The latest release from romance queen Nora Roberts is titled THE FINAL TARGET, a standalone romantic suspense book.  In the first few chapters, I was worried that it was going to be too scary for me.  But the scare factor really petered out.  There is much less suspense in the second half of the book- perfect for scaredy cats like me.

Debut author Arden Bowie is an engaging character, sympathetic and easy to like.  She meets Dustin at her first book signing, and he presents himself to be an aspiring author looking for some advice and maybe a mentor.  But in actuality, Dustin is a mentally disturbed creep who quickly puts Arden in his sights as the focus of his latest dangerous obsession.  This sociopath has been escalating over the course of his criminal career, culminating in his physical (and sexual!) attack on Arden.  It gets pretty graphic for those who may be triggered by such disturbing descriptions.

While Dustin gets a pittance of a sentence thanks to his rich mother’s intervention, Arden sets out for a new, refreshed life in Oregon, far away from the site of her previous trauma.  Here, we see the typical Nora Roberts literary obsessions of house remodeling and redecorating, and also of learning to cook as a novice virtuoso.  Arden finds burgeoning romance with Gideon Riley.  Gideon is a marvelous, typical La Nora hero.  He’s left his previous detective job in LA and is now working with his grandfather in Oregon as a woodworking artisan, but gets pulled back into policework.

When despicable Dustin gets an early prison release, there is some deus ex machina bringing him into Arden’s orbit fairly quickly.  Despite the chill factor in the first part of the book, the suspense fell flat for me in the latter portion, and the muted tension resolves pretty quickly.  The storyline, too , is formulaic.  This may be comforting for some long-term Nora Roberts fans, as it feels like a well-worn plot that the reader is comfortably settled into.  Roberts’ THE FINAL TARGET is engaging enough for a relaxed Suspense Lite read.