The Collector

The Collector by Nora Roberts


Lila Emerson is a people watcher, a “Peeping Tammy”. She's a writer of tween novels to pay the bills and a house sitter for the adventure. One night she sees a woman pushed out the window of her apartment and this sets forth a chain reaction with an extraordinary number of coincidences and intersections to the main characters’ lives. The event brings her to Ashton Archer, a painter of some renown with a large extended modern day family. This is one of Nora’s typical 3 part novels with more than one couple involved. I won’t tell you about the other couple because that would ruin the surprise and the serendipity, but they are just as interesting as the main hero and heroine. Although there isn't really as much page time as I think there could have been.

There is of course mystery involved, but it doesn't stay much of a mystery to the reader for long. Mostly the reader is along for the ride as they figure out things we already know and develop their relationships with each other.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but I think it missed the mark and could have been a much better mystery/suspense story if the reader wasn't let so much into the mind and actions of one of the villains.