Mind Games by Nora Roberts
Main Leads: Thea Fox, Ty Brennan
Setting: United States, Kentucky, Redbud Hollow
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Suspense
Tags: Psychic Female Lead, Serial Killer, Death of Parents
Published On: May 21, 2024
Publisher: Macmillan, St. Martin’s Press
Format: e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 422
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Half Price Books
The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Identity presents a suspenseful new novel of tragedy and trauma, love and family, and the evil that awaits.
As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.
Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.
The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse―because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them―and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head…
This was the first read of our book club for 2025 and I liked the book alright. It wasn’t a book that was all that memorable, to be honest, especially for a Nora Roberts book. The story itself dragged. We get to see the day to day of the main character but for so much of the book, nothing happens. Nothing of substance, anyway. I guess the day to day shit was all building toward the big fight at the end but the delivery was a whole lot of meh.
The premise of the story is an interesting one though. I mean, we have a psychic female lead who witnesses the killing of her parents through the eyes of the killer and we learn that she can communicate with the killer psychically and she helps the police catch him so you’d think that the book would have been a better read for me. But it wasn’t. It was a let down and I’m bummed about that because I normally really enjoy Nora Roberts. Especially these suspenseful light romances but I thought this book dragged too long, the romance was really light and just not that interesting and it made me roll my eyes a little because OF COURSE she gets with the rock star that she swore she was always going to marry and of course he falls head over heels in love with her. Ty’s addition to the story didn’t do much for me. I’m normally all about the romance, no matter how light but while I liked Ty and his son fine, they felt more like background noise than an actual part of the story.
There was promise in the beginning and I enjoyed getting to know both Thea’s grandma and her brother but aside from them, there wasn’t much that I was excited about. Don’t get me wrong, Nora Roberts is an excellent writer and her way with words made it easy to read this book but when all was said and done, it wasn’t her best work in my opinion and just not that memorable.