I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Random in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Eriksen. Solid entry into a series which is very like catching up with old friends – but with added murder.
Feb
07
2024
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Musings on Romance
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May
30
2023
Review at AudioGals
I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Forgotten in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen. When I said I was right back into the series, I meant it!
Oct
21
2020
REVIEW: Shadows in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen
CW: Rape, graphic violence
Why I read it: This is one from my own TBL.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Lt. Eve Dallas is about to walk into the shadows of her husband’s dangerous past.
As it often did since he’d married a cop, murder interrupted more pleasant activities. Then again, Roarke supposed, the woman lying in a pool of her own blood a few steps inside the arch in Washington Square Park had a heftier complaint.
When a night out at the theatre is interrupted by the murder of a young woman in Washington Square Park, it seems like an ordinary case for Detective Eve Dallas and her team. But when Roarke spots a shadow from his past in the crowd, Eve realises that this case is far from business as usual.
Eve has two complex cases on her hands – the shocking murder of this wealthy young mother and tracking down the shadow before he can strike again, this time much closer to home. Eve is well used to being the hunter, but how will she cope when the tables are turned? As Eve and the team follow leads to Roarke’s hometown in Ireland, the race is on to stop the shadow making his next move . . .
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I have enjoyed the In Death series for many years. Eve Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Mira and the rest are kind of like family now, I feel like I know them so well. Right now I’m reading fewer and fewer books with police officers as main characters but I make exception for Eve. Maybe that was a mistake this time.
Mar
02
2020
February Round Up
Monthly Mini Review
Golden in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B+ Can you even believe this is book 50 in the In Death series?? That must be some kind of record. Normally, I bail out of a series at about book 12 or so but I’m still up for stories about Eve Dallas, Roarke and the rest of the crew. I am desperate for Morris to get a HEA – maybe next book??
Golden in Death has the trademark characters I care about in a very short time. The families of the victims, most of the victims themselves were all well drawn as usual.
This book had many twisty turns and red herrings so it took a long time (in terms of listening, not in terms of days of investigation by Eve and Peabody) to get ID the who-did-it. I liked this. It felt like the kind of thing that might occur in a real police investigation. I also liked that Roarke had a part to play in the investigation but it wasn’t massive. Most of the work was Eve and Peabody. While McNab and even Feeney were involved, it was mainly the core two detectives and that was a little different to previous books as well.
Dec
03
2019
November Round Up
Monthly Mini Review
Vendetta in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B Book 49 in the series takes place in about 4 days from start to finish and is obviously heavily inspired by #MeToo. At first I was a little worried about the killer being a woman who calls herself “Lady Justice” and abducts, tortures and kills men she has judged as being lacking. The first victim was certainly someone who inspired little sympathy (very much a Harvey Weinstein/Roger Ailes type character, albeit in a different industry). I didn’t want to read a story where the victims were all horrible men – I felt like that would have been too on the nose for me. However, after a while I saw that Robb did something clever here. There were a couple of victims/targets who did little more than divorce their wives (we aren’t privy to all the circumstances, though in some cases we can guess) and this served to illustrate that Lady Justice wasn’t really about “justice” at all. It was not a case of the punishment necessarily fitting the “crime” – in some cases, there was no crime. There were also multiple stories about women who had been assaulted by men, sexually or otherwise. Their stories were (sadly) more familiar and here, justice bent toward them – actual justice; because Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody were on the case. There was a a strong believe women vibe and no endorsement of toxic male behaviour. So it wasn’t the book I feared at all.
Mar
26
2018
March Round Up
Monthly Mini Review
Dark in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B- I’m still in for this series but Dark in Death was one of my least favourite books so far. In terms of romance, there wasn’t any conflict or tension between Roarke and Eve. They’re happy, having great sex and enjoying their marriage. That’s good and it’s not exactly that I get sick of it, but at the same time, I’d like a bit of conflict (with a happy resolution of course!) to shake things up a little. The main issue I had with the book however is the premise. A killer is recreating murders from a police procedural series and particularly the section where Eve is interviewing the author and talking about fan expectations and the challenges of being an author were just too meta for me. (I had a similar issue with the latest Suzanne Brockmann.) I can’t help but feel like the actual author is talking to the reader this way and even if that is only in my imagination, it makes me uncomfortable. There wasn’t really anything objectionable in what was said but I want to be immersed in the story and forget about the author altogether when I read/listen and I couldn’t here.
The other thing to mention is that a member of Eve’s squad, Jenkinson, uses a transphobic slur twice in the course of a conversation with Eve and there was zero narrative pushback on it. I do not accept that such slurs are okay in 2062 – they’re certainly not okay now. I dearly wished Eve would have told Jenkinson off about it.
