Nora Roberts pens tale of survivors after shooting

Nora Roberts has crafted a chillingly timely piece of fiction with her book “Shelter In Place,” released in 2018.

The prolific author has taken on an active shooter scenario, with a plot frighteningly reminiscent of the 2012 theater shooting in Colorado.

That’s where all similarities end.

Roberts sets her book in a New England shopping mall in 2005. Full of shoppers, diners and movie goers on a Friday night, its happy din is shattered suddenly by gunshots.

The book follows two of the characters we meet early on, Simone Knox and Reed Quartermaine, teens watching a movie and working a summer restaurant job, respectively, inside the mall that night.

There also is a twist regarding the incident’s original planner. That person’s rage at being left out, and fury as survivors try to go on with their lives — the planner also loses someone — fuel the next decade plus as revenge is planned and sometimes carried out.

But there are many survivors, and determining where the killer will strike next occupies most of Quartermaine’s spare time. Awed by the actions of first responders in the mall that night, he follows a mentor into law enforcement.

Then he falls for Knox, who has been living her own version of “shelter in place” since the attack.

Their happiness makes them prime targets. The perpetrator is clever, but frustration is starting to make him/her unspool.

After missing an earlier chance, Quartermaine is determined he will put an end to the killer’s plans and help the other survivors stop living in fear.

Knowing the person’s identity doesn’t ruin the story, as it’s interesting to see what will come next.

And Roberts’ development of Quartermaine and Knox, a sweet dog in need of a home, and a funny, hip grandmother give us plenty of characters to root for.

The book is published by St. Martin’s Press.