Hidden Nature

Hidden Nature is a romantic thriller by Nora Roberts. The story follows Natural Resources Police officer Sloan Cooper, who sets out to solve a series of mysterious disappearances in her Maryland region. Blending in a romantic subplot as Sloan becomes close to her new neighbor, contractor Nash Littlefield, the novel explores the themes of Finding Strength in Family Bonds, The Joys of a Calling, and The Rewards of Rebuilding and Renewal as Sloan recovers from a near-fatal shooting and restructures her life. The novel also explores contemporary American attitudes toward public lands and policing, as well as the fringes of religious extremism.

Roberts is a New York Times bestselling author who has, to date, written over 200 novels of romance, fantasy, and romantic suspense. She also writes futuristic thrillers under the pseudonym J.D. Robb.

This guide uses the Kindle edition published by St. Martin’s Press in 2025.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, emotional abuse, sexual content, and suicidal ideation/self-harm.

Plot Summary

Maryland Natural Resources Police Officer Sloan Cooper is returning from a long day spent apprehending lawbreakers with her partner, Joel. When she stops for gas at a mini-mart, Sloan interrupts a robbery in progress and is shot twice by the robber, who escapes. One bullet grazes her head, and one lands in her chest. On the operating table at the nearby hospital, Sloan has an out-of-body experience and looks down at herself while medical staff resuscitate her. She hears Joel on the phone insisting that Sloan is tough and will survive. She awakens in pain but is surrounded by her family: her loving parents, Dean and Elsie Cooper, and her sister, Drea. Her parents bring Sloan home to their small town of Heron’s Rest, where they run a family business renting equipment and vacation properties in the Allegheny Mountains.

Sloan is frustrated by her slow recovery, which is set back when she pulls a muscle during Thanksgiving festivities and ends up in the emergency room. She pushes herself to take walks around Mirror Lake and learns to crochet. She misses her job, which makes her feel useful, but enjoys spending more time with her warm and loving family. She learns that a man from New York City has bought a nearby home and is setting up business as a contractor.

Right before Thanksgiving, a woman, Janet Anderson, is abducted at the grocery store. The people who take her, Clara and Sam, are a couple who believe that extended life due to medical intervention is wrong. They ask Janet to tell them the story of what happened when she died after a paddleboarding accident, and what she saw before she was brought back to life. When Janet can’t answer their questions, they kill her by draining her blood and tell themselves they have sent her home, giving her a “natural” conclusion to her life rather than an artificial extension.

Nash Littlefield is glad he left his job in finance and has moved to the place where his family vacationed when he was young. His brother, Theo, has left his budding law career to come with him, and he wants to be part of Nash’s new business. As Nash begins to rebuild his house and establish his business, he becomes friendly with Dean Cooper. He sees a young blonde woman walking by the lake and thinks she looks like she’s ill or injured, but he admires her persistence in pushing herself. Theo meets Drea while the brothers are in town advertising their business, and he falls in love immediately. Sloan is initially reserved about the newcomers and considers doing a background check on them.

A friend of the family offers Sloan a chance at promotion to sergeant if she takes a job in his local office. Sloan decides she’d like to stay near her family and will give up her apartment in Annapolis, but she wants to buy a house of her own. Her parents are excited to have her nearby and help Sloan buy a cottage that needs some renovations. Sloan studies hard for her exams and is promoted, taking on new responsibilities training recruits. She enjoys her mission of educating, protecting, and preserving human and wildlife, but she still has nightmares about being helpless and frozen during the attack in the mini-mart.

While Sloan hires Nash to begin renovations on her house, Clara and Sam abduct their next victims: a dentist, Arthur Rigsby, and a hotel bellman, Zach Tarrington. Sloan, who was moved by the story of Janet Anderson’s disappearance, begins an investigation of her own. Theo and Drea’s relationship advances quickly to an engagement, making Sloan feel wary of getting involved with Nash, but she enjoys talking to him as well as the sexual relationship they’re pursuing.

In the course of her research, Sloan begins to suspect that what unites the missing persons is that they all experienced resuscitation after medical death. This is confirmed by the next disappearance, a woman named Lori Preston. Sloan realizes this could make her a potential victim. She begins pursuing her investigation in earnest.

Clara grows concerned when Sloan visits the hospital where she works and asks questions about previous victims. Clara accesses Sloan’s files and realizes Sloan, too, was resuscitated. Clara becomes convinced that Sloan is a witch and that Clara and Sam must eliminate her. They decide to kidnap Sloan along with their next target, Terry Brown. However, Sloan catches Clara watching her from afar and is on her guard. When Sam breaks into her house, Sloan suspects an intruder. Sam and Clara attack her, and Sloan flashes back to the mini-mart—but this time, she is able to defend herself. She shoots Sam and restrains Clara, with Nash’s help. Though she is shaken over having killed a man, Sloan is glad that the murderers have been apprehended and some justice and peace can be given to the families of their many victims.

As Sloan settles down after the attack, she and Nash discuss their future. He admits he’s in love and wants to move in together and eventually marry. Sloan sees this as a new beginning and is grateful for the second chance she’s been given.