Review: Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb

obsession in death by jd robbFormat read: print ARC provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, audiobook
Genre: mystery
Series: In Death, #40
Length: 405 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Date Released: February 10, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Eve Dallas has solved a lot of high-profile murders for the NYPSD and gotten a lot of media. She—and her billionaire husband—are getting accustomed to being objects of attention, of gossip, of speculation.

But now Eve has become the object of one person’s obsession. Someone who finds her extraordinary, and thinks about her every hour of every day. Who believes the two of them have a special relationship. Who would kill for her—again and again…

With a murderer reading meanings into her every move, handling this case will be a delicate—and dangerous—psychological dance. And Eve knows that underneath the worship and admiration, a terrible threat lies in wait. Because the beautiful lieutenant is not at all grateful for these bloody offerings from her “true and loyal friend.” And in time, idols always fall…

My Review:

The case that begins when Eve starts receiving dead bodies as presents from an unknown admirer is one of the best books in this series in a long time. It is a particularly marvelous story for long-term fans, as the case forces Eve to look back at all the people she has let into her life, both her friends and her enemies. The case gives her a chance to reflect on the woman she might have been, which adds extra chills and thrills to a fascinating and deadly case of hero worship, without taking too long a trip to the angst factory.

It’s not the first crime scene that chills Eve down to her boots, it’s the note that the murderer left on the scene, labeling the victim as an enemy of Eve’s struck down by her “true and loyal friend”. Anyone who really knows Eve would know that she wouldn’t want a dead body as a present. Eve stands for the dead, bringing justice to those who have been murdered. While she has killed in the line of duty and for self-preservation, she wouldn’t want someone else doing it for her, even if the victim deserved it.

Which this one didn’t. She wasn’t even a real enemy, just a high-priced defense attorney who did an excellent job for her clients, even if those clients were wealthy scumbags. She and Eve had faced off on a couple of cases, and while the attorney scored points in the media, Eve mostly won. Even if she had lost, Eve wouldn’t consider an enemy someone who was doing their job the way it was supposed to be done.

But the mash note at the scene is a sign that the killer, no matter how organized they were in committing the crime, is actually emotionally deranged. (Think of the guy who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in order to “impress” actress Jodie Foster for a real life example.)

As the bodies left for Eve start to pile up, Eve and Dr. Mira work on a profile of the killer. Eve and several experts comb through all the “fan mail” that Eve has received over the years, looking for patterns and repeat correspondents.. Some of it is sweet, some of it is sexual, and a few bits are just plain sick. It turns out that there are quite a few people out there who think Eve would be their best friend ever (or more) if they just arranged to meet.

But some of the strange ones are sure that if Eve just got rid of all the people in the way, her best friend could finally get close to her. While Eve wants the killer to turn their attention from people who have crossed her over the years to Eve herself, Eve isn’t emotionally prepared to think about all the people in her life that she cares about who might become the killer’s next target.

As bad as Eve thinks it can get, and as much as she hates putting the lives of the people she loves and works with in danger, even Eve can’t quite manage to think her way into the mind of a killer who doesn’t care how big a body count she racks up in order to make Eve pay for not being the best bud that the killer thinks she should be.

When the killer drops Eve off that pedestal they’ve created, the killer wants to make sure that Eve goes out with as much collateral damage as possible when she crashes.

Escape Rating A-: I really enjoyed this one, and it was back on track as a mystery in a way that the last few books have not been, but it is definitely a story for long-time fans of the series. The killer’s motivations force Eve to take a look down memory lane at all the people who are now a part of her life, and that trip has much more resonance for people who have followed the series.

At the same time, the killer’s motivations, while chilling and made more personal if you know Eve, still track as something that makes (admittedly bad and deranged) sense. There have been real-life examples of people who kill or attempt to kill to gain the attention of some media star who they only think they have a relationship with. That Eve, in the context of her high-profile cases and her marriage to Roarke, would attract exactly this type of psychotic admirer is all too believable, which is what makes this story work so well.

Eve has a case to solve that touches on her personally and makes her feel just a bit guilty. Not that she has or hasn’t done anything to the killer, but that people are dying because of her and she can’t find who is doing it fast enough. She is putting the lives of the people she loves, and even those she just likes, into danger. And as the noose begins to tighten around the killer, Eve is even more guilt-ridden as they figure out that the murderer must be someone within the police department circle, either a cop or a clerk or someone at the morgue or the forensics lab. It’s a face that Eve has seen before and didn’t pick out of the crowd. Now that person has picked her out instead.

For long-term fans of the series, this one is a return to the under-pressure case solving that has made the series so much fun, while at the same time giving us more peeks into Eve’s life and the changes she has made. And we get to visit all the members of Eve’s “family” and see how everyone is doing.

Definitely a win.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Festive in Death by J.D. Robb

festive in death by jd robbFormat read: ebook borrowed from the library
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, large print paperback, audiobook
Genre: mystery
Series: In Death, #39
Length: 390 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Date Released: September 9, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Personal trainer Trey Ziegler was in peak physical condition. If you didn’t count the kitchen knife in his well-toned chest.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas soon discovers a lineup of women who’d been loved and left by the narcissistic gym rat. While Dallas sorts through the list of Ziegler’s enemies, she’s also dealing with her Christmas shopping list—plus the guest list for her and her billionaire husband’s upcoming holiday bash.
Feeling less than festive, Dallas tries to put aside her distaste for the victim and solve the mystery of his death. There are just a few investigating days left before Christmas, and as New Year’s 2061 approaches, this homicide cop is resolved to stop a cold-blooded killer.

My Review:

I love this series, and every time I read one, I get a different answer as to why.

For one thing, Dallas’ version of deadpan snarker makes me laugh every single time. She has all the gallows humor of a career police officer, combined with a nearly complete lack of reference to what other people think is normal.

There’s a running gag in Festive in Death that cliches and proverbs make zero sense when analyzed. Which is true in every single example that comes up. And every time Eve tries to parse one out, she sends Roarke down a verbal rabbithole that drags him completely off his original topic. They are absolutely marvelous together.

A lot of this particular story is about family. For Eve and Roarke, the Christmas season is all about the “family you make”. Or in their case, watching the families that each of them has made continue to blend together into a single, slightly crazy, whole.

Their crazy-in-a-good-way but slightly dysfunctional family is contrasted directly with the family of two of the suspects in this episode’s murder-of-the-week.

At first, Eve isn’t sure that they ARE suspects. What is certain is that they were victims of the recently deceased scumbag, and that the way that he victimized them gives them and their families strong motives for murdering him.

This case was a bit different in that no one is mourning the dead jerk. Even Dallas is slightly conflicted; she’s not sorry he’s dead, at least partially because it robs her of the opportunity to lock him up for a couple of decades.

Trey Ziegler was a personal trainer who did not stick to his day job. He also fucked his clients for money and favors, which makes him a prostitute. In Eve’s version of the future, Licensed Companion is a profession, and yes, notice the licensed. Unlicensed selling of sex for money is still illegal. But Ziegler went two better (or worse). He used date-rape drugs to remove his clients’ inhibitions, and then he blackmailed them for having seemingly given in.

As I said, dead scumbag leaving plenty of victims with motives behind him.

Two of the many women he screwed over were sisters, which creeps both of them out. But even more scummy, he was also blackmailing one sister’s jerkwad husband over keeping a mistress using his rich wife’s money.

The problem that Eve has to solve is not who had motive and opportunity, or even who benefits (dead blackmailer lets lots of people off the hook), but whose applecart did the guy most threaten to upset?

In the middle of dealing with, and sometimes running away from, the biggest Christmas party that Eve and Roarke have ever hosted, Eve worries away at solving the crime. The person she wants to be the murderer is scummy, but may not quite be scummy enough.

It’s only when the killer claims a second victim that Eve finally puts it all together.

Escape Rating B+: I pored through this one until late in the night. It was just plain fun to read, and there were lots of laugh out loud moments.

But what I enjoyed was watching Eve and Roarke’s family celebrate the holidays. Eve is starting to see this very mixed gang of cops and corporate types as their family, and it’s a revelation for her. Also, as unsocialized as she sometimes is, seeing her see and feel that there are some things you just suck up because, well, family was a lot of growth that happens without going back to the angst-factory.

Eve’s intense dislike of parties, socializing and being the center of attention does not count as angst. It usually counts as funny.

obsession in death by jd robbI love these people, not just Eve and Roarke but the entire gang. I can’t wait to find out how they’re doing after Christmas in Obsession in Death.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-30-14

Sunday Post

I’m prepping this on my laptop, and remembering how much I love my double-screen desktop machine. Which has already been shipped to our new home, so laptop it is.

My reviewing schedule for next week has changed three times since I originally prepped this post.. Three posts are for blog tours, and the show, as they say, must go on. But the other two days are “dealer’s choice” and my first thought did not survive actual experience, even anticipated experience. THANK YOU CASS for agreeing to do reviews this week and next week!

The movers are packing us on Monday, loading the truck on Tuesday, and we hit the road Wednesday. We are experiencing another “adventure in moving,” made even more adventurous by the decision to drive from Seattle to Atlanta with three cats in the backseat.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday in Vancouver, BC, where they may not have a Thanksgiving Thursday, but all the stores definitely celebrate Black Friday. And speaking of celebrating the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend, there are still a few hours left to get into the Gratitude Giveaways Hop and the Black Friday Book Bonanza.

Black_Friday_Book_Bonanza_button-40x400Current Giveaways:

$10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card in the Gratitude Giveaways Hop
$10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card in the Black Friday Book Bonanza
4 ebook copies of Falling from the Light by Regan Summers
Lots of prizes, including an Amazon Kindle, in the Bewitching Book Tours Hot Holiday Giveaway

 

pure heat by ml buchmanBlog Recap:

B- Review: Falling from the Light by Regan Summers + Giveaway
B+ Review: Pure Heat by M L Buchman
B- Review: Wildfire at Dawn by M L Buchman
Guest Post by Galen: Thanksgiving Day 2014: a small reading list
Black Friday Book Bonanza
Bewitching Book Tours Hot Holiday Giveaway

 

 

christmas wonderfinalComing Next Week:

Christmas Wonder Giveaway Hop
Full Blaze by M L Buchman (blog tour review)
Firewall by Sonya Clark (blog tour review)
Festive in Death by J.D. Robb (review)
Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro (review by Cass)
The Highland Dragon’s Lady by Isabel Cooper (blog tour review)

Review: Concealed in Death by J D Robb

concealed in death by jd robbFormat read: ebook borrowed from the Library
Formats available: Hardcover, Paperback, audiobook, ebook
Genre: mystery, romantic suspense, futuristic
Series: In Death #38
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Putnam
Date Released: February 18, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

In a decrepit, long-empty New York building, Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s husband begins the demolition process by swinging a sledgehammer into a wall. When the dust clears, there are two skeletons wrapped in plastic behind it. He summons his wife immediately—and by the time she’s done with the crime scene, there are twelve murders to be solved.

The place once housed a makeshift shelter for troubled teenagers, back in the mid-2040s, and Eve tracks down the people who ran it. Between their recollections and the work of the force’s new forensic anthropologist, Eve begins to put names and faces to the remains. They are all young girls. A tattooed tough girl who dealt in illegal drugs. The runaway daughter of a pair of well-to-do doctors. They all had their stories. And they all lost their chance for a better life.

Then Eve discovers a connection between the victims and someone she knows. And she grows even more determined to reveal the secrets of the place that was called The Sanctuary—and the evil concealed in one human heart.

My Review:

Thankless in Death by J.D. RobbConcealed in Death was way more enjoyable than Thankless in Death. It was great to see the story from Eve and Roarke’s point of view, and NOT spend time in the mind of a scumbag killer. This one was old-school police procedural, and it was good to see the series back to its usual form.

This is almost a cold case story. The crime occurred 15 years in the past, and it has been hidden for all that time. But when Roarke breaks a wall and discovers the first (and second) of 12 wrapped bodies, the action is off to the races.

A big part of this case is the identification of the bodies–after 15 years in an abandoned building, all that’s left is the bones. Which means that Eve needs a forensic anthropologist to ID them for her. The new addition to the team, Dr. Garnet DeWinter, is accustomed to being the alpha female of her own team. Even though Garnet gets along well with Morris, she and Eve jostle against each other through the whole case. It’s fun to see Eve run up against another woman who will not subordinate herself to anyone but she can’t treat as an enemy.

One of the best parts of the story is that we learn more about Mavis; where she came from, what she was involved with before she and Eve became friends. There is a reason why Mavis and Eve bonded in spite of not just being opposites, but originally being on opposite sides of the law., and we get to see what makes them best friends, despite being so very different.

The cop shop parts of the story were often laugh out loud funny, as was Eve’s never-ending battle of wits with Summerset. I’m particularly fond of Galahad the cat, that big lazy moocher is just my kind of feline.

The case was interesting in that there wasn’t a true resolution. Even though the team did figure out who done it and why it was done, there wasn’t the kind of satisfactory punishment that readers, and Eve herself, want. It’s totally appropriate for this particular case, but it left me hungering for a nice, juicy trial, or a high-speed chase scene.

Escape Rating B+: There’s an aspect of Bones meets Dallas, but it was a great way of introducing a new character to the team. (Also DeWinter is way more socially ept than Temperance Brennan)

It was also good not to have either Eve or Roarke dealing with an overwhelming amount of angst; although the case does have resonance for both of them, it doesn’t send everyone into nightmares and depression. It was great to have a case be mostly just a case, and not a trip to the angst-factory.

Among the usual crew, this story focused on Mavis, and had some absolutely marvelous moments with Denis and Charlotte Mira.

I read this series for mind-candy, and to catch up with the gang. This story was just about a one-sitting read, and that was great!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Thankless in Death by J D Robb

Thankless in Death by J.D. RobbFormat read:  print book borrowed from the library
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, large print paperback, mass market paperback, audiobook
Genre: Romantic suspense
Series: In Death, #37
Length: 417 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Date Released: September 17, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Lieutenant Eve Dallas has plenty to be grateful for this season. Hosting Roarke’s big Irish family for the holiday may be challenging, but it’s a joyful improvement on her own dark childhood.

Other couples aren’t as lucky as Eve and Roarke. The Reinholds, for example, are lying in their home stabbed and bludgeoned almost beyond recognition. Those who knew them are stunned—and heartbroken by the evidence that they were murdered by their own son. Twenty-six-year-old Jerry hadn’t made a great impression on the bosses who fired him or the girlfriend who dumped him—but they didn’t think he was capable of this.

Turns out Jerry is not only capable of brutality but taking a liking to it. With the money he’s stolen from his parents and a long list of grievances, he intends to finally make his mark on the world. Eve and her team already know the who, how, and why of this murder. What they need to pinpoint is where Jerry’s going to strike next.

My Review:

There are aspects of Thankless in Death that are, well, thankless, in spite of an absolutely awesome scene where both Eve and, surprisingly Roarke get thanked for their service to the NYPSD.

Unlike many of the entries in this series, this isn’t a whodunnit. It’s not even a “whydunnit”. This one is simply a “when in the deity’s name are they going to finally catch the bastard doing it?” The only suspense involved the length of time the sadistic killer could continue to get lucky and evade capture.

I said lucky and I meant it. This moron wasn’t planning all that much, and he wasn’t bothering to cover up his crimes. He simply caught a lot of lucky breaks, until one of his victims effectively planted a logic bomb in the fake identity he forced her to create for him at knifepoint.

There’s no mystery in this mystery. And we spend more time inside the head of a psychotic serial killer than is comfortable. He isn’t even all that bright, so his world view manages to be both blood soaked and boring at the same time.

This one is a crime about how bad things happen to good people.

The family side of this story doesn’t reveal a lot that’s new, although it is pleasant to have Roarke’s Irish family come to America for Thanksgiving. Roarke playing soccer with his cousins is priceless.

But the best part of this particular outing with Dallas & Co. isn’t either the case or the romance (not that Eve and Roarke aren’t still amazing) but something else altogether.

naked in death by J.D. RobbAll the way back in the beginning, from the very first story in Naked in Death, one of the themes was that originally all Eve Dallas ever wanted was to be “a good cop”. Her job was her life, and it was all she had. Roarke gave her a life outside her job, and made her better at it. Ironically in a way, because he started out as a street-thief, and only stopped the last of his illegal enterprises in order to be with her.

In this most recent story, the NYPSD decides to finally set aside the internal politicking that has kept the powers-that-be from completely acknowledging their contributions. In a very public ceremony. Eve is awarded the Medal of Honor, and Roarke the highest civilian honor, the Civilian Medal of Merit. I choked up when I read the scene, and I did re-reading it just now. It was as if friends were being awarded something, because after all the books and all the years, it feels as if they are.

And that’s why I keep reading.

Escape Rating B-: Definitely far from the best in the series. The experiment of having the reader know much more about the case than the detectives was interesting, but I hope it isn’t repeated, particularly since the scumbags that Dallas generally chases do not have the kind of minds that I want to wallow in for more than a nanosecond.

This particular scumbag wasn’t even intelligent or interesting. Just very scummy.

The cop shop scenes had some good chemistry. I always enjoy seeing Dallas and Feeney work together, and their father/daughter moments had extra poignancy in this one.

All of Eve’s angst and acceptance about receiving the Medal of Honor and the accolades that went with it were far and away the best part of the story. She didn’t want the award or the ceremony that went with it. It wasn’t until the event was taking place that she finally accepted that the award didn’t just have meaning for her, but that it had significance for every victim she had ever stood for–and not just their families, but her own. Not just the family that both she and Roarke had finally discovered were theirs by right, but also the one that they had created through friendship and love.

If only the rest of the book had been close to the emotional resonance of that Medal of Honor ceremony. If only.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb

Calculated in DeathFormat read: ebook
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, mass market paperback
Genre: Romantic suspense
Series: In Death, #36
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Date Released: February 26, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

On Manhattan’s Upper East Side a woman lies dead at the bottom of the stairs, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better.

A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn’t seem the type to be on anyone’s hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the building, the lieutenant knows Marta’s murder was the work of a killer who’s trained, but not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence.

But when someone steals the files out of Marta’s office, Eve must immerse herself in her billionaire husband Roarke’s world of big business to figure out who’s cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer’s violent streak begins to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait. . . .

My Review:

Calculated In Death is the semi-annual visit with Eve Dallas and Roarke in 2060. That’s probably the simplest short description.

There’s a new In Death story twice a year, and I lap them up. At their least, each entry in this series is a chance to visit with old friends, and find out what everyone has been up to.

At best, they’re gold. Calculated In Death is pretty solidly in the middle.

The mystery is a dive into the world of big money and big fraud. Unfortunately, it’s damn difficult to make accounting sound exciting. What is interesting is the lengths that people will go to in order to cover up their crimes.

In this case, murder. If someone weren’t dead, Eve Dallas wouldn’t be involved.

But because the murders center around the world of high finance, Eve calls on Roarke’s expertise at the very beginning of the case. It’s new for the case to rely on not just his expertise, but his word.

It’s a long way for him to have traveled. When he and Eve met, he still wasn’t completely legit, although he was getting there.

This was the first time that it wasn’t Eve’s case, with Roarke coming in as backup. This was their joint case from the beginning. Very cool. Or as Mavis or perhaps Peabody would say, “frosty”.

Escape Rating B+: Every visit with Dallas and Roarke is a good one. This story is not one of the gut-wrenching ones that delves deep into either one of their tortured pasts, and thank goodness for that.

It is a solid mystery, well-solved. The fraud case is a bit difficult to follow, but even in TV mysteries, the money cases are a pain. What was fun to see was that Eve couldn’t use her instincts to figure out who the guilty party was, because everyone was guilty of something! The question was who was the most or worst guilty.

The lovely bit of the story is seeing the relationships and the other characters develop. Not just Peabody and McNab, but that Trueheart is going up for his detective’s exam. Those touches that move the group as a whole forward in time. The noticeable changes in Eve’s relationship with Dr. Mira are beautiful.

And Eve and Roarke are still hot.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.