Black Hills

Title: Black Hills

Author: Nora Roberts

Publisher: Putnam

Copyright Date: 2009

Print Date: July 2009

ISBN: 9780399155819

Pages: 472

Book Description (from dust jacket):

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts takes us deep into the rugged Black Hills of South Dakota, where the shadows keep secrets, hunters stalk the land, and a childhood friendship matures into an adult passion.

A summer at his grandparents' South Dakota ranch is not eleven-year-old Cooper Sullivan's idea of a good time. But things are a bit more bearable now that he's discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage. Even horseback riding isn't as awful as Coop thought it would be. Each year, with Coop's annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that will forever haunt them: the terrifying discovery of a hiker's body.

As the seasons change and the years roll, Lil stays steadfast to her dreams of becoming a wildlife biologist and protecting her family land, while Coop struggles with his father's demand that he attend law school and join the family firm. Twelve years after they last walked together hand in hand, fate has brought them back to the Black Hills when the people and things they hold most dear need them most.

Coop recently left his fastpaced life as an investigator in New York to care of his aging grandparents and the ranch he has come to call home. Though the memory of his touch still haunts her, Lil has let nothing stop her dream of opening the Chance Wildlife Refuge, but something . . . or someone . . . has been keeping a close watch. When small pranks and acts of destruction escalate into the heartless killing of Lil's beloved cougar, recollections of an unsolved murder in these very hills have Coop springing to action to keep Lil safe.

Lil and Coop both know the natural dangers that lurk in the wild landscape of the Black Hills. But now they must work together to unearth a killer of twisted and unnatural instincts who has singled them out as prey.

Comments:

This was a library book (another one I was tired of waiting for). I had a couple comments about what I thought of it during Monday's meme, so I decided to 'review' it.

I enjoyed this book. The setting and glimpses at Lil's reserve were interesting. (There was a time when I wanted to be a vet — not just any vet but an exotic vet — who worked in either a zoo or a reserve like can be found in Black Hills.) The relationship between Lil and Baby (a cougar) was fascinating.

Nora Roberts has a certain "voice" in her writing that I find pleasant. She has also, for years, made me want to be as strong and sucessful as her heroines. I don't mean sucessful in terms of money but in living their life and meeting their goals despite obstacles. However, I was a little irritated at Lil's stubborness about going around alone when she became a target. So while Lil was an interesting and likeable enough character, I prefered Coop.

Coop who had an understanding that allowed for other people (such as his grandfather) to maintain their pride. I especially admired his ability to do research — even though it was the research of a private investigator. I suspect that would be the part of me that's interested in librarianship. =)