As I read River's End, I kept being reminded of Roberts' later book [b:The Witness|12716613|The Witness|Nora Roberts|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1329921937s/12716613.jpg|17851429]. It's not that I think Roberts plagiarised herself -- more like she decided to rework her basic heroine and make her stronger and more interesting. That seemed especially pertinent towards the end of this story, when Olivia starts behaving like a total ninny.Livvy was only four when she saw her blood-covered father standing over the body of her brutalized mother. Her father was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 20 years, and her grandparents decided it would be better to wipe out the memory of her parents and the murder. So Olivia, trying to respect the loving people who raised her, has never really had a chance to process what happened.The murder also made a deep impression on Noah, son of the police officer who first found and comforted the terrified Livvy. Now a true crime writer, Noah wants to reveal the emotional truth behind the murder -- but he may be getting too close to some other truths. And he's definitely getting too close to Livvy, who equates romantic love with pain and loss.Although for much of the book, River's End was well paced, tense, emotional, and generally very enjoyable romantic suspense, I had a serious problem with it. I guessed almost immediately how the story was going to turn out, and as I read on, it became clear that the ending was going to make me very, very unhappy. I wasn't wrong. That, plus Olivia's descent into TSTL, cost the book the 4 star rating it might have earned from me; if you love romantic suspense, you may well feel differently.
