Just Finished Reading: Shelter In Place by Nora Roberts (FP: 2018)

 

At 16 Simone Knox just knew she would die. The boy that had so recently dumped her – by text! – had just walked into the movie theatre with his new girlfriend. Nothing her friends could say to her could keep her in her seat and she retreated to the nearest Mall restroom. After a few moments and a few deep breaths she was on her way back to her seat when she heard screaming. At first she thought it was just the movie but then a person ran past her and then another – with blood on them. Then she heard it – gun shots. Running back to the restroom she dialled 911 – she was the first caller. As luck would have it a police cruiser was in the parking lot dealing with a fender bender. Running into DownEast Mall they responded minutes before local law enforcement could arrive. Within moments the first shooter was down and seconds later the other shooters turned their own guns on themselves. It was over. But in those few minutes’ dozens of shoppers were dead and many more injured. But along with victims there were heroes too – those who put themselves in the line of fire to protect others, those who gathered scattered survivors together to hide until the cops arrived. Of course nothing like this is ever really over. The dead need to be mourned, wounds need to heal, and hearts need to mend. Survival is a lifetime achievement. But as some put their lives together and others put their lives on hold one other person did not respond with sadness, regret or survivors guilt. They responded with ice cold fury. They had carefully planned the massacre and the idiots who took part had fucked it up. So they made a list of everyone who had, in some small way, profited from the shooting – from the campaigners and the TV celebrities and the kid who called 911. She’d be kept to last. But it was a long list so…… work to do.

I think I picked this up purely for the title and the fact that it looked ‘different’. I wasn’t really expecting to be blown away by how good, and how emotional, this was going to be. Mass shootings seem to be a fact of life these days – at least in the USA (mostly). That does little to reduce the impact on all concerned and for the communities in which they happen. I was incredibly impressed at how the author handled both the incident itself – told exclusively from the PoV of the victims – and of the immediate aftermath once the EMTs arrived. The whole thing was, as you might imagine, rather emotional. But that was very much the beginning. The rest of the book – extending over several decades – focused on Simone herself (and her family), Essie McVee (the cop who shot the first gunman) and Reed Quatermaine who worked in the Mall’s pizza place and is the link between several other characters. I’m certainly not going to try to precis the book (apart from the fact that it’s ruin the story for you!) but I will say this: this is a VERY accomplished and polished novel. From practically the first page I was totally hooked and totally invested in the lives of the major characters (and some of the minor ones too). The author had a great way of making you really like the good guys but also at least understand (and in some cases pity) the bad guys. Some of them you’d like to have as neighbours, some as friends. One in particular – CiCi – I would have TOTALLY loved as a friend/neighbour/aunt/grandmother. She was AMAZING – and she wasn’t even a main character. I whizzed through the 500 pages in a matter of days. I only had a few minor criticisms that hardly amount to much. I did think that the ending was rather abrupt and maybe a little anti-climactic but I guess a couple of bullets will do that. One other thing, and I know this will sound kind of weird, is that I had a feeling that this book was a little too well written, a little too polished. I did feel at times as if I was being manipulated by the author a little too blatantly, but that might just be me. There are a few warnings though – given the subject matter there is a reasonable amount of violence in this book and some of it is graphic. There’s also a fair amount of swearing and some (consensual) sex. But if you can handle all of that this is a very good read. It is at times very emotional though and I’m guessing that it will probably be that much more so for my American readers – so be warned. Otherwise highly recommended. More from Ms Roberts to come. I did actually pick up another one of hers recently (cheap) but discovered it was one of her Romance novels. Needless to say I have given that one away….