Blue Smoke - Nora Roberts

[goodreads]

Title: Blue Smoke
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 440
Date read: August 2006, May 2021

Reena Hale grew up with an intimate knowledge of the destructive power of fire. When she was a child, her family's restaurant was burned to the ground, and the man responsible was sent to jail. The Hale family banded together to rebuild, and Reena found her life's calling. She trained as a firefighter and then as a cop, always with the end goal in sight: to become an arson investigator.

Now a valued member of the arson unit, Reena loves her job and things are going well. She's even bought a house and her hunky new neighbour is certainly providing a sexy distraction. But then she is called in on a series of suspicious fires that seem to be connected - not just to each other, but to her. As danger ignites all around her, Reena must rely on experience and instinct to catch a dangerous madman who will not stop until everything she loves has gone up in smoke.



For the first 75% of the book, it was turning out to be a strong 4-star book. Everything as readable as Nora Roberts' other books and a true page-turner. I loved reading about Reena's work and her strong connections to her family - both blood and chosen.

But the last 25% got to be too much. It was too violent, it was too graphic, it was just too over the top. So that seriously detracted from my enjoyment of the end, and thus of the entire book.