3 hours about a home remodel ...

The beginning started off great and built up a great story.

The middle lost me. I wish she focused on more details that were important to the story line. Instead the middle was about a detailed home remodel that had little relevance to the overall story.

The end was ok. A little predictable.

This was my first Nora Roberts book and I'm not convinced I would read another.

66 people found this helpful

Just FYI

This book is not really about an obsessive stalker/murderer and the struggle to catch him. This book is about a young woman with unlimited money buying and renovating a house, while she takes photos, goes furniture shopping, has un-realistic conversations, and works hard to not get attached to the hunkiest bachelor in town. That is pretty much the whole book right there.
I bought it based on the ratings, but buyer be ware! When a book goes best seller, everybody and their grandmother will give it 5 stars and the rating system goes out the window.

391 people found this helpful

Total Letdown

If you're looking for suspense, stay away.
The story started out promising, and had me hooked at the beginning. However, after the characters were introduced and the plot began to develop, the story waned. I think there were about 10 hours of monotonous dialogue and ridiculously minute details of the main character's daily life. She renovates a house and the author literally describes every decision the character makes about what to buy, in what color, and where to put it. THEN we get to follow her love story develop including every single encounter the two of them have and every word they speak to one another. Down to the main character listing the ingredients she will include in making dinner and exactly how she will cook them and where she will attain said ingredients. This happens several times. You could probably recreate the dishes as the author basically lists the recipe.
The point is that there is so much unnecessary filler in the book. I would have stopped and returned it right away except I wanted to find out the ending. And randomly dispersed in the boring narrative were 30 second glimpses into the criminal happenings that you, as a reader, are most interested in.
I have never had to speed up a book narration, but it tremendously helped me get through the monotony and reach the ending, sanity intact. It was a great ending, just not worth listening to 10 hours of boringness to get to.
Save your credit for a Lisa Gardner book. The suspense is much more worthwhile with her.

176 people found this helpful

Starts out promising, slow descent into boring and cliche

The first half of this book was so good! Really interesting premise. After most of the major plot points have been set up, it just peters out. The characters stop being interesting and become sadly one-dimensional and the story becomes incredibly predictable. The romance tilts into him just telling her what to do most of the time. Even though the stalker storyline does add some spice, it too becomes predictable and by the end, you don't care too much what comes of anyone. The narration was fine at the beginning, but eventually becomes a bit too much - too overdone.

92 people found this helpful

Likeable characters ruined by the narration

Would you try another book from Nora Roberts and/or Shannon McManus?

Nora Roberts, yes. Shannon McManus... not sure

What other book might you compare The Obsession to and why?

No idea. The first part of the book with young Naomi finding out what her father is was well done but after that it kind of became predictable. The baddie was obvious from the get-go, the profiling aspect (which could have been made very interesting) was cliched. I did like the house renovation parts though. And the dog.

Would you be willing to try another one of Shannon McManus’s performances?

It depends but I'd definitely listen to a sample and take note of other reviews before downloading. She did a good job with the female voices but I found the male voices irritating (I think she was going for 'commanding' but her dragging out of the beginning of sentences and over pronouncing was distracting)

What would have made this romance irresistible?

If they'd cut out him always telling her what to do and her yelling "stop telling me what to do".

8 people found this helpful

Typical Nora Roberts

I enjoyed this book, it was a good listen but some things were very typical of Nora. Her endings always seem rushed to me. I see her sitting at her computer just hammering out the last chapter in ten minutes so she can call it done. Other than the rushed ending it was easy to figure who the killer was, which is not very typical but I think this book is more about the main characters life with the killer just added for some extra drama. Overall this book is worth a credit and you'll enjoy the story!

56 people found this helpful

Some of Naomi's dialogue was too immature for a character who is in her position.

I'd like to see a woman portrayed as a brave character without the high school dialect.

7 people found this helpful

Could have been great. Needed a different narrator

What made the experience of listening to The Obsession the most enjoyable?

I have enjoyed countless NR books and generally can't wait to listen to the story. And have listen to many several times. The narration made this less enjoyable.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There was no emotion. this book screamed emotion in places. It could have been so much better.

64 people found this helpful

it's a no

so boring, the whole story is her fixing up her house. I wasted a credit

5 people found this helpful

Roberts is back on track

While her recent books have become formulaic, she stepped up and added some zing to this one. Instead of the quick one chapter prelude, that lays the groundwork for current event, she took three or four chapters in the beginning to thoroughly introduce character and important details.
While I did identify the bad guy when he was originally introduced, she kept me guessing til the last few chapters.
I'm back on board the wAgon!

42 people found this helpful