Title: Hidden Nature
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication: May 27, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 448
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.
After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.
She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.
Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she’s willing to risk her life again if that’s what it takes to stop the horror.
REVIEW:
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts is classified as a romantic thriller, following the main character of Sloan Cooper. Sloan is a Natural Resources officer, or a DNR officer. I was very excited to read this book as it is set in Western Maryland and having spent time in the Deep Creek area, it was easy to picture the setting.
Sloan is injured on the job and almost loses her life. This book started off strong in that way but I can’t say I was a huge fan of Sloan’s character. The romance takes a little while to materialize and in my opinion, it doesn’t play a huge part in the plot. After the initial action in the beginning, this book seemed to crawl until the end. I had trouble continuing this story. The serial killer aspect just didn’t get there and the events seemed to be very repetitive. I did really love the side characters and the small town feel Roberts has managed to create in this story.
This book is fine, the setting was good but I am biased, and the story arc fell mostly flat for me.
