Nora Roberts is a master. She knows her audience, and she writes for it well. She is an addict, a word she used, herself when we first met in 1981 at the inaugural Romance Writers of America convention. And I believe it. She writes non-stop, multiple books a year, year after year after year. While I haven’t read her suspense or futuristic novels, I felt it was time to read her latest contemporary, UNDER CURRENTS.

It’s a wonderful read, really two-books in one. Nora doesn’t skimp when it comes to giving her reader what she wants. The first part of UNDER CURRENTS is a heartrending tale that gives the background on one of the major characters. The second part introduces another character whose life will intersect with the first.

UNDER CURRENTS is a love story – several, actually. But it’s also an exploration of domestic abuse, both perpetrators and victims. The theme isn’t new, but there is an emotional power here that some authors in other genres have missed.

The book is long, but it held my attention throughout, or almost. There were slow moments, moments that were too sweet for me.  There were also moments of bad-guy introspection that felt stereotypical, which leads to the only real problem I had with this book.

There are many characters in this book, and they’re either very good or very bad. A little gray is more my cuppa. But then, Nora’s books sell way more copies than mine. So perhaps there’s a lesson here?

Whatever, I do recommend UNDER CURRENTS. Kudos, Nora!