Book Review--Divine Evil, by Nora Roberts

I hate it when I do this. I get into a book that I just can't put down. I stay up late reading, I finish it quickly and then there's this big letdown, because I no longer have this great book to read.

That was how it was for me with Divine Evil. It's about a successful New York artist, Clare, who decides she needs to return to her hometown, her roots, to work out some emotional issues. Clare is haunted by her father's suicide when she was only fifteen, as well as nightmares dating back to her childhood.

So Clare moves back to Emmitsboro, Maryland, and into her childhood home. Her mother has remarried and lives elsewhere. In Emmitboro, Clare reconnects with a man from her past, Cameron Rafferty. She and Cameron had had a mutual attraction from afar when they were teenagers, and now they become seriously involved. Clare also starts doing some of her best sculpting now that she has moved back to Emmitsboro.

However, Clare's most amazing work is fueled by her nightmares, nightmares which developed when she witnessed her father taking part in a satanic ritual. Clare had convinced herself that the whole thing was a dream and had never happened, but in reality, her nightmares are based on her memory of that event. The cult is still present in Emmitsboro, and more violent than ever. Furthermore, some of its members are concerned about what Clare might have witnessed on that night so long ago.

Like I said, I couldn't put the book down. I finally had to force myself to do so at about 3 am, even though I wasn't finished. The book also has a surprise twist at the end, one which I did not anticipate at all. All in all, great reading.