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Nora Watts #3
No Going Back
From Strand Critics Award winner Sheena Kamal, comes the third novel featuring the brilliant, fearless, deeply flawed Nora Watts whose vendetta against a triad enforcer escalates when he places a target on her daughter's back.
Find your enemy. Before he finds you.
Nora Watts has a talent for seeing what lies beneath strangers’ surfaces, and for knowing what they’re working hard to keep hidden. Somehow, it’s the people closest to her she has trouble truly connecting with. In the case of Bonnie, the teenage daughter Nora gave up for adoption, she has to keep trying. For Bonnie has a target on her back—and it’s all because of Nora.
Two years ago, Bonnie was kidnapped by the wealthy Zhang family. Though Nora rescued her, she made a powerful enemy in Dao, a mysterious triad enforcer and former head of the Zhangs’ private security. Now Dao is out for revenge, and she needs to track him down in order to keep herself—and Bonnie—safe.
On Dao’s trail, Nora forms an unlikely partnership with Bernard Lam, an eccentric playboy billionaire with his own mysterious grudge to bear, and reunites with Jon Brazuca, ex-cop turned private investigator and Nora’s occasional ally. From Canada to southeast Asia they pursue Dao, uncovering a shadowy criminal cabal. But soon, the trail will lead full circle to Vancouver, the only home Nora’s ever known, and right to the heart of her brutal past.
Find your enemy. Before he finds you.
Nora Watts has a talent for seeing what lies beneath strangers’ surfaces, and for knowing what they’re working hard to keep hidden. Somehow, it’s the people closest to her she has trouble truly connecting with. In the case of Bonnie, the teenage daughter Nora gave up for adoption, she has to keep trying. For Bonnie has a target on her back—and it’s all because of Nora.
Two years ago, Bonnie was kidnapped by the wealthy Zhang family. Though Nora rescued her, she made a powerful enemy in Dao, a mysterious triad enforcer and former head of the Zhangs’ private security. Now Dao is out for revenge, and she needs to track him down in order to keep herself—and Bonnie—safe.
On Dao’s trail, Nora forms an unlikely partnership with Bernard Lam, an eccentric playboy billionaire with his own mysterious grudge to bear, and reunites with Jon Brazuca, ex-cop turned private investigator and Nora’s occasional ally. From Canada to southeast Asia they pursue Dao, uncovering a shadowy criminal cabal. But soon, the trail will lead full circle to Vancouver, the only home Nora’s ever known, and right to the heart of her brutal past.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2020
82 people are currently reading
1104 people want to read
About the author
Sheena Kamal
9 books398 followersSheena Kamal was born in the Caribbean and immigrated to Canada as a child. She holds an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness.
Sheena is a winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Award. Her first novel, The Lost Ones/Eyes Like Mine won a Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best First Novel. It was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a TIME Magazine Thriller of the Summer, and an iBooks best book of July.
The sequel, IT ALL FALLS DOWN is out now.
Sheena is a winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Award. Her first novel, The Lost Ones/Eyes Like Mine won a Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best First Novel. It was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a TIME Magazine Thriller of the Summer, and an iBooks best book of July.
The sequel, IT ALL FALLS DOWN is out now.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
July 18, 2024
Every person has within her a certain amount of self-preservation to guide her. But when the self in question has taken the sheer number of knocks that I have, the preservation instinct is ground down. Mine is a fine dust, little particulates that have all but disappeared. I’m not sure what self there is left to preserve.She has led something less than a charmed life. Trouble seems to follow her as if she had a tracking device stuck on her collar and an army of people at monitors reporting her every move.
Sheena Kamal - in studio making the audio book of her other 2020 release, the YA novel Fight Like a Girl
Nora Watts, the considerably flawed, but still kick-ass PI from Eyes Like Mine (2017) and It All Falls Down (2018), is back and is taking her game on offense. Having survived a few too many attempts on her life, Nora is determined to track down the man who has it in for her, and take him down, one way or another, before he can kill her. More importantly, she is eager to see that her teenage daughter, the one she had given up for adoption at birth and only recently has had any relationship with, is removed from the playing field as a target and potential hostage. Her nemesis is Dao, the head of security for the uber-rich and powerful Zhang family, which Nora had seriously damaged in earlier volumes, and he has his own reasons for wanting her dead. His criminal connections give him global reach. No stress, no stress at all.
She finds allies in her quest. Bernard Lam is one, a billionaire who likes and is willing to finance Nora, but has an agenda of his own. Also along for the ride is Jon Brazuca, ex-cop, Nora’s former AA sponsor (she’s got issues, ok?), tough as nails, except when it comes to Nora. If PT Barnum was right, this guy must have been born many, many times. She does care for him, but, well, Nora.
Familiar faces from the former books take turns in the spotlight. Daughter Bonnie, and her adoptive parents, PI Leo Kruschnik, her former employer, Simone, her drag queen tech guru, biker baddies who provide some of the usual mayhem and poor sartorial choices, and a few new faces. Welcome back is Whisper, Nora’s four-legged bff. Still not enough screen time for this bitch, though, IMHO.
As with the first two Nora Watts novels, this one has a background theme of musicality. The favorite music of a late friend plays from time to time as does The Dark End of the Street, with a bit of Bob Marley tossed in for good measure. Music, both incoming and outgoing, is able to get past Nora’s considerable armor and touch her wary, vulnerable core, although it’s all one-way this time.
He warms up to “Amazing Grace,” and so do I. We’re singing together now and I’m in my head voice, a tone I haven’t heard out of my mouth since I was a kid in youth choir. Buck-toothed and scrappy but with a voice like a lounge singer just months away from a lung cancer diagnosis.No Going Back is the third book in Sheena Kamal’s Nora Watts series. There are sufficient catching-up passages here that it is not necessary to have read the first two to enjoy this one. But really, why would you want to deprive yourself? The first two are outstanding, and will make you better prepared to get the most out of volume #3. I’m just sayin’.
Those days are long gone. I’ve since found the blues to fill the space in my soul, but I remember what it was like to sing up high like that. Reaching for the cracked paint in the ceiling, then past it, too. A gospel, a prayer. Never a celebration.
There are motifs and issues that permeate the story. Vancouver is not used to the sort of harsh winters that people in, say Winnipeg, would hardly notice. But Kamal uses the encroaching cold and snow in the same way she used fire in book #2, as a background thumping ramping up the volume and beat as the climax approaches.
To say the heavy snowfall caught the city by surprise is a ridiculous understatement. People are in a state of shock, interspersed by moments of panic. No one knows what to do with their hands. Should they try to dig out their vehicles, which they don’t know how to drive in these weather conditions, or do they dial their workplaces to say they aren’t coming in? Tips on how to drive in the snow fill local news reports while those who had moved here to get out of this kind of vengeful weather curse their misfortune and sneer at the masses who are seemingly struck helpless by flakes of fluffy white precipitation. I am on the side of the cursing and sneering few.Being an outsider is part of Nora’s core. Her mother was Palestinian and her father was indigenous Canadian. She is very conscious of the history of European encroachment and being seen as an other. It reinforces her unwillingness to trust, expecting that no one, certainly no one in authority, will believe her anyway. Relationships and/or tensions between parents and children provide a central element. Nora is desperate to protect the child she gave away at birth, Bonnie, finally wanting to have a relationship with her. There is the relationship between Bonnie and her adoptive parents. The billionaire client and even her evil nemesis have daddy issues.
I drive away from the cabin with the knowledge that I’ve been reprimanded and nourished simultaneously. It’s a new experience for me. Does Bonnie experience this every day? Is this what it’s like to have a mother?Nora remains a fascinating, if damaged character. She has the sort of code you expect the noir hero to adopt, even though she follows it to her own disadvantage far too many times. She struggles to maintain a secure perimeter around herself, even though she can taste the fulfillment of intimate human connection in patches.
“I’ve never seen the point of tears. There’s something inside me that grows cold at the thought of shedding them, at the sight of someone else letting them fall. I don’t give into tears, not even now, because I’ll never take the chance that someone will see it as weakness, as I do. But I wonder what it would be like if I did. I feel like we’re on the brink of something in our friendship.”The first person narrative, mostly Nora’s, but with a few chapters from the perspective of others, offers an immediacy to the story, makes you feel present, and tense.
“You run away,” she [Simone] continues. “Because you don’t want to stay and ask for love. You keep people at an arm’s length and blame them for not wanting to come closer when you’re the one that pushed them to the corners of your universe.”
I do not know if the title No Going Back signals more than just the story at hand. While the trilogy is complete with this novel, it remains to be seen whether Nora Watts will be making a return in the years ahead. Kamal is open to bringing her back but she’s
“…not really there yet. If I bring her back, I want to be a little different. I want her journey to make sense. I want it to be a progression.” - from the Hank Garner interviewI sincerely hope Nora can find her way back to us. Compelling characters are to be cherished, particularly those who struggle with themselves as well as the world around them. Sheena Kamal has brought us, yet again, both wonderful characters and an engaging, fraught tale, rich with substance, in addition to tension, mayhem, and artistry. If she can find a way to bring Nora back to the pages of a book, I am sure many of us will find our way back to her.
I’m a woman over twenty-five. I’m so used to people ignoring my existence that it’s startling when someone admits they’ve been paying attention.
Review first posted – May 15, 2020
Publication date – April 14, 2020
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, Instagram, and FB pages
-----A list of Seven Short Pieces by the author that have appeared in diverse publications. I suggest you check out the one in The Guardian - from her website
Interviews
-----The Big Thrill -Up Close: Sheena Kamal by K.L. Romo
-----The Star - Sheena Kamal’s two new books: “I like my heroines to be a little rough around the edges” by Sue Carter
-----Author Stories Podcast #866 - Sheena Kamal Returns With No Going Back by Hank Garner – audio – 37:10 – from 4:39
-----Crimespree Magazine - Q&A with Sheena Kamal
-----Writer Types Podcast by Co-Hosts E.A. Aymar & Sarah Chen – audio – 40:40 – from 9:26 to 22:30
My reviews of other books by the author
-----Eyes Like Mine - Nora Watts #1 - 2017
-----It All Falls Down - Nora Watts #2 - 2018
Songs/Music
-----James Carr - The Dark End of the Street
-----Bob Marley - One Love
-----Chopin’s nocturnes
-----Leon Bridges - Coming Home
August 22, 2022
Gobsmacked and tattered, I am unmoored and depressed by this final book in the Nora Watt's trilogy It is, of course, very well written, and the character of Nora could never live happily ever after, but damn, I wanted it to so badly.
Nora is damaged. She is half Indigenous Canadian, a minority. She was orphaned as a child, tortured and left for dead as an adult. Nora has always been invisible to others, but is even more so now as she ages and she was never a beauty. This is the sad reason, she is good at detective work. No one sees her.
Unwanted and alone, she tries her best, but can never feel close to anyone, if she veers towards emotion and belonging, she runs away as fast as she can. Once more, Nora and her estranged daughter, Bonnie, are in the cross hairs of a killer and she must save them or die trying.
Nora is damaged. She is half Indigenous Canadian, a minority. She was orphaned as a child, tortured and left for dead as an adult. Nora has always been invisible to others, but is even more so now as she ages and she was never a beauty. This is the sad reason, she is good at detective work. No one sees her.
Unwanted and alone, she tries her best, but can never feel close to anyone, if she veers towards emotion and belonging, she runs away as fast as she can. Once more, Nora and her estranged daughter, Bonnie, are in the cross hairs of a killer and she must save them or die trying.
December 19, 2019
I'm so blessed to get the chance to write Nora Watts again. No Going Back is essentially a showdown between Nora and a shadowy figure from her past. It takes us from the Pacific Northwest to Southeast Asia, and then back again. Writing it took a little chunk of my soul, which I think is in the book, actually.
July 29, 2020
So, to be sincere, I’m giving this book 4 stars mostly because of the writing, that, although a bit dry, I really enjoyed. The storyline is a fast paced one and engaging and the dialogues are great, but I personally did not care for any of the characters.
This is the third book of a series and my first, and here I think was my mistake, because I did not learn anything about the protagonist, except that she is an angry person.
So, I feel that I have to read the first book, which has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time now to learn a bit more.
In this book there is a lack of humour and the author was unable to evoke emotion other than anger. Even the tiny sex scene (if you can call it that) was dry.
There is no waste of time of creating an atmosphere. Just a sense of hurry.
If the author meant to finish the series with this book than I think that she did a good job.
This is the third book of a series and my first, and here I think was my mistake, because I did not learn anything about the protagonist, except that she is an angry person.
So, I feel that I have to read the first book, which has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time now to learn a bit more.
In this book there is a lack of humour and the author was unable to evoke emotion other than anger. Even the tiny sex scene (if you can call it that) was dry.
There is no waste of time of creating an atmosphere. Just a sense of hurry.
If the author meant to finish the series with this book than I think that she did a good job.
April 4, 2020
No Going Back is the third instalment in the excellent Nora Watts series and although the first two books are well worth picking up it isn't essential to have read them before this one as the author provides plenty of backstory to get newcomers up to speed. Recovering alcoholic and flawed protagonist Nora is hot on the heels of the criminal who abducted her daughter Bonnie years earlier. Renowned in the criminal underworld the affluent Zhang family are the ones thought to be behind her kidnapping but in identifying, locating and bringing Bonnie home Nora has gained a powerful and ruthless enemy. Dao, a former member of the Zhang’s security personnel and an enforcer for the brutal, merciless Chinese triads operating across the world, has placed a bounty on Nora’s head and she knows he is not the type to be all talk and no action. She's in more danger than she's ever been in before and knows she will need help to stay alive. Enter Jon Brazuca, a private investigator and former police officer, and Bernard Lam, a local billionaire, but will they form an effective team against a criminal organisation with international reach?
Hopping between the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia, Kamal pens an exciting, action-packed and compulsive thriller and so ensues a tense high-stakes game of cat and mouse. It's well written, absorbing and moves at a quick pace making it almost impossible to put down; I finished it in a single sitting as I wanted to know what happened at the end and if Nora could escape the clutches of Dao and his co-conspirators. The author places you right in the middle of all the drama and sets the scene vividly regardless of where in the world the characters are. There is plenty to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat and you really have to fasten your seatbelt as it is a wild ride from start to finish. Nora is a great character who grows with each instalment and she has really grown on me throughout the series. A highly entertaining and expertly crafted thriller with a cast of bold, larger than life characters who are both engaging and intriguing, if you enjoy adrenaline-fuelled showdowns then this is absolutely worth your time. Many thanks to Zaffre for an ARC.
Hopping between the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia, Kamal pens an exciting, action-packed and compulsive thriller and so ensues a tense high-stakes game of cat and mouse. It's well written, absorbing and moves at a quick pace making it almost impossible to put down; I finished it in a single sitting as I wanted to know what happened at the end and if Nora could escape the clutches of Dao and his co-conspirators. The author places you right in the middle of all the drama and sets the scene vividly regardless of where in the world the characters are. There is plenty to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat and you really have to fasten your seatbelt as it is a wild ride from start to finish. Nora is a great character who grows with each instalment and she has really grown on me throughout the series. A highly entertaining and expertly crafted thriller with a cast of bold, larger than life characters who are both engaging and intriguing, if you enjoy adrenaline-fuelled showdowns then this is absolutely worth your time. Many thanks to Zaffre for an ARC.
January 23, 2022
3,5 Sterne
February 4, 2021
In the end I just had to give her those 5 stars. She had me going there for a few chapters but I think Kamal might be one of the best writers to come along in a long time. A Nora Watts novel number three and you might want to read the first two to get an understanding of Nora's world. It shouldn't take away from this novel if you don't. Enjoy.
April 14, 2020
4.5 stars.
No Going Back by Sheena Kamal is a pulse-pounding mystery. Although this newest release is the third installment in the Nora Watts series, it can be read a standalone.
Nora Watts returns to Vancouver only to discover that someone is after her and her estranged daughter, Bonnie. Nora knows exactly who wants her dead and her nemesis will stop at nothing to exact his revenge. Nora puts all of her energy into locating him and she becomes allies with very unexpected people as she travels from Canada to Indonesia in hopes of stopping his nefarious plan.
Nora is still at loose ends following what happened to her in Detroit. She feels guilty that she put someone dear to her in harm's way. Learning Bonnie might be in danger because of her devastates and frightens her. Discovering her foe is still after her, Nora does not want to endanger anyone else. But her former AA sponsor, private investigator Jon Bruzuca refuses to let her search for her enemy on her own.
Nora has an uncanny ability to read people and she knows there is more to Bruzuca's offer to help her than he is telling her. She is very reluctant to agree to work together, but he has connections she desperately needs. Nora's wary of her new alliance but she will do anything to keep Bonnie safe. Despite her reservations and concerns, Nora is soon on an island in Indonesia where she hopes to face her rival once and for all. But will the plan she and her comrades put into action go as they envision?
No Going Back is a tension-filled, suspenseful mystery with a clever storyline and colorful characters. Nora is fearless and reckless as she tries to protect the people she cares about. She is distrustful of offers of assistance but despite sensing hidden motives, she pushes her doubts aside in order to vanquish her deadly adversary.
With stunning twists and jaw-dropping turns, Sheena Kamal brings this latest addition to the Nora Watts series to a shocking, uneasy conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this riveting mystery to old and new fans of this marvelous series.
No Going Back by Sheena Kamal is a pulse-pounding mystery. Although this newest release is the third installment in the Nora Watts series, it can be read a standalone.
Nora Watts returns to Vancouver only to discover that someone is after her and her estranged daughter, Bonnie. Nora knows exactly who wants her dead and her nemesis will stop at nothing to exact his revenge. Nora puts all of her energy into locating him and she becomes allies with very unexpected people as she travels from Canada to Indonesia in hopes of stopping his nefarious plan.
Nora is still at loose ends following what happened to her in Detroit. She feels guilty that she put someone dear to her in harm's way. Learning Bonnie might be in danger because of her devastates and frightens her. Discovering her foe is still after her, Nora does not want to endanger anyone else. But her former AA sponsor, private investigator Jon Bruzuca refuses to let her search for her enemy on her own.
Nora has an uncanny ability to read people and she knows there is more to Bruzuca's offer to help her than he is telling her. She is very reluctant to agree to work together, but he has connections she desperately needs. Nora's wary of her new alliance but she will do anything to keep Bonnie safe. Despite her reservations and concerns, Nora is soon on an island in Indonesia where she hopes to face her rival once and for all. But will the plan she and her comrades put into action go as they envision?
No Going Back is a tension-filled, suspenseful mystery with a clever storyline and colorful characters. Nora is fearless and reckless as she tries to protect the people she cares about. She is distrustful of offers of assistance but despite sensing hidden motives, she pushes her doubts aside in order to vanquish her deadly adversary.
With stunning twists and jaw-dropping turns, Sheena Kamal brings this latest addition to the Nora Watts series to a shocking, uneasy conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this riveting mystery to old and new fans of this marvelous series.
November 2, 2020
Argh, what a heartbreaking ending to a pacey chase..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2020
RATING: 4 STARS
2020; William Morrow/HarperCollins
No Going Back is the third novel in the Nora Watts series, and I highly recommend you read this series in order. This is not your typical domestic suspense series, but has a lot of emotions and depth. The characters in this series grow with each book. We get to know more about them and their background. In this book, Bonnie's (Nora's birth daughter) kidnapping comes back to be a danger to both Nora and her daughter. The only chance she has to defeat the danger is to go looking for it first. I felt like book two was more of emotion, while this novel was a lot of action. I enjoyed No Going Back but not as much as the first two books. That is not a bad thing, as I still rated it four stars. It was nice to get more of an action story in this one, as it felt like a break in the emotional rollercoaster. I hope there is more of Nora in the future, and am excited to see that Kamal also released a young adult novel earlier this year Fight Like a Girl. Both covers are gorgeous!
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
2020; William Morrow/HarperCollins
No Going Back is the third novel in the Nora Watts series, and I highly recommend you read this series in order. This is not your typical domestic suspense series, but has a lot of emotions and depth. The characters in this series grow with each book. We get to know more about them and their background. In this book, Bonnie's (Nora's birth daughter) kidnapping comes back to be a danger to both Nora and her daughter. The only chance she has to defeat the danger is to go looking for it first. I felt like book two was more of emotion, while this novel was a lot of action. I enjoyed No Going Back but not as much as the first two books. That is not a bad thing, as I still rated it four stars. It was nice to get more of an action story in this one, as it felt like a break in the emotional rollercoaster. I hope there is more of Nora in the future, and am excited to see that Kamal also released a young adult novel earlier this year Fight Like a Girl. Both covers are gorgeous!
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
July 2, 2020
Geeeez, can you say bad luck? Nora has the worst luck of, I think any character I've read... Good but not quite 5 stars. Will there be more Nora & Whisper and Bonnie, or is this it? Tide has got to turn for these peeps
October 10, 2024
I like this series but I think the author was trying to do too much in this final book and sometimes less is more. I found the storyline confusing – especially the involvement of the different criminal syndicates – and the cast of characters too large. I would have settled for a satisfying ending that allowed growth for Nora or some improvement in her life situation - not sure that's what we got!
June 28, 2023
Actually, I loved the book. But I can't deny the fact that I would have loved it more if Nora and Brazuka ended up together. At least Brazuca deserved that, after all. But it is acceptable and believable that Nora lost all interest in life after seeing her daughter ignores her. But the point is, even though Lynn dies too, she could have led a simple life (no need to be overwhelmed with happiness, ofc) along with Brazuca. Anyway, it was a great story and got me thinking on life choices a lot.
April 20, 2022
As per usual with my reviews, if you want a synopsis of the book, look elsewhere.
I have some caveats with this review:
-This book was chosen randomly from a box of about 60 books
- I did not look at the author or read the back to find out what I was reading
-I was unaware this is the 3rd book of a series
Now. Let's begin.
No Going Back?
Nope.
The first sentence of this novel had me throw it down in disgust. I will give the author credit for having that little sentence be the guiding theme for the rest of the "story", so called.
"Agents search me at the Canadian border. Of course they do, those fascists."
That right there told me almost everything I needed to know about the character Sheena Kamal. Sorry, Nora Watts.
Having had to deal with the Canadian Border Patrol MANY MANY times, and being detained at the border for several hours, I could not empathize with Nora Watts complaining about being "detained" at the border for twenty whole minutes while she went on endlessly about having a cavity search (that never happened, but the agents were still poster children for the SS, dontcha know?). And SURPRISE! She explains that she looks sketchy as hell, but it was still racism because she's part Palestinian and First Nations. She balks at being asked probing questions about her whereabouts while in Detroit and what she had been doing there, because asking to be consistent in your answers is....racist. We are expected to ignore the FACT that her departure from Detroit is because she was witness to the attempted murder of a singer she knows (and the public is aware of her celebrity status), and she burned down a warehouse. She's sketchy as all hell, constantly looking over her shoulder, her throat is messed up from the smoke, police are looking for her, but...racism.
Her heritage has nothing to do with the plot, and her character blatantly explains that she has NEVER BEEN to Palestine BUT those places are "in her blood". Her mother and father abandoned her when she was young and she spent most of her time in foster care...but no blame or victimhood comes from those facts. No. It's the racist Canada that has caused all of her pain.
Fine. I tried to move on, but I became aware very quickly that Nora's real name is Sheena Kamal, and this is just Author Fan Fiction. She wrote a novel where she is the hero, and her political axe to grind is the main focus of the story.
And it really feels like it was written by someone with a variation of Unjustified PTSD and Stolen Valor. What are those? Oh, that's where you find a persecuted ethnicity that you have virtually no cultural connection to, and assume that all your problems are because of what they went through. It can be put forward as the VERY SOFT science of Generational Trauma, but really it's a victimology justified by racist identity politics. But I digress.
OR DO I?! Since this was a very much alive horse that was beaten and not allowed to die.
A character describing the proclivities of another character? Misogyny. Physically Fit People? Clearly horrible and miserable people who are sad (a completely useless scene in the book since it had no clues, no connections to any leads, and seemed to be more of a chance for the author to gripe about body expectations). People with pronoun issues? Clearly, this is how they will catch the villain! Describing Alfred Hitchcocks The Birds (though Nora can't remember the NAME OF THE MOVIE) where they used real birds in order to get an unscripted, and authentic reaction of fear from the actor? Why, that justifies Nora's terror, because something that happened to an actress in the 60's contributes to her own TRAUMA! A soft core sex scene involving her biological seventeen year old daughter Bonnie and her new girlfriend Alix? That will definitely lead us to the whereabouts of the villainous DAO!
And that barely scratches into the absolute FEAR of Rural British Columbia, as evidenced by the total backwater lands where the Pickton Pig Farm was. The TERRIFYING PORT COQUITLAM!
What's that? Nora's ex PI partners office is on East Hastings Street? And East Hastings is a notorious area full of drug addicts, dealers, murderers, where I've personally seen a pregnant woman strung out on meth run barefoot through the streets looking for cigarette butts? And East Hastings is a mere 25 minute drive to the tri-city area of Port Coquitlam where the Pickton Pig farm is located, right near a Costco?
I've seen many a countryside, with fields of canola and cattle being herded. I have not seen the horrifying farming area that has a Costco, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, and a Terry Fox Secondary School within throwing distance.
(Yes, 25 prostitutes who should never have been murdered at all, let alone by the Hells Angels, had their bodies dumped at the pig farm over the years. This is hardly an indictment of rural B.C. Especially since it isn't even in a rural area, per se, and the actual murders happened IN VANCOUVERS DOWNTOWN EAST SIDE! The bodies were transported to the farm).
Sheena aka Nora uses this as an example of why ALL women should FEAR rural areas, with their conservative killers! She literally uses a horrible situation as political leverage against anyone not living in a city.
Clearly, Sheena Kamaaaa....Nora is one of those brats that has mostly lived in Toronto their whole life and views anyone outside the city as an inbred and slavering Ed Gein reject. Only Vancouver and Toronto are given any kind of praise, and Alberta is even brought up with "Nothing is worth going to Alberta for".
I could go into how much Nora's daughter Bonnie, who loves Vancouver, has never seen anything as beautiful as the view from Whistler Mountain. You know. That ski place that can be seen from Vancouver. But it would be a waste of time, much like the plot of this novel.
No. No, I will go into the coup de grace of this political bias dissertation prancing around as a novel.
The absolute highlight is (SPOILER ALERT) when Nora finds out that her daughter Bonnie has been shot, was lying in a pool of her own blood, the RCMP officer responding to the call is shot dead, the man trying to kill her is dead, and she sides with her lawyer who asks, and I take this directly from the novel, "Why wasn't I taken to the hospital first. She hints at racial bias."
Your daughter was bleeding out, shares the same ethnic legacy as you, and your concern is the racial bias of not being seen FIRST.
See, I had to read it a few times. The way it is written, it makes it seem like she was more concerned about not being given medical attention ahead of her daughter for racist reasons. It's only after piecing together the intent that you can gather that Nora was medically ignored before being brought to the police station for questioning because....racism. Not because she was physically unharmed.
This novel is poorly paced, terribly written, and has virtually no mystery or surprise to it. And I should know from terrible novels; I've written three.
Authors put themselves in their work. There is no denying this. The problem arises when glancing into the life of Sheena Kamal, and the article of how her uncles violent death shaped her writing. She says clearly that her mother "never allowed me to believe that the world is somehow against me". Yet everything in her novel says otherwise. Either her mother failed, or she failed her mother. I'm going to say nothing bad about her mother....
This author essentially uses other peoples trauma to sustain her own victimology. In her own words: "I often think about the woman my uncle tried to kill that night in New York. I don’t know what happened to her – I don’t even know her name – but she almost lost her life because some man, a man who was important to my family, was unhappy. He didn’t just kill himself, he tried to murder a woman, too. Whoever she was, whatever she did, she did not deserve that. I have never forgotten that good people are capable of bad things." She was six. She wasn't part of the conversation her mother had with her uncle. She is using her mothers pain to justify her fears, and painting all of society with this brush. She has clearly put herself in her work, and she states this herself: " Writing it took a little chunk of my soul, which I think is in the book, actually."
Yes, you did. You sacrificed plot, character development, and pacing to sing your song of eating worms.
And finally, the joke that Sheena Kamal completely missed with her politically correct writing?
Her characters don't pass the Expanded Bechdel Test.
I have some caveats with this review:
-This book was chosen randomly from a box of about 60 books
- I did not look at the author or read the back to find out what I was reading
-I was unaware this is the 3rd book of a series
Now. Let's begin.
No Going Back?
Nope.
The first sentence of this novel had me throw it down in disgust. I will give the author credit for having that little sentence be the guiding theme for the rest of the "story", so called.
"Agents search me at the Canadian border. Of course they do, those fascists."
That right there told me almost everything I needed to know about the character Sheena Kamal. Sorry, Nora Watts.
Having had to deal with the Canadian Border Patrol MANY MANY times, and being detained at the border for several hours, I could not empathize with Nora Watts complaining about being "detained" at the border for twenty whole minutes while she went on endlessly about having a cavity search (that never happened, but the agents were still poster children for the SS, dontcha know?). And SURPRISE! She explains that she looks sketchy as hell, but it was still racism because she's part Palestinian and First Nations. She balks at being asked probing questions about her whereabouts while in Detroit and what she had been doing there, because asking to be consistent in your answers is....racist. We are expected to ignore the FACT that her departure from Detroit is because she was witness to the attempted murder of a singer she knows (and the public is aware of her celebrity status), and she burned down a warehouse. She's sketchy as all hell, constantly looking over her shoulder, her throat is messed up from the smoke, police are looking for her, but...racism.
Her heritage has nothing to do with the plot, and her character blatantly explains that she has NEVER BEEN to Palestine BUT those places are "in her blood". Her mother and father abandoned her when she was young and she spent most of her time in foster care...but no blame or victimhood comes from those facts. No. It's the racist Canada that has caused all of her pain.
Fine. I tried to move on, but I became aware very quickly that Nora's real name is Sheena Kamal, and this is just Author Fan Fiction. She wrote a novel where she is the hero, and her political axe to grind is the main focus of the story.
And it really feels like it was written by someone with a variation of Unjustified PTSD and Stolen Valor. What are those? Oh, that's where you find a persecuted ethnicity that you have virtually no cultural connection to, and assume that all your problems are because of what they went through. It can be put forward as the VERY SOFT science of Generational Trauma, but really it's a victimology justified by racist identity politics. But I digress.
OR DO I?! Since this was a very much alive horse that was beaten and not allowed to die.
A character describing the proclivities of another character? Misogyny. Physically Fit People? Clearly horrible and miserable people who are sad (a completely useless scene in the book since it had no clues, no connections to any leads, and seemed to be more of a chance for the author to gripe about body expectations). People with pronoun issues? Clearly, this is how they will catch the villain! Describing Alfred Hitchcocks The Birds (though Nora can't remember the NAME OF THE MOVIE) where they used real birds in order to get an unscripted, and authentic reaction of fear from the actor? Why, that justifies Nora's terror, because something that happened to an actress in the 60's contributes to her own TRAUMA! A soft core sex scene involving her biological seventeen year old daughter Bonnie and her new girlfriend Alix? That will definitely lead us to the whereabouts of the villainous DAO!
And that barely scratches into the absolute FEAR of Rural British Columbia, as evidenced by the total backwater lands where the Pickton Pig Farm was. The TERRIFYING PORT COQUITLAM!
What's that? Nora's ex PI partners office is on East Hastings Street? And East Hastings is a notorious area full of drug addicts, dealers, murderers, where I've personally seen a pregnant woman strung out on meth run barefoot through the streets looking for cigarette butts? And East Hastings is a mere 25 minute drive to the tri-city area of Port Coquitlam where the Pickton Pig farm is located, right near a Costco?
I've seen many a countryside, with fields of canola and cattle being herded. I have not seen the horrifying farming area that has a Costco, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, and a Terry Fox Secondary School within throwing distance.
(Yes, 25 prostitutes who should never have been murdered at all, let alone by the Hells Angels, had their bodies dumped at the pig farm over the years. This is hardly an indictment of rural B.C. Especially since it isn't even in a rural area, per se, and the actual murders happened IN VANCOUVERS DOWNTOWN EAST SIDE! The bodies were transported to the farm).
Sheena aka Nora uses this as an example of why ALL women should FEAR rural areas, with their conservative killers! She literally uses a horrible situation as political leverage against anyone not living in a city.
Clearly, Sheena Kamaaaa....Nora is one of those brats that has mostly lived in Toronto their whole life and views anyone outside the city as an inbred and slavering Ed Gein reject. Only Vancouver and Toronto are given any kind of praise, and Alberta is even brought up with "Nothing is worth going to Alberta for".
I could go into how much Nora's daughter Bonnie, who loves Vancouver, has never seen anything as beautiful as the view from Whistler Mountain. You know. That ski place that can be seen from Vancouver. But it would be a waste of time, much like the plot of this novel.
No. No, I will go into the coup de grace of this political bias dissertation prancing around as a novel.
The absolute highlight is (SPOILER ALERT) when Nora finds out that her daughter Bonnie has been shot, was lying in a pool of her own blood, the RCMP officer responding to the call is shot dead, the man trying to kill her is dead, and she sides with her lawyer who asks, and I take this directly from the novel, "Why wasn't I taken to the hospital first. She hints at racial bias."
Your daughter was bleeding out, shares the same ethnic legacy as you, and your concern is the racial bias of not being seen FIRST.
See, I had to read it a few times. The way it is written, it makes it seem like she was more concerned about not being given medical attention ahead of her daughter for racist reasons. It's only after piecing together the intent that you can gather that Nora was medically ignored before being brought to the police station for questioning because....racism. Not because she was physically unharmed.
This novel is poorly paced, terribly written, and has virtually no mystery or surprise to it. And I should know from terrible novels; I've written three.
Authors put themselves in their work. There is no denying this. The problem arises when glancing into the life of Sheena Kamal, and the article of how her uncles violent death shaped her writing. She says clearly that her mother "never allowed me to believe that the world is somehow against me". Yet everything in her novel says otherwise. Either her mother failed, or she failed her mother. I'm going to say nothing bad about her mother....
This author essentially uses other peoples trauma to sustain her own victimology. In her own words: "I often think about the woman my uncle tried to kill that night in New York. I don’t know what happened to her – I don’t even know her name – but she almost lost her life because some man, a man who was important to my family, was unhappy. He didn’t just kill himself, he tried to murder a woman, too. Whoever she was, whatever she did, she did not deserve that. I have never forgotten that good people are capable of bad things." She was six. She wasn't part of the conversation her mother had with her uncle. She is using her mothers pain to justify her fears, and painting all of society with this brush. She has clearly put herself in her work, and she states this herself: " Writing it took a little chunk of my soul, which I think is in the book, actually."
Yes, you did. You sacrificed plot, character development, and pacing to sing your song of eating worms.
And finally, the joke that Sheena Kamal completely missed with her politically correct writing?
Her characters don't pass the Expanded Bechdel Test.
May 14, 2020
So, I am here to try and convince you to read all three of Sheena Kamal's books in the Nora Watts series. They are fabulous! And the audio books are all narrated by my absolute favourite Bahni Turpin. So, if you enjoy listening to your well-written mysteries with interesting and exciting plots, let Bahni be your guide!
Yes. You need to start at book 1. So before we go further, read book one and two. I mean, if you really want to skip them, you can. I wouldn't, though, because they are excellent and provide crucial details that explain what follows in book three.
Nora Watts is a really complex character and I am impressed by the way she matures and changes over the course of the series so far. Nora is a recovering addict who is trying her best. She is also is someone who makes poor choices that harm people. Yes, she deserves love. Without question. One of the consistent underlying currents of these novels has to do with each person being worthy of love and safety regardless of past mistakes they might have made.
Just a few reasons I love this particular book in the series:
A) There is a lovely internal monologue regarding pronouns and respect that does not include the person concerned! That's right! Nora does not badger her friend for clarification. She simply thinks through how best to manage a new and unfamiliar moment in their friendship and then continues on in the conversation.
B) There is an important moment when the word fat is used to describe a character. That's all. It's a description without being a moral judgement. It's part of the way an incredibly beautiful woman is described. Equating fat and beauty is something we hardly ever see in any medium, let alone fiction, so I was thrilled that Kamal is with us at the Health at Every Size party!
C) I am not actually sure if this is the final book or if the series will continue??? That ambiguity speaks to a very well-crafted ending. I can see the journey being complete in its ambiguity, and I can also easily see scope for a fourth book. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
This is a really, really important and special series. I so wish that more people would pick up these books and delight in the crucial discourses contained within. Yes, they are well-written mysteries that are interesting, and include details that surprise me. More importantly, Kamal is writing books where the characters look and feel like the people I know. Kamal's fictional world includes everybody: especially those that are often invisible or perceived as taboo or simply not worthy of having their stories heard. Yes, I am absolutely gushing in my praise of this book. It's worth it. Don't take my word for it, read the book and discover its excellence for yourself!
Yes. You need to start at book 1. So before we go further, read book one and two. I mean, if you really want to skip them, you can. I wouldn't, though, because they are excellent and provide crucial details that explain what follows in book three.
Nora Watts is a really complex character and I am impressed by the way she matures and changes over the course of the series so far. Nora is a recovering addict who is trying her best. She is also is someone who makes poor choices that harm people. Yes, she deserves love. Without question. One of the consistent underlying currents of these novels has to do with each person being worthy of love and safety regardless of past mistakes they might have made.
Just a few reasons I love this particular book in the series:
A) There is a lovely internal monologue regarding pronouns and respect that does not include the person concerned! That's right! Nora does not badger her friend for clarification. She simply thinks through how best to manage a new and unfamiliar moment in their friendship and then continues on in the conversation.
B) There is an important moment when the word fat is used to describe a character. That's all. It's a description without being a moral judgement. It's part of the way an incredibly beautiful woman is described. Equating fat and beauty is something we hardly ever see in any medium, let alone fiction, so I was thrilled that Kamal is with us at the Health at Every Size party!
C) I am not actually sure if this is the final book or if the series will continue??? That ambiguity speaks to a very well-crafted ending. I can see the journey being complete in its ambiguity, and I can also easily see scope for a fourth book. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
This is a really, really important and special series. I so wish that more people would pick up these books and delight in the crucial discourses contained within. Yes, they are well-written mysteries that are interesting, and include details that surprise me. More importantly, Kamal is writing books where the characters look and feel like the people I know. Kamal's fictional world includes everybody: especially those that are often invisible or perceived as taboo or simply not worthy of having their stories heard. Yes, I am absolutely gushing in my praise of this book. It's worth it. Don't take my word for it, read the book and discover its excellence for yourself!
July 13, 2020
I was pretty bummed about this, because I loved the first one SO MUCH, and I liked the second one fine. This one is same shit, different book. And now I'm just bored and disappointed by Nora.
If you like a fast paced book with a lot of action, you may like this book. There's no mystery here, we know who is after her from the beginning. But much of what drew me to the first two books was Nora: her contradictions, her relationships, her discovery of her daughter, and opening up again! But now we're three books in, and she is circling the same stuff - be in danger, disregard her friends' advice (I don't know why they are still friends with her), feel bad about being in danger, she even goes back to Brazuca! Add some new characters! Let Nora grow!
If you like a fast paced book with a lot of action, you may like this book. There's no mystery here, we know who is after her from the beginning. But much of what drew me to the first two books was Nora: her contradictions, her relationships, her discovery of her daughter, and opening up again! But now we're three books in, and she is circling the same stuff - be in danger, disregard her friends' advice (I don't know why they are still friends with her), feel bad about being in danger, she even goes back to Brazuca! Add some new characters! Let Nora grow!
February 23, 2021
This exquisitely composed saga soars and dives with emotional range, ethical nuances, danger, drama, and devastation. Smoothly incorporated observations regarding the consequences of the attempted annihilation of indigenous people; racism, misogyny, addiction, compulsion, and more add a visceral grittiness to this circuitous path to the ultimate showdown. No Going Back is not for readers who prefer Hollywood endings.
(Reading Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner reminded me that this third installment of the Nora Watts series was still on my personal TBR list.)
(Reading Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner reminded me that this third installment of the Nora Watts series was still on my personal TBR list.)
December 14, 2020
this will show up on mystery/thriller list but at its base, it is a book about relationships - with husbands, sponsors, friends, lovers,
Nora Watts - some would call her a victim but she is a survivor.
"taking stock goes badly, worse that I could have anticipated. Intuition, jacked. strength, poor. ...spite and vengeance, heart. Continuous battering, soul."
Nora Watts - some would call her a victim but she is a survivor.
"taking stock goes badly, worse that I could have anticipated. Intuition, jacked. strength, poor. ...spite and vengeance, heart. Continuous battering, soul."
September 5, 2020
My first book by this author. I loved it! Love that it was set mainly in Vancouver, and by a Canadian author as well!
It lost me for a few chapters in the middle, but picked right back up again.
I will certainly be reading more by Sheena Kamal.
It lost me for a few chapters in the middle, but picked right back up again.
I will certainly be reading more by Sheena Kamal.
April 5, 2021
I really love this series, but the third installment felt like a bait and switch promising to tie up loose ends, but ended up doing so in such unsatisfying ways. I hope a fourth book is in the works - that can't be the end for Nora Watts!
July 18, 2021
Welp, that was intense. So many layers that fit so well together. I really really hope there another installment or that the story continues with another major character in the series, like with with Bonnie. Hmmm...
February 20, 2022
Maybe 4.5. The third Nora Watts book and I suspect the last. Everything got mostly wrapped up, although not in a neat and orderly way. I liked the characters here - no one is too perfect. All deeply flawed, but interesting.
August 11, 2020
This book begs the question: what will happen now that the big, bad is gone?
October 5, 2020
Not nearly as good as the first 2 books in this series
November 2, 2020
This was a good and entertaining read! Thanks Sheena Kamal.
November 3, 2020
Having read the whole series over a few years I have to say Norah Watts is one kick- ass heroine. The books are different, raw and very sad.
December 4, 2020
A great read which was the 3rd in a series- this was the first one I had read and picked it up quickly. The book is fast paced with ex Ellen’s characters a really good action packed read
December 28, 2020
Sheena Kamal is always breaking my heart and making me laugh. Id love lunch with Nora, if she were real. I'd chance it.
June 6, 2021
I wanted to love this book but the ending was so off-putting. Having read the entire book and then not knowing who the women were at the end was maddening.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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