Nora Roberts never disappoints, and that is also true of her new romantic thriller. Morgan has built a life that is taken away when a man she meets steals her identity, murders her best friend, and continues to come after her as the one that got away. How she rebuilds her life and goes on is a captivating read. Highly recommended.

Nora Roberts constantly delivers beyond expectations! Her stories include a little bit of my favorite genres - romance, thriller and a little bit of mystery. Identity was a fantastic read and kept me turning pages, ready to learn what happens next.

As an army brat, Morgan Albright spent her life on the move. All she really wanted were roots. She buys a house near Baltimore and acquire a roommate to help with the payments. Everything comes unhinged, however, when she gets horribly scammed by Luke the flirtatious IT guy she met at her nighttime job as a bartender. He takes her for everything she has and kills her roommate, Nina, in the process. She has to go home to her mother and grandmother who live in Vermont. The FBI tells her Luke is actually Gavin and since he missed killing her, they suspect Gavin will continue to pursue her. Morgan gets a job at the local resort, managing the bar. The Jameson family has owned the resort for years. It has grown and expanded and is quite successful. Morgan begins to relax, especially when she meets Miles Jameson, the grandson of the Jameson clan. But, Gavin is still out there and he is tracking Morgan from afar. But Morgan and Miles are ready for him when he finally makes his appearance. Another solid entertaining read from Roberts. Her characters are so well delineated and her place settings are lovely. Recommended, as always.

This is my new favorite Nora Roberts book! This stand alone thriller had me reading deep into the night.
At one point I felt a James Patterson vibe, but with romance.
The characters were well developed and I could not help but fall in love with the families and the resort.
Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

This talented and gifted author has written a Popular story. Mystery and intrigue…the characters are realistic. Different generations but often the same problems…stealing one’s identity can cause a multitude of horrible problems. This is a novel that moves quickly. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley review. Thanks to the publisher.

While I've never read a bad Nora Roberts book, she continues to amaze me with her unique plots & lovable characters. "Identity" was no different. With equal parts mystery, terror, romance & friendship, Roberts creates an amazing story set in both Baltimore & Vermont. You will fall in love with female lead Morgan Albright & her amazing friends & family, while wondering how anyone could want to hurt her. The twists & turns dreamed up by Roberts will leave you wanting more, even when the book closes. A great choice for a rainy summer night!

A woman struggles to reclaim her life in the wake of treachery, in Nora Roberts’ engrossing romantic suspense, IDENTITY.

We meet Morgan Albright, who loves her life, her roommate, and the direction her life is going. She dreams of home improvement projects and continuing to make it on her own in a small neighborhood outside of Baltimore. But shortly after hosting a dinner with a man she’d recently met and her roommate Nina, she walks into a home that seems like a burglary gone wrong, and Nina dead on the floor.

As it turns out however, the man she’d been getting to know is not who he says he is—he’s a con artist and serial killer who upends Morgan’s life, stealing her money and identity, robbing her of her best friend, and shattering everything she hoped for the future.

Destitute and depressed, she flees home to Vermont, to live with her mother and grandmother. As they encourage her to start anew, the man who destroyed her life obsesses over finishing what he started. After all, he never meant to target Nina, but rather, it was Morgan he was after.

Soon, Morgan builds a new life while the man edges closer, threatening to destroy her—and those she loves—all over again.

As always, Roberts strikes the perfect balance between plot-driven suspense and the warmth of family/community and romance. I devoured the story, invested in the life Morgan endeavored to rebuild as well as what would ultimately happen with the serial killer. Supporting characters, especially Morgan’s grandmother, come to life beautifully and deepen the narrative’s poignancy. And that’s the real magic—seeing how Morgan’s loved ones come together to support and protect her, come what may.

I loved it—Nora Roberts’ novels always feel comforting and heartwarming, and entirely enjoyable.

Nora Roberts really is so good at romantic suspense. Morgan is a bartender who has been working to save money for her own establishment and put down roots. She works her job and spends free time updating her home and hanging out with her best friend, Nina. When Nina is murdered and Morgan learns that she was the intended target, she heads home to VT to live with her mother and grandmother. Not only did this serial killer take Morgan's best friend, he also took her identity and used it to steal all she had.

One thing that Roberts does so well in all her novels is creates fully-formed, competent women. Throughout the book, as we follow Morgan to VT and see her work to rebuild her life there, we see someone who is strong and resilient, and yet vulnerable when it's called for. This is a person who is as affected by what has happened to her as anyone would be but is brave enough to realize that running and hiding isn't enough. She needs to live.

I loved the way that Morgan reacquaints herself with her mother and grandmother. These strong Nash women are quite the trio. Seeing this three generational household come together was fun. Of course, we are in a Nora Roberts novel so we have found family in the Jamesons, who own the local resort and bar. Morgan finds her place while working there and builds friendships and relationships with everyone in the family - most especially, Miles. Miles is great and the perfect complement to Morgan. I loved his quiet strength. Everything about the book was appealing and engaging. As Morgan works to re-establish her life and security, a manhunt for the killer continues, keeping the tension ever present.

This is a well-written, suspenseful thriller. I would recommend to anyone looking to escape for a few hours and to lose themselves in a terrifying manhunt. Those who like bold, strong women and competent, steadfast men will really enjoy reading about Morgan and Miles. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it a sold 5 stars!

Nora Roberts writes long books, but don’t let that out you off of them. Her world building is fantastic, and I’m always waiting to see what happens next. This romantic suspense was no different. I loved the arc that this bada$$ FMC took, going from everything being ripped away from her to flourishing. This was more thriller/suspense to me than a romance, but I love that genre too, so I’m not mad about it. I enjoyed this one a lot!

Morgan is checking off steps to fulfill her life plan. She’s working two jobs, but she bought her own house. Her best friend is living with her, and with her budgeting, she is aiming to save up and open her own bar. When a smooth talking, good looking man shows up in her bar, she doesn’t pay much attention. He slowly starts getting her attention, without being pushy. And then her world falls out from underneath her. It was going perfectly until it wasn’t. She runs back to her mother and grandmother, to try and rebuild. But there is someone out there who doesn’t want her to.

Morgan Albright is working as a bartender in a small town that she is hoping to be able to call home for awhile to come. Morgan has big plans to remodel her house and make it her own in the years to come. Nina, Morgan's roommate that helps her pay the bills, also has a green thumb so she has helped Morgan with the yard since she has moved in. Morgan is excited about being able to call some place home because she was an Army brat growing up and they constantly moved.

Once night a nice guy comes in the bar where Morgan works and makes conversation with her easily. Morgan doesn't think much about it because there are tons of people in and out of the bar where she works. When Luke appears again a couple of more nights, he gets the courage to ask Morgan out and they agree to meet for dinner one night. Morgan has always been cautious but believes that Luke is safe enough and decides to invite him as well as Nina and her boyfriend over for a nice quiet dinner party. The two couples have a nice time but little does Morgan know that Luke had other intentions of getting to know her. Luke is an IT guy so he can get information that he wants very quickly and no one will know which is just what happened when Luke supposedly had to take a phone call during the dinner party.

Nina got sick shortly after the dinner party and Morgan helps her get some soup and puts her to bed hopefully to sleep off the sickness. When Morgan tries to call Nina later that night, she doesn't answer which Morgan thought was strange, but just blows it off. When Morgan gets off work that night and goes home, she notices some unusual things and finds Nina in the floor of the house unconscious. Morgan calls the authorities but Nina had been long dead. Who could have done this and why did they do it?

Morgan soon learns that someone has drained her bank account, all the savings she had for the renovations on the house and all. Authorities quickly put the pieces together and figure out that Luke is not at all who Morgan thought he was. He has a reputation of doing this and moving from one location to the other so they have not been able to catch him. He has killed several women and Nina did not fit his type at all so now they know that he was really out for Morgan instead and know that he is not going to stop until he gets to her.

Morgan flees to her mother's house where she and her mother live. So, now it is the three women in the house together. When Morgan's mom makes her promise to take a couple of weeks before she gets another job, she doesn't know what she is going to do with herself, but is thankful for the time. Morgan decides to go back to work and quickly gets a job at a local hotel bar where she meets Miles Jameson. Miles is not a guy that too many women would put up with but he and Morgan hit it off. They have a quirky relationship and Miles becomes very protective of Morgan. "Luke" keeps popping up and they know that he is still out to get to Morgan and has figured out where she is now. I don't want to give the whole book away so you will still read it, but I highly recommend this read. It will make you think twice about letting anyone in your house for sure.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This book is a mystery about finding a serial killer who is obsessed by the fact that he was unable to kill a woman as he planned. The perpetrator, that Morgan knew as Luke, not only harms his victims, he steals their money, savings, cars, houses and identities. As a retired prosecutor, I found that this book accurately shows things a victim experiences after their identity is stolen. It is not simply that someone got a loan in their name. Everything Morgan had, including the routine of each day, is gone. Luke literally took everything from her, including her closest friend. She returns to her hometown feeling a failure.

This is an awesome book. It has suspense, romance, mystery, humor, misery and a whole lot of love. It is written with Nora Roberts normally excellent writing and is a real treat to read.


I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I did end up borrowing the final published version of the audiobook from my local library. As always all opinions are my own. I opted for the audiobook because one of my favorite narrators, January LaVoy, narrates the audio version. As always she does a wonderful job acting out the different characters and really bringing the book to life.

This book is a bit on the long side, roughly 15 hours for audio or 450 pages, but I found it engaging to listen to and I was invested in the storyline. The writing gets a bit repetitive after a while and the plot is a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed it. I've found some of Roberts' thrillers to be hit or miss for me, but this had a good plot and kept me interested. I liked that we got perspectives from both main character Nora as well as the man who is trying to ruin her, Gavin. For it being a thriller I never was concerned for Morgan's safety, I think that was because it was predictable. You kind of knew where things were going to go by the time the final showdown occurs.

I did think the parts about Morgan's stolen Identity could have used a bit more work. Some of the facts about actual identity theft and hacking were a bit vague and loose. I feel like a little more care could and should have been taken with the information regarding identity theft and fraud protection. As someone who works in that field I would have appreciated a bit more accuracy and detail. Identity theft is a very real problem and this made it seem like there is nothing you can do once it happens and that it will keep happening to you.

Overall if you are looking for an entertaining thriller that isn't overly graphic this is a good one to check out. It has a nice family element and a decent romance that is light on the steam.

Identity theft is really scary - and this novel turns it into a nightmare! A quick-paced, heart pounding novel thatis quite enjoyable.

This is now one of my favorite Nora Roberts books EVER. I love most of her suspense books and this one clicked. I stayed up way too late reading this one and now I know I'm going to need to reread it and listen to it in audio!
Such a twisted story where we know the bad guy but we never know WHEN he'll come back.
And YES.
LOVED IT.

Nobody writes a book like this woman does. Her books make you smile, sit on the edge of your seat, and never never want them to end. This was one of them. When a predator steals a young woman’s identity and kills her best friend, it leads her back home to make a new Life for herself, but can she?

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

I always love a good Nora Roberts suspense. This one was enjoyable, but seemed to have a different tone in the dialogue. It was as though the characters were talking in half thoughts at times. The romance and suspense was still amazing, but it felt a little too drawn out this time around. Overall, a good story.

Thank you for my gifted arc to review!

ARC of Identity by Nora Roberts
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: Suspense with romantic elements
Publication Date: 23May2023

This is my first book by Nora Roberts and will probably not be my last. It took me some time to finish this book because of the subject matter and depth of the story, but it was still good.

The story follows Morgan, a former Army brat, who is settling down roots in a small town. Morgan is a bartender and meets Luke, a friendly IT guy working in the area temporarily. She lives with her roommate and friend Nina. Nina and Morgan host a dinner party and invite Luke, who knows his way around wooing women and technology.

Someone murders Nina and steals Morgan's identity, but wait ... Luke is actually a con-artist serial killer named Gavin. Morgan finds out Nina isn't his type, but Morgan is, and he is going to want to finish the job. Morgan moves back home with her mother and grandmother and starts rebuilding her life. While Gavin continues to kill other women, he hasn't forgotten about the one who got away.

Trigger Warnings:
Multiple murders on the page described in brutal detail

I would only recommend to readers who like Suspense book. This is not a romance book, and it shouldn't be labeled as one! There are romantic elements later on, but it is a book about resilience during a difficult time. I wish this book had trigger warnings on Netgalley because it was disturbing to read without a heads up. Round up to 4 stars on Netgalley, but my rating is 3.5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for providing me a free copy of the book for an honest review.

This book was wonderful on audio, I am sad to say I did not read my ecopy because I preferred how the narrator told the story and didn't want to miss out. The Serial Killer storyline was intriguing and mixed with the small town romance made for a perfect story.

No one does psychological thrillers with romance quite like Nora Roberts. It’s been so long since a good thriller really captured my attention, and "Identity" was the perfect choice. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and stayed up too late to finish it. The villain was awful and terrifying — making the whole story feel even more intense. Roberts always does a great job of crafting the most evil villains.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. I truly enjoyed this one! And Nora Roberts continues to be one of the best!

Veena’s review of Identity by Nora Roberts
Romantic Suspense published by St. Martin’s Press 23 May 23

Identity is a beautiful multi-layered book about murder, relationships, trust, and life coming a full circle that might bring us back to a different place than we expected. I absolutely loved the wonderful three-dimensional characters and how the story played out.

Morgan has a contentious relationship with her parents and is content to create her own life far from them. She has a lot of ambitions and is not afraid to work hard to achieve her goals. Having experienced a dysfunctional relationship with her family, she has no time for men in her life until she lets the wrong man in the door. It’s enough to give you nightmares, since the man is a serial killer and con artist in a totally different class of con artists. When her best friend falls victim, a chain of events is triggered that will have repercussions for both parties.

Drowning in debt from the identify theft perpetrated by her erstwhile wannabe boyfriend/con artist, Morgan finally gives in and returns to her hometown where her mother and grandmother now run a business and live together. She finds herself welcomed warmly and discovers that her mother has grown after heart break, and they might actually be able to forge a lasting relationship.

She finds a job that she loves and gives herself permission to heal and grow, and, lo and behold, she also opens her heart to a new relationship. I love Morgan’s story as she revels in her creative side and develops new friendships and finds love. In the meantime, the identity thief/serial killer is not faring so well. It’s almost as though his failure with Morgan threw him off his game and nothing seems to go right for him, even though he does not stop killing.

I found the story so inspirational as Morgan wrests control of her life again and finds happiness and new strong relationships. I loved the secondary characters and wonder if the author will give us more stories that are waiting to be told for these characters.

Grade: A