High Noon by Nora Roberts

Dear Author and Smart Bitches recently held a March Madness style tournament for books. One of the books that made it to the finals is High Noon by Nora Roberts. I figured if it was that popular with readers I should check it out. This book reminded me a lot of Blue Smoke another book by Nora which scared the crap out of me. If you haven't read High Noon, in a nutshell it's about a woman who was held hostage as a child (along with her mother and brother) by the mother's deranged ex-boyfriend. The lead negotiator on the case became a father figure in her life and she eventually joined law enforcement herself and became a negotiator. Since it's romantic suspense there is a crazy bad guy who wants to kill her, as well as a handsome entrepreneur as the love interest. Drama, chaos, and romance ensue with the requisite happy ending. Add a dash of Savannah southern flavor and you have a best-seller.

I really did enjoy parts of this book but there were some pretty disturbing scenes as well. It started me thinking about romantic suspense in general and I think I've come up with the equation for this genre:

1 lovely young woman who can take care of herself! 

1 gorgeous man who is not put off by above young woman's independent streak 

1 psychotic a-hole who wants to PUNISH! and or KILL! the lovely young woman. He cannot be dissuaded from his goal because he is INSANE!

= Romantic Suspense a la' Linda Howard, Shannon McKenna, and Nora Roberts

I think the bottom line for me is that there has to be a really compelling story to make me forget the stress of waiting for the insane killer to strike. Shannon McKenna does a great job with this and as a result is a writer who has made my auto-buy list. I think I'll stick to Nora's romance for now.