The Search

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A canine Search and Rescue volunteer fights danger and finds love in the Pacific Northwest wilderness in this riveting #1 New York Times bestseller from Nora Roberts.

To most people, Fiona Bristow seems to have an idyllic life - a quaint house on an island off Seattle’s coast, a thriving dog-training school and a challenging volunteer job performing Canine Search and Rescue. But Fiona got to this point by surviving a nightmare: an encounter with the Red Scarf Killer, who shot and killed Fiona’s cop fiancé and his K-9 partner.

On Orcas Island, Fiona has found the peace and solitude necessary to rebuild her life with her three loyal Labs. But all that changes on the day intensely private wood artist Simon Doyle barrels up her drive with an out-of-control puppy, desperate for her help.

As Fiona embarks on training Jaws, and Simon begins to appreciate both dog and trainer, the past tears back into Fiona’s life. A copycat killer has emerged out of the shadows, a man whose bloodlust has been channeled by a master with one motive: to reclaim the woman who slipped out of his hands...

©2010 by Nora Roberts. (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"[T]he romance is finely done, with Roberts's trademark banter lighting up the page. Fiona and Simon are the main attraction, but the setting and the supporting characters - with paws and without - provide a vivid backdrop." (Publishers Weekly)

“Search-and-rescue dogs are a focal point of this wonderful tale of love and adventure. Roberts has a marvelous ability to blend in the perfect amounts of character drama, realistic romance and chilling suspense. The result - an unputdownable read! Roberts again proves why her name is synonymous with excellence.” (RT Book Reviews)

“Strong romantic suspense.... The serial killer subplot is not new, as the copycat has been done before, but Nora Roberts makes it seem fresh with her incredible writing skill as she uses the Search and Rescue canines as key elements in the exciting story line. Readers will enjoy Ms. Roberts’ entertaining Puget Sound thriller.” (Midwest Book Review)

Good, but predictable

This was a pretty good book - I felt that it was a little predictable, but I still enjoyed it! :)

I have to say that I was surprised and disappointed that the f-word was used frequently... I use the word myself from time to time, and was just surprised to hear it throughout the book - seemed unusual for Nora Roberts.

Enjoyable

I throughly enjoyed this audiobook. The reader was fantastic with the different voices. It was very humorous. It was one of the best books I have listened to in a long time.

Loved it!

As someone who has been around dogs all my life, I could relate to everything in this book. I too have trained dogs to hand signals and commands. Some were easy to train, some were more of a challenge. I agree with the methods used in this book as the only humane way to train. I guess what I am trying to say is the author really hit the mark on how to train a dog. Either her research was very thorough or she has trained a dog herself. While the dog training part of the book is not what the book is truly about, I found myself laughing out loud in public places while listening to this book. Yes I got some strange looks. I found the story totally engrossing and could not put it down. I am so glad I bought it. I will listen to it again in the future without a doubt! Anyone who has ever had a dog will be able to identify with parts of this book. Even if you have never had a dog or are not an animal lover, I still recommend it. The animal parts add charm and character. All in all an excellent read!

Loved it!

I find it amazing how many people disliked this book! I just loved it! I'm not a dog fanatic either. I just thought it was fun, exciting and a great easy read (er...listen) and I found it hard to step away from it!

Ho Hum

Nothing special. But for $9.95 I'm not complaining too much. However the narrator's voice is wrong for this book. She sounds like pollyanna, even when talking about serious things.

Not one of her best.

I struggled to finish it. The story was drawn out with little intrigue. it became somewhat boring

The search

Loved it!! Kept the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat. What a great read

Glad I gave it a chance!

I passed over this book SO many times because of all of the lousy reviews it got here.
I won't say it was her best book - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, there are quite a few references to dog training - that is the main characters job and it's important to who she is and how she thinks. It wasn't over the top in my opinion and the book was time well spent.
So, if you are unsure - give it a chance!

have read better books by her

was predictable and ending was so lacking her normally excitement. it seemed really rushed. characters where odd and moved super fast and Simon was an ass while falling in love! most women would've said later dude!

one of my absolute favorite listens

I come back to this audiobook again and again. The narration is very good - narrator puts a lot of emotion and characterization into her reading and the characters have their own tones, inflections. The storyline is very Nora Roberts, but the main characters are some of my very favorites of all she's written - flawed, quirky, not always likeable but ultimately very believable (and don't listen to ANYONE who says differently!). If you don't like animals at all, you might not like the storyline as much, since the main character trains dogs; one of the Nora Roberts trademarks is her choosing a profession, locale, etc and delving pretty deeply into it and I LIKE that about her. Since I am a dog lover, that aspect of the book also charms me.