BOOK REVIEW: "The Search"

Someone asked for "more" on my last BOOK REVIEW post, so here you are--that is, if this person was referring to a book review!  If more scientific information about canines is what you want more of, you'll have to let me know via the comments.

Here is my tongue-in-cheek review of "The Search" by Nora Roberts, 2010, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, ISBN 978-0-399-15657-1.

Recipe for a romantic-suspense novel.

Standard. 

Utensils required:

• contemporary times
• plot versus character driven narrative

Ingredients:

• brooding hero
• uneasy heroine
• strong and immediate attraction
• internal conflicts
• threat
• action
• sex

First, combine one brooding hero with one uneasy heroine.  Add strong and immediate attraction.  Blend with internal conflicts.

Next, toss in a threat (which forces interaction).  Whip with action and formula sex scenes.

Bake for a short time.  Novel is done when the hero kills the villain to save the heroine, the two fall in love, and get married to live happily ever after.

Nutritional Analysis:

• reduced calories
• romance and suspense balanced

Recipe for romantic-suspense novel.
Nora Roberts' The Search.

Utensils required:

• isolated setting--Orcas Island off the coast of Seattle, Washinton, current times
• plot-driven narrative, with dog-training activities as background

Ingredients:

• heroine--Fiona Bristow, a single woman in her late-twenties, a dog-trainer who owns and works three search-and-rescue labs.  She is the lone survivor of a serial-killer and goes to Orcas Island to rebuild her life.
• brooding hero--Simon Doyle, a solitary, artisan carpenter, is new on the island.  He seeks seclusion, but needs Fiona's help with training his eight-week-old, out-of-control lab puppy.
• mutual attraction--Fiona is not Simon's "type," but he is attracted to her anyway.  Fiona holds back at first.
• internal conflicts--Fiona understandably suffers from her frightening past, but Simon's back story is not adequately revealed.
• threat--Francis X. Eckle is a "copy-cat" killer, trained by the first serial killer to finish Fiona off.  Eckle gets carried away with is own deviations.
• action--Roberts prose is easy to read, with lots of dialogue.  The plot is framed with search-and-rescue endeavors.
• sex--Gratuitous and often cliche.

First, combine one heroine (who was the victim of a horrible crime) with one brooding hero (who has a shady past).  Add mutual attraction.  Fold with internal conflicts.

Next, toss in a threat (which the heroine perceives early on).  Stir with action and formula sex scenes.

Bake for a short time.  Novel is done when the heroine, with the help of the hero, resolves the suspense and they live happily ever after.

Nutritional Analysis:

• extra light calories
• lacks fiber

Roberts' recipe includes a few slight twists:

• The heroine, instead of the hero, drives the resolution of the threat, causing the hero to fall in love with her.  Yet, while Roberts' protagonist appears strong and self-reliant, Fiona nevertheless leans on the "bad-boy" hero, Simon (who reveals his dark side at the climax).
• The villain is not killed.  (I'm not saying anything more.)
• Fiona and Simon get engaged, not married.

MY COMMENTS

• Read The Search for fun, not literary depth.
• Roberts' use of dog-training as back ground is in vogue, but if you are a dog-lover or interested in training techniques, you'll want more.