Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts (2005)

I love Nora Roberts, but I have to admit I found this book somewhat lacking. The plot was unengaging, the characters were believable but hardly unique, and the suspense was somewhat of an afterthought. I won't summarize here as other reviewers have done that already. If you want to read a good romantic suspense about arson, try JoAnn Ross's Blaze instead.

Nora Roberts keeps up with her easy reading style of writing. The information never gets to indepth. However, she brings to light subjects many people never have to deal with in life but can be a real threat to those it reaches. Stalking is a very serious matter. Close to my heart, the worry of a fire firghter's wife, is arson. Both of these subjects are disclosed in this book without making it depressing subjects.

I like Nora Roberts as an author anyway, however the story kept you wanting more, the characters werem believable and the family was charming, the descriptions of the fires and the way the reader gets attached to the whole family and it's troubles was so quaint and the end was riveting for the heroin, yet refreshing.

This is a mystery book, and as always, very well written by Nora Roberts! Had me guessing until the very end!

I bought the book because of the Nora Roberts movies that have been showing on the Lifetime Channel. It's fun to read the book and then view the movie. Or, as I have done, read a while and then watch the movie until it catches up with the book. I think I now have all the Nora Robert books that have been made into movies. eBay made this easy to do at a reasonable price.
I suppose Nora's books are written with the female in mind but as a male, I enjoy the mystery and intrigue she includes too.

Blue Smoke is a tale of tragedy and triumph with a little too much tragedy for my taste. I usually find Nora to be a fun, comfortably predictable yet spicy read that is sure to satisfy my need for a happy ending. Blue Smoke came on strong with a very satisfying story line with vivid charactors and colorful scenes but the heroine takes more losses than it's comfortable to watch her take. If the heroine caught on just a little sooner, or at least heartily suspected foul play sooner, it would have been easier to stay with her. Unfortunately, she watches one too many people die before her suspiscions rise. The underlying love story might have carried me through as well, had she not missed so many opportunities! Overall, the book was lacking the sizzle and spark you'd expect from Ms. Roberts.

I purchased this book because it was written by one of my favorite authors. In my opinion, Nora Roberts never fails to deliver a well written story with great characters, and she certainly succeeded this time. This is a great combination of romance and mystery. The story grabs you right from the start and holds you until the very end. I couldn't wait to get this book, and I could barely put the book down until I finished it. I would highly recommend this book and this author!

I get everyone of Nora Roberts books as they come out. She is my favorite writer. This book was just as good as the others!

Nora Roberts books are great, they are witty, absorbing you don't want to put the book down. They are suspenseful, the book can jump around to different characters and places without losing you. Nora Roberts is an excellent writer

I bought this book because I like this author, I was not disappointed, the book is a great read, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good story.

I AM A HUGE NORA ROBERTS FAN AND AN AVID READER IN GENERAL. THIS BOOK DID NOT DISAPPOINT IN THE LEAST. BETWEEN WORKING FULL TIME, TWO KIDS, COLOR GUARD PRACTICES AND PARADES, AND LAUNDRY,... A DAY AND A HALF TO READ THIS SAYS IT ALL.I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TITLE TO ANYONE WHO LIKES A GOOD MYSTERY WITH A BIT OF LOVE THROWN IN. EXCELLENT CHOICE!!!!!!

like always, i love nora roberts. i can't put her books down and I am excited when i can put my hands on a book penned by her that i have not read as there are not many

If you buy a Nora Roberts book, you can't go wrong. There is always plenty of suspense, action and a little love thrown in.
This book, "Blue Smoke" is another one of Nora's great one's. Once you start reading it, you can't put it down.

HER MOST EXCITING NOVEL YET, START TO FINISH. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN . MY FAVORITE AUTHOR HAS OUT DONE HERSELF HERE . YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED.

We have about the whole collection of nora roberts this was a great book for start to finish and i recomend it to any and all nora robert fans and maybe this is your first time reading nora roberts this is a good book to get a feel for her.

No question about it Nora Roberts is a gifted storyteller, as her prolific selection of novels can attest to! How does she write so many so fast? Never the less!

This story really doesn't pick up speed until 3/4 of the way through. It starts off when the main character is a young girl of eleven and how a tragic event in her life carved out her destiny. But, you have to suspend your dis-belief for some of this tale, when after 20 years or so all crimes mentioned have a direct relationship to our heroine (yet she continues on totally unaware of this) Some people might think twice when in every romantic relationship they had the young lover end up dead or some possession of theirs was blown to smithereen's. It might make you connect some dots, but not our girl! Anyway, this story meanders and winds around countless family scenes of domestic goings-on: Dating, college, weddings, children, remodeling of family pizza parlors....If you like a drawn out Italian family saga...with a back drop of a psycho stalker, this is for you. But if you are ready for a faster paced thriller/suspense this might not be your cup of tea!

I still love reading every Nora Roberts novel I can get my hands on and yes... I admit to secretly watching them transformed into Lifetime movies.

Okay, perhaps, I have read her two worst books, but so far after reading Blue Smoke, I'm scratching my head, wondering, what's the big deal? Big deal? Nora Roberts is supposed to be a big deal. She cranks out a new book every other day, each one a best seller. My wife has read every book she has written including those by Robert's pseudonym, JD Robb. Oh yeah, that's right I read a book by JD Robb too. That makes three mediocre books.

I should have known, when my wife, who considers Roberts' books, light reading, gave Blue Smoke to me after she had finished ninety percent of it. She said it was getting too violent for her and is more to my liking, so what the heck.

Is it awful? No! Is it good? No! Is it just right? I suppose. I'm not sorry I read it. I just expected more from the biggest writer this side of J. K. Rowling (whose appeal, I also don't get).

Blue Smoke

Blue Smoke is a story about a young woman named Reena, short for Catarina, Hale. The story starts one night in 1985 when Reena is twelve years old. The family business, a pizza parlor - Sirico's, has just gone up in flames. It turns out that the fire was intentionally set by a neighbor of the Hale's named Joe Pastorelli, with whom Reena's father, Gibson, had words about his son Joey's assault on Reena, the day previous.

Pastorelli eventually, goes to prison and Reena decides she wants to be a fire investigator when she grows up.

I should mention here that Reena has two older sisters, Fran and Bella, as well as a younger brother, Xander. To a member, they each exhibit the comeliness of their mother, Bianca and father Gib. They are also a very close knit family, a paradigm of the ideal family, including the extended family.

Fast forward to 1992 and Reena is now in college, where she meets her first love, Josh Bolton. Tragedy strikes when Reena's lover dies in a fire, ostensibly caused by smoking in bed.

Reena goes on to become a police arson investigator but while fire has become her career, it continues to haunt her personal life as well as numerous fire related accidents are suffered by those close to her.

Conclusion

It has been several days since I read Blue Smoke, so I may not remember everything. I thought the story was decent. It wasn't confusing and moved along at a good pace, in a nice chronological order. The writing was good, except I do remember a couple of times Roberts' didn't seem to finish a thought. She also lost (confused) me in a few more places. No big deal, I just glanced over those spots.

One of the things that bothered me, was the apparent naivety of the main character. She was a detective, a fire investigator and she couldn't connect the numerous fire incidents in her life, to her. I thought detectives' motto was there's no such thing as coincidences.

Another thing. I'm probably not giving anything away that you haven't figured out, by saying that Josh Bolton was murdered. Josh didn't smoke and Reena told the investigators so. They said, maybe he smoked and didn't want Reena to know it. Come on when people smoke you can smell it on their breath. What's more they were lovers. It's a long time ago, but when I smoked, the first thing I did after making love was reach for a cigarette. Wouldn't an investigator have checked it out with friends, family etc.?

That's just a couple of the holes and loose ends that I found in this novel. Perhaps in her straight romance novels, these oversights are no big deal or don't come up. Final rating 3.25 stars