La obsesión [The Obsession]

I’ll admit: I approached *La obsesión* skeptical. Nora Roberts can sometimes lean too hard into romance at the expense of suspense, but this audiobook *delivers* on both fronts—though not without a few stumbles. Angely Báez’s performance is the standout here; her Naomi is a revelation, voice cracking with repressed trauma one moment, then steely with defiance the next. Even secondary characters feel distinct, from the gruff, protective Mason to the chillingly polite antagonism of Naomi’s past. Báez’s pacing mirrors the story’s creep: slow, deliberate, then *suddenly* urgent. My only critique? Her male voices occasionally blur together in crowded scenes, losing some of the nuance Roberts writes into their dialogue. The story itself is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It opens like a cozy small-town romance—Naomi’s new life as a photographer in Sunset Cove is all golden light and easy banter—but Roberts plants unease early. A missing sister. A childhood spent looking over her shoulder. The real genius is how she makes the *absence* of the villain terrifying. We don’t get gratuitous flashbacks or monologues; instead, the horror lives in Naomi’s flinches, her refusal to answer certain questions, the way Báez’s voice drops to a whisper during key revelations. The mid-book lull *will* test some listeners (a subplot about Naomi’s friend’s wedding feels like filler), but the final act’s convergence of past and present is worth the wait. That said, the resolution wraps up *almost* too neatly—Roberts ties every loose end with a bow, which undercuts some of the gritty realism she builds earlier. Still, for an audiobook that balances romance and terror without sacrificing either, *La obsesión* is a standout. Just don’t listen to it alone at night.