ARC Review: Nightwork by Nora Roberts

Nightwork
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication: St. Martin's Press (May 24, 2022)

Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts introduces an unforgettable thief in a new novel of suspense, greed, love, and survival…

Harry Booth started stealing at nine to keep a roof over his ailing mother’s head, slipping into luxurious, empty homes at night to find items he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer, he left Chicago―but kept up his nightwork.

Wandering from the Outer Banks to Savannah to New Orleans, he dons new identities and stays careful, observant, distant. He can’t afford to attract attention―or get attached. Still, he can’t help letting his guard down when he meets Miranda Emerson. But the powerful bond between them cannot last―because not all thieves follow Harry’s code of honor. Some pay others to take risks so they can hoard more treasures. Some are driven by a desire to own people the way they own paintings and jewels. And after Harry takes a lucrative job commissioned by Carter LaPorte, LaPorte sees a tool he can use, and decides he wants to own Harry.

The man is a predator more frightening than the alligators that haunt the bayou―and when he strongarms Harry into robbing a Baltimore museum, Harry abandons Miranda―cruelly, with no explanation―and disappears. But no matter what name he uses or where he goes, LaPorte casts a shadow over Harry’s life. To truly free himself, he must face down his enemy once and for all. Only then can he hope to possess something more valuable than anything he has ever stolen…

My Thoughts: Harry Booth became a thief at the age of nine. His mother was battling cancer and someone had to help with the bills. Besides, it was a thrill to enter other people's homes and help himself to their belongings. He and his aunt Mags took care of his mother, and he developed skill at his nightwork, until she died when he was just eighteen. 

Then Harry began a journey to find out where he wanted to be. He headed East and his aunt headed West and they promised to meet again at least once a year around April 1. Harry wanted to learn so he headed to college towns where he continued his nightwork and began to take classes in things that interested him. 

He settled for a while in New Orleans where he met some friends including a successful thief who helped hone his skills. But he also introduced him to a man who would haunt his life. LaPorte was rich and greedy for things, especially things that others had, so he hired Harry to steal a painting for him. Unfortunately, Harry was so successful that LaPorte decided that he wanted to keep Harry too.

So Harry disappeared, changed his identity, and landed in Savannah where he attended college and met a young woman named Miranda Emerson. They fell in love, but LaPorte found him, and blackmailed him into another heist. To protect the ones he loved, Harry, now known as Booth, had to break the heart of the woman he loved, steal the statue, and disappear again. 

He traveled all over the world, stealing, and keeping one step ahead of LaPorte until he decided to take a sabbatical and work as an English and drama teacher in a small town. He wasn't expecting Miranda Emerson, now a best-selling author, to come there to work on her next book. When the two reunite, Booth and Miranda realize that they are still in love and Booth realizes that he has to do something permanent to get LaPorte off his back so that he and Miranda can have a future.

This was another excellent story by Nora Roberts. Roberts' writing has a way to really touch my emotions. She made me cry when I read about the loss of Harry's mother and made me ache for a happy ending for him. 

The characters were well-rounded, intriguing people. I loved the relationships between them all. The writing was engaging and the story gripping. Fans of Nora Roberts will love meeting these characters and enjoy this heist story. 

Favorite Quote:

He hadn't - precisely - waited up. He'd been reading. But now that the center of his world had come home safe and sound, he could sleep.

Maybe he'd worry a bit about his little girl's starry eyes when she'd talked about the boy, but he could sleep.

"Six languages?" Ben muttered when he turned off the light. "At his age? We'll see about that one."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. You can buy your copy here.