else from being taken.
The story unfolds through dual points of view: Sloan’s journey as she rebuilds her life, and chilling chapters from the killers themselves. These alternating perspectives are woven together with expert timing, ratcheting up the suspense and making the book nearly impossible to put down.
Nora Roberts proves once again why she’s a master storyteller. Hidden Nature is gripping, tense, and brilliantly crafted—one of those novels that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. After a school career that included some time in Catholic school and the discipline of nuns, she married young and settled in Keedysville, Maryland.
She worked briefly as a legal secretary. “I could type fast but couldn’t spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever,” she says now. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate.
Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.
Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time, they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore together
Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms. Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice between figuring men out or running away screaming.
Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”
reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins…
MY THOUGHTS:
Adrian Rizzo's father was in a fit of rage and he nearly killed her. Only seven at the time, she was so excited to meet him. Well, she did meet him, but it nearly cost her life. Fortunately, her mother stepped in. Adrian then spent that summer in Maryland with her grandparents, and she had a wonderful time. Her mother Lina traveled all over the world, growing her fitness brand.
The apple did not fall far from the tree, because ten years later, Adrian developed her own line of products in the world of fitness. Life has it's challenges for Adrian, however, as she is soon frightened by a series of threatening texts. Is it because she has become a celebrity in the world of fitness, or could it be something else entirely? Meanwhile, Adrian's grandmother passes away and Adrian returns to Maryaland, and she runs into Raylan, a man a few years older than her and someone she had a crush on when she visited that long-ago summer.
Does Adrian's past or her present success in her field have anything to do with the threats she is getting? Furthermore, Raylan has his own drama. They are kindred spirits and the story shifts to an engaging romantic suspense, with all the elements.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. After a school career that included some time in Catholic school and the discipline of nuns, she married young and settled in Keedysville, Maryland.
She worked briefly as a legal secretary. “I could type fast but couldn’t spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever,” she says now. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate.
Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.
Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time, they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore together
Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms. Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice between figuring men out or running away screaming.
Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”
