What Are The Top Romantic Suspense Books By Nora Roberts?

This is another one of Roberts’ suspenseful novels that I really enjoyed. The Witness features brilliant, yet isolated Elizabeth, who after witnessing a crime changes her identity to escape from danger. The story follows her as she tries to build a new life for herself, but the identity of the killer is never far away. A long-slit gaze from a mysterious stranger in the dead of night alerts her to the danger and in Brooks, the small-town sheriff, she finds an unexpected ally to uncover her true identity. Their chemistry is explosive from the moment they meet and the relationship between the two develops slowly against a backdrop of danger and suspense.

Another favorite novel of mine is ‘Northern Lights’. Ex-cop Nate Burke returns to his small Alaska town to escape the memoriies of the last killing, only to find himself drawn into an investigation of a local murder. There he finds friendship, warmth, and a romance with pilot and owner of the local air taxi service, Meg Galloway, who is as scarred as Burke. The book is a great blend of romance and suspense and set against the beautiful backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness it is atmospheric and dramatic.

Mysterious and suspenseful with a touch of the unknown, 'High Noon' features police negotiator Phoebe MacNamara who is threatened by a stalker. Roberts’ gives the reader a look into the strong and vulnerable heroine in this very suspenseful romantic novel. You won’t be able to put this down as Roberts is excellent at weaving a very dramatic situation with lots of emotional feelings in between.

If a series is your preference, then you should look to J.D. Robb’s ‘In Death’ books, written in the future but bursting with romantic suspense. As Eve Dallas develops into one of the strongest female protagonists in romantic suspense, her complex relationship with Roarke continues to evolve over dozens of novels – including many murder mysteries, cases of corporate espionage, and the main characters’ personal struggles. Their relationship and its evolution is so beautifully developed throughout all of the novels.

My personal favorite book by Roberts is “Black Hills.” Former police officer Cooper Sullivan has traded in his gun for a life on a ranch, and wildlife biologist Lil Chance left her past in the Black Hills behind her. But a serial killer is now prowling the area, bringing the past to life for the two. The book is a wonderful mix of second chances and survival, with strong, independent female heroines and brooding, protective male heroes.

Nora’s Romantic Suspense novels are my favorites – they are so well done. I love that the main storyline is suspenseful and often even dark and twisted, and that there is a healthy and believable romance involved as well. I would recommend starting with “The Search” or “The Witness” – both feature fabulous heroines and complex plots with plenty of twists and turns. “High Noon” is another great choice – not only is the romance fantastic, but the negotiation scenes are so realistic and suspenseful. And, of course, Nora’s “In Death” series, written under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is also a great choice – but a futuristic police procedural, so quite different from her Romantic Suspense novels. But if you want pure Nora Romantic Suspense, then “The Search”, “The Witness” and “High Noon” are the three pillars of the genre.

A deep cut of mine is Birthright. I wrote this long after the Blood Brothers trilogy and while the three novels that make up that series develop suspense over the course of all three books, Birthright is a superb standalone novel of romantic suspense. The setting is that of archaeology and long-buried family secrets and I think I did a particularly good job of creating a strong heroine who is in a profession that she loves to both travel the world and uncover buried secrets and in this particular case, a very dangerous past that is about to come back to haunt her in very real ways. And of course, her romance is slow-burning and enchanting.

What’s really worked for me is the sense of practicality of the heroine’s situation. In ‘The Witness’ the careful planning and detail that has gone into preparing Elizabeth for her new life off grid reads like a survival manual. In ‘The Search’ the realistic detail of running a kennel and SAR team is woven into the fabric of the story, making the suspense all the more believable and hitting home harder when the threat does arrive. So for me the best book in this genre is one which includes a good layer of verisimilitude, a sense of realism and the heroine’s competenciesbelieved in by the reader, which makes all the more scary the occasions when she is vulnerable or outsmarted by others. Which is why I keep returning to these two books by this author.