The Obsession by Nora Roberts is some creepy suspense, followed by a chunk of contemporary small-town romance, followed up by a dash more suspense. It’s a strange book in that the suspense plot isn’t very evenly distributed, but Roberts’ writing is so excellent that I didn’t care. Roberts’ books are filled with fabulous detail–from competence pr0n to home remodeling pr0n to descriptions of old barns–that my brain just goes into vacation mode. Her novels, even the spooky ones, are wonderfully restful.

Before we get started with the plot details, TW for kidnapping, abuse, rape, and scary shit happening to young people.

First, the spooky. When Naomi Bowes was a girl, she followed her father into the root cellar one night, hoping to sneak a peek at her birthday present. Instead she uncovered a nightmare–a bloody woman chained up and naked. Naomi helps the woman escape and, even though her young mind is struggling to process everything she’s just seen, tells the police the truth.

The first part of the book deals with Naomi’s discovery and the fallout for her family. When it’s revealed that her father is a serial killer, Naomi, her mother, and her brother are forced into hiding. When her mother can’t cope, Naomi is raised by her gay uncles. Meanwhile, her father’s notoriety (and the public’s grim fascination with his crimes) hangs over her.

There’s a lot of world-building in this book. We spend a lot of time with Naomi as a young girl, which was an interesting choice on Roberts’ part. I understood the first few chapters devoted to Naomi discovering her father’s crime and the aftermath–but Roberts takes all this development a step further and allows the reader to see Naomi grow up. It wasn’t what I expected in a romance novel, but the story was so fascinating that I found myself immersed in it.

When Naomi grows up she changes her last name and buys a crumbling mansion on a sea-side cliff in Washington State. To her, the house represents her first real decision to put down roots rather than move from place to place, which increases the risk that her past will be revealed. There is a ton of house pr0n in this book. As Naomi starts to find her home in her new town–making friends, exploring the natural beauty of the place–she restores her house, cleaning up the broken and replacing it with the new. It’s a fitting metaphor for Naomi’s life. It’s also going to give HGTV fans a massive brain boner.

There are discussions about countertops and cabinets and paint colors and wood. Now, all of this was lost on me. Home improvement makes my stomach hurt. I honestly don’t care about that stuff. Painting and refinishing is a chore–something I’d rather avoid or pay someone else to do. Naomi also talks a lot about decorating–another thing I just don’t get.

Here she is, studying her new bed:

Mahogany, she thought, with satinwood crossbanding. Chippendale style–she hadn’t been raised by Seth and Harry for nothing. The wood tones, rich and lovely, set off the soft colors of the walls. Fretwork legs, and posts high and turned. If a woman didn’t have sweet dreams in a bed like that, she needed therapy.

I don’t know what crossbanding or fretwork or turned posts are. I’m familiar with Chippendales, but only of the stripper variety.

So if you like furniture and decorating and remodeling, this is your book.

Also, Naomi is a photographer and like any of La Nora’s books, The Obsession is full of rich details about her job. Reading about what Naomi looks for in a picture, how she digitally enhances her photos, and even how she mats and frames them was fascinating.

And since Naomi is in a small town hiding from her past, clearly she needs a new dog and a sexy hero. That hero is Xander Keaton, sexy biker and mechanic. He’s all about Naomi putting down roots with him and isn’t letting her push him away. He even convinces her to adopt a stray dog they find together. I laughed so hard at this scene I woke my husband up. Naomi’s new dog has just gotten neutered:

He pulled up on his motorcycle, with the dog barking and wagging in greeting. The dog would’ve rushed over to finish the hello, but Naomi sat on the porch steps, and had the dog in a death grip. Holding him in place while she… Jesus Christ. Appalled, sincerely, Xander pulled off his helmet.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“What the hell does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like your putting pants on that dog.”

“Then that’s what the hell I’m doing.”

She leaned back on the steps while the dog–looking like an idiot–hurried over for a rub.

“What kind of person puts pants on a dog?”

“The kind who isn’t going to keep fighting to keep the damn cone on him. He gets out of it. Kevin duct-taped the thing, and he still got out of it if I took my eyes off him for five damn minutes. And when he was in it, he ran into everything. Including me. I swear on purpose. He hated it.”

“Cone of shame?”

“Yeah, the damn Cone of Shame. So now he’s wearing the Pants of Humiliation. But the stupid dog seems to like them.”

“Pants of Humiliation.” Xander had to grin. “You cut a hole for his tail.”

“Kevin had them in his truck. His old running shorts. I got creative.”

So now that Naomi has a house, a dog, and a hot boyfriend, of course her past catches up with her. Women go missing and then are found murdered in the same way her father killed. He’s in prison forever so we know it’s not him. Dun Dun Dun! The reason I gave this book an A- versus an A was that the killer was glaringly obvious, so while the book is suspenseful, it’s weak on mystery.

I will warn readers that the suspense portions are creepy, and we do read about a woman being raped. It’s not described in detail, but it’s not something everyone will want to read. Compared it a lot of thrillers though, it wasn’t especially graphic.

That said, I loved The Obsession. The suspense worked for me (most of the time) and, as usual, Roberts’ writing transported me to my happy place. The detailed descriptions blended in seamlessly with the dialogue and action, and it let me shut my brain down for awhile and just enjoy the story.