Book Review: Blue Smoke

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Blue Smoke     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Nora Roberts
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance   Romantic Suspense
Putnam, Out 2005, $25.95, 448 pp.

In 1985 Baltimore Catarina "Renna" Hale was attacked by her neighbor twelve year old Joey Pastorelli and would
have been raped if the neighbors didn’t intervene. Reena’s father fought with Joey’s abusive dad and that night,
the Hale’s family pizzeria, Sirico’s burns to the ground. Police find enough evidence to arrest Joey’s father
and Joey is taken away from his mother after he burns his dog and leaves it on Reena’s doorstop.

Reena decides that she will because an arson investigator, studying hard in school to make her dream a reality.
When Rena buys a house in her old neighborhood, her next door neighbor is Bo Goodnight who saw Reena at a
college party years ago and fell in lust. Over the years he sighted his Dream Girl but they never met but when
the pair finally get together, lust turns into something more for Bo and the commitment phobic Reena who is
afraid that he might be her one and only true love. They conduct their courtship during an arson investigation
in which someone is targeting Reena and the people closest to her. Reena is in a race against time to catch the
killer before the body count mounts.

Once again Nora Roberts has written a wonderful romantic thriller that is sure to hit the New York Times
bestseller list. Her characterization are fantastic, the firefighting scenes are full of action and suspense and
the plot moves along at a fast pace. Bo’s Dream Girl is better than his fantasy of her and he is determined to
woo her no matter how many obstacles she put in his path. Their love scenes are sweet, poignant sometimes
downright funny. BLUE SMOKE is an example of why Ms. Roberts is one of the most popular authors writing today.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner