ARC Review: Identity by Nora Roberts

Identity
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication: St. Martin's Press (May 23, 2023)

Description: The #1 New York Times-bestselling author's terrifying new thriller about one man's ice-cold malice, and one woman's fight to reclaim her life.

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan's job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party―attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar―her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.

Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. "Luke" is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.

What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn't flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away.

My Thoughts: Morgan Albright had a childhood as an army brat constantly moving to follow her father's career. Now she wants roots and thinks she's found them in Baltimore. She has two jobs and a mortgage on a home she has big plans for. She shares that home with her best friend Nina. 

When she meets Luke at the bar where she bartends, she begins a relationship with him. She doesn't know that he's targeted her to be his next victim in a plan for identity theft and murder. Unfortunately, it is Nina who is murdered by being home sick when Luke comes to retrieve the device he's installed on Morgan's computer. 

Morgan needs to deal with her best friend's death while trying to untangle all the financial chaos Luke left in his wake. He's maxed her credit cards, taken out new cards in her name and maxed those too, taken out a home equity loan, and borrowed money from a loan shark. 

Morgan feels that her only choice is to move to Vermont with her mother and grandmother and build her life anew. There she finds a new close relationship with her mother and grandmother, a job she loves at a resort bar, and a new relationship with Miles Jameson whose family own the resort.

But Luke hasn't forgotten her. He blames her for the way his luck has turned bad since he wanted to murder her and failed. And he's coming for her.

This was an excellent story filled with great family relationships, a slow-burn romance, and the chills that come with being stalked by a serial killer. 

Favorite Quote:

"How do you feel about camping?"

"I feel humanity's progressed through work, innovation, necessity, and luck since there were cave dwellers or pioneers, and I respect their efforts, and value those efforts toward indoor plumbing, thermal windows, sturdy mattresses, and broadband. I don't see a reason to choose to ignore those innovations and sleep in a tent."

"That would be a no to camping."

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