Customer Reviews

Creation in Death (In Death #25)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

J. D. Robb's "in Death" series of futuristic mysteries featuring Lt. Eve Dallas of the NYPSD should be much better known, for Robb has managed to meet the rigorous standard set and defined by the greatest writer of science-fiction mysteries, Isaac Asimov. This latest volume, CREATION IN DEATH, is no exception, and ranks among the best of this fine series.

Robb is remarkably skilled at creating a future world -- New York City in 2060, after the "Urban Wars" (which feature well in the plot). She also creates believable characters of all kinds -- heroes, villains, supporting players, and extras -- to inhabit this convincing setting. She never resorts to springing information on the reader without which he or she can't solve the case; everything is carefully and painstakingly set up with total fairness. Also, she never resorts to gimmickry to solve crimes or to save heroes from certain doom. These are first-rate mysteries, first-rate science-fiction novels, and the romantic suspense elements are neatly woven into the story.

This is a serial-killer novel in which the killer is terrifyingly real, with motivations and attitudes that are at once alien to "normal" people yet one klick away from the range of behaviors and attitudes we all have seen or read about in people, normal and abnormal. The suspense is sustained so that this reader, at least, had to put the book aside at 2:00 a.m. to get some sleep when only 60 pages or so from the end. And it bears re-reading.

A serial killer who had eluded the NYSPD nine years ago has returned. Feeney was the primary investigator back then and Eve was a newly minted detective and his partner. The fact that the killer escaped clean to go ply his trade in other cities and countries has sat bitterly with not only Eve and Feeney but with Morris the coroner, Whitney the chief and even Berenski the lab tech.

Now, nine years later he is back, doing exactly what he did before in his same MO. The cops of the NYSPD have a chance for redemption. Eve is tagged as the primary investigator and hits the ground running with her usual band of co-horts: Peabody, McNabb, Feeney, Baxter, Trueheart and of course Roarke. Even Trina, the scary hairdresser plays a part that surprisingly does not involved terrifying Eve with grooming products. And we get introduced to a few new characters such as the sassy e-girl Callender.

What I liked the most about this story is the pacing. Robb writes the book just like what it is, a race against time. The pacing and the tension ratchets up so as you read it you feel the same sense of urgency that the characters on the page feel. It is a nice effect and Robb does a good job with that. Another nice touch is that there is quite a bit of it shown from Roarke's POV. And Robb does a nice job of flipping the script a bit from some of the previous books. Whenever Roarke gets involved with Eve's job it is done in their home on his turf, but she takes him out of his comfort zone and puts them all at the police dept. almost around the clock. You can see Roarke struggle a bit as he is working in a place that is alien to him. Nice touch there.

I knock off a star because of the whole mother/female figure that the perp is killing over and over again. Robb has drunk from this well a little too many times before.

New York Police & Security Department's Lieutenant Eve Dallas is enjoying a quiet night at home watching a mindless movie with her perfect husband Roarke when a call comes in. Eve is surprised, as she is not even on call, but rushes to the murder scene of a young woman, knowing something is up, and is it ever. A serial killer known as "the Groom," who slipped through the NYPSD's fingers nine years before, seems to be back. He tortures his female victims to death, then lays their bodies out in a public place after placing a silver ring on one of their fingers. The police had believed the Groom had either died or gone to prison on other charges when his victims stopped appearing, but Eve's investigation uncovers similar crimes in other cities around the world. She has to stop him, which isn't going to be easy, as he leaves almost no clues.

This might have been a good story, but it got to be too much of just about everything bad, and not enough of the things I've grown to love this series for. I realize this is a murder mystery series, but it struck me that New York of 2060 must have more serial killers per capita than any other place on earth EVER. This is the umpteenth serial killer Eve has chased, and I doubt it will be the last. Usually, solving Eve's cases with her is fun, with banter all around with all the recurring characters. This time out, however, there was very little of that, and what there was felt almost forced. Instead, we spent time I would rather not have spent with our killer and his victims. I read murder mysteries because I enjoy the unraveling of the motives of the murderer; I do not read them because I enjoy getting inside the sick mind of a person who gets off on causing pain and degradation, and dwelling on the process. This book not only spent far too much time inside the mind of the killer, it also delved into the fear and pain of his victim, and I just don't want to go there. I don't need those images burned in my brain. I know there is a market for that kind of book, but I have deliberately not included any of them in my collection, and hope very much that this is not a new direction this series is taking.

That was not the only issue with this book, however. I have grown to like and admire Eve Dallas very much because I have gotten to know her by being places with her while she's doing her thing. We all know Roarke loves her to distraction, and for good reason. What I don't need is a constant reminder of how amazing she is. I've always hated reading books where the author seems overly enamored of a character and gushes about how great they are because I can never quite go along for the ride. It's better when the character can just be who they are and let us like them or not on their own merits, not because we've been told we should. Eve Dallas books are usually that way, but this time out, Nora felt it necessary to hammer it home.

Another thing I'm really, really tired of is Eve never getting any sleep. We all know she's dedicated to her job, but come on. In this book, she might have had a total of four hours stretched over several days, probably because I guess she's the only detective on the NYPSD who's amazing enough to solve a case. It's one thing to pull an all-nighter or get awakened by a phone call, but in this book it was way, way overdone. Eve couldn't stop working because she had a killer to catch before he could kill again. But would it hurt to let her get a few hours of sleep now and then? I found myself feeling worn down because of it.

This is one of the best mystery series I read, and the author has done a wonderful job of mixing it up, giving us a different type of mystery for Eve to solve each time out. One book will be a single crime of passion, and the next might be a serial killer, followed by something different in the next. Other reviewers have complained about these books getting too hard, too focused on the gore, and I thought they were wimps. After this, however, I find myself reluctantly joining their ranks. It isn't a bad book; it's just not the best of this series. It's almost as if the author forced it along in a hurry, and focused on all the wrong things. I look forward to the next Eve Dallas novel simply because I love this series, but I hope the magic is back next time. It was almost completely absent in this book.

He's back.

Nine years ago, long before Eve Dallas had her lieutenant stripes, a killer who was dubbed The Groom abducted, tortured and murdered a series of women. The New York City police were unable to catch him before he dropped off their radar. As the years passed, it was their collective hope that he had been captured, incarcerated or, better yet, killed. Whatever had happened, they wanted him gone for good.

But he's back. And this time, he wants Eve Dallas.

In the years since he disappeared, The Groom has been honing his skills. Organization and patience aren't the only things he has going for him. He picks his partners --- as he considers his victims --- methodically, taking time to choose carefully. Plus, he's more than just highly intelligent.

"He was a maestro in the art of death. The keeper of time. The bringer of destiny."

But his obsession with Eve Dallas may be his undoing.

A body is discovered, then a second, and the clock is already ticking on a third victim. With a sizable task force behind her, tracking devices on her car and her person, a tag team in close following distance, it seems safe for Lt. Dallas to use herself as bait. She knows that he wants her. Besides, what could possibly go wrong? Famous last words. It's possible that the police might not be giving this clever serial killer the credit he deserves. They need to keep in mind that he has eluded their attempts to stop him for many years --- and, they learn, in many countries.

How does he manage to lure women off the streets, during daylight hours, without a struggle? Particularly once the killings start. With the word out, what woman would accompany a stranger anywhere alone?

The psychologist's profile, coupled with Dallas's intuitive instinct, gives the cops an advantage that they didn't have nine years ago. The killer starts to take shape from their tenacious digging and logical deductions. His history emerges, showing what made him into the monster that is now stalking young brunettes.

Roarke, Dallas's sexy, rich, Irish hunk of a husband, adds his invaluable expertise --- along with some occasional bouts of pizza delivery --- to the lieutenant's task force. Together, they thrust and parry their way through the nerve-wracking hours to the end of the toughest case Dallas has seen in a long time. Both are strong characters, quick of temper, hard loving, hard working and hard playing. They will need to be every bit of that --- and much more --- to catch this killer.

And then there's Roarke's man, Summerset, who displays a palpable distaste for Roarke's distinctly unfeminine wife. He proves himself worthy of a very large pat on the back in this investigation. To her surprise and chagrin, Dallas almost starts to like him.

J.D. Robb's stories are fun to come home to at the end of the day. With CREATION IN DEATH --- the 25th installment of her bestselling In Death series --- she gives us one of the nastiest villains she has conjured up to date. With the target being Dallas herself, it makes for an interesting challenge. And warp speed reading.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

This 25th book in the series is horrifying, suspenseful and thrilling just to start! The book opens with the reader being introduced to the killer although not by name. We learn that to the killer death is a "vocation" the end all. The killer loves opera and apparently started his killing in New York almost a decade before and decides after "traveling" around both on "vacation" or his dormant periods and killing in other locales to come back to New York to "finish." He has a woman on a table tied down and has been systematically been using heat, cold and sharp objects on her to see how long she can last.

Lt. Eve Dallas and Roarke and their cat Galahad are relaxing watching an old action flick. Eve has the next 48 hours off and is looking forward to some quality time with her hubby. She is content munching on popcorn that is over salted and over buttered so that Roarke won't touch it. Her 'link goes off and it is Commander Whitney, her boss, calling her to a discovery of a dead body in a park. He knows it is her time off but tells her he needs her to be the primary detective in charge of this case. Roarke goes with her and it turns out that the woman found spread out and nude on a white sheet worked at a club he owns. It also appears to be the work of the Groom as the pressed dubbed this killer over nine years ago. He killed 4 women horribly, put silver rings on their left hands and left them where they would be found.

As Roarke gets more and more involved, we get to see the Homicide and EDD cops from his point of view which is very interesting and we also get to see how he and Eve can work together. We also see more interaction with Eve and Captain Feeney, her old partner and the detective in charge of the Groom case nine years ago. This time Eve determined to solve it even as the killer appears to be targeting Roarke in some ways.

I love also the extra interaction with Peabody, McNab, Mavis and Trina who all have parts to play. A very thrilling story with a most horrific killer!

Highly recommended!

Valerie Matteson
Ann Arbor, Michigan

I'm a big fan of Robb's In Death series, and have read them all. This ranks as one of the top five best in the series, I think. First, Robb brought back a villain that Eve had gone up against when she was a relatively new cop. This was a great angle, because it gave readers more interaction with her mentor, Feeney, who headed the case then. Readers also got a glimpse of what it is must be like for real detectives to deal with the one that got away - how it eats at them. What could they have done better to stop him? What did they miss on that case? Eve and Feeney are both confident officers that don't suffer from self-doubt very often, but it makes sense that they should on occasion, especially in this instance. Of course Eve gets another crack at "the Groom" and solves it (not really a spoiler since she solves every case!), but this case was really fleshed out for the reader.

One of the best features of this novel that made it stand out was the in-depth look at a task team, and investigation details, that are sometimes skimmed over in other mysteries. Police have to put in hundreds of hours interviewing, canvassing locales, re-interviewing, examining old case files, following up what are likely spurious leads but must be followed, etc. These cops truly were in a war room. This book also gave us more of what the other cop characters we've met are doing. Trueheart, Baxter, McNab, et al are all here on the team. Each has their own assignment, and while Eve remains the focus, we see more of their nitty gritty investigation tactics. It made the story more real than before. This environment also opened the eyes of Eve's husband, Roarke. Until this point, he loved and respected Eve, but never really appreciated police as a whole. This changed his perception and I thought it was a great step forward for the character. I felt this book moved Roarke past all-powerful billionaire, to enlightened all-powerful billionaire. LOL! Though there were some funny one-liners in the story, there wasn't as much humor as in many of the books. There were no social obligations for Eve, no hates beauty treatments etc. Even Peabody was more serious. However, the Groom is a serial killer that tortures his victims - it's tough to overcome the gravitas of that and it was best that Robb didn't try. One of my favorite parts of this novel was finally seeing how important justice is to Eve, and not just getting the bad guy. She takes some action at the end of the story which is both surprising, and imminently satisfying, yet fully in keeping with her character. I won't spoil it here, but this may have been the best ending I've read in the series (if not the absolute best book).

Another cool aspect was a teasing bit of the oft-mentioned "Urban Wars." This killer isn't typical, and even Sommerset must lend some help to the investigation. Mavis makes a brief appearance, and Nadine adds a little more, but this novel really focused on the cops almost exclusively. This was also the first case that Roarke gets involved with right away and stays through to the end, rather than interspersing help here and there. It was an interesting change. It is true that the futuristic aspect of the series is diminished here. We see the AutoChef, the Pepsi tubes, and a few other "gadgets" but the atmosphere of being IN THE FUTURE is lacking. This isn't a bad thing, though. This novel focused more heavily on the actual mystery than many others in the series, and something had to step aside for it. Since readers don't want to miss out on the hotness of Roarke and Eve, this was what moved to the background. Overall, I can't recommend this series enough to both traditional romance fans, and mystery fans. Fabulous!

This is the 25th (30th if you count all the novellas in between) book in the In Death Series.

The year is 2060 and Homicide Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department is called to the crime scene of a young woman murdered and then left in the local park. Eve immediately recognizes the torturing signature of a killer she investigated 9 years ago when she was just a rookie, partnered with Feeney. This is a killer they dubbed The Groom and were never able to apprehend.

This is a case that brings back a lot of memories, emotion and anger from everyone on the NYPSD. When the victim turns out to be one of Roarke's employees, he too becomes invested in finding this killer.

There is a reason I rush out to the bookstore on the release dates of all of the In Death books. Nora consistently creates spellbinding and suspenseful stories with the most charming characters and this book is no exception. Her villain's wheedle their way into your mind as they are so deliciously evil; you can't help but be fascinated by them. Her books never cease to entertain and delight me, and they are stories that I read over and over again and never tire of. This was an excellent addition to an ever fabulous series.

JD Robb's Creation in Death had me going from the start. a fantastic regression with Eve's case of nine years prior. The Groom's return is the best yet. This is a great read packed with suspense and heart stopping forensics. Nora Roberts remains one of my favorites in sci-fi mystery and suspense. The future world of 2060 is vivid as it is awesome. Warning; there is gore!!! In my case and perhaps many others the forensics in this story are nearly to the limit of horrific involuntary reaction. Aside from that, five stars all the way. I highly recommend you read this one.
BTW with me on the road nearly 24-7, I ordered the cd to catch up on my 'Creation' reads, and I have to say Susan Ericksen did an excellent job. I plan to do a lot more listening with this kind of quality. I nearly had trouble leaving the car between chapters.

This is a good & enjoyable addition to J.D. Robb's "In Death" series, but not the best one. And it is not a good one for the brand new Eve Dallas reader.

I "discovered" this series last winter and have read them all. As a reader who has been through all the previous books, I appreciated that the author didn't spend a lot of the book explaining the back stories of the characters. But a new reader of the series should probably not start with this one -- there is too much knowledge assumed and mentioned only in shorthand references. Some backstory was not mentioned at all. I sometimes get tired of re-reading about Eve's childhood but I don't recall even a reference in this book. It is such a motivating part of her personality that the absence seemed odd.

This book is centered with the police force so Eve's relationships with the non-police regular characters were short-changed compared to previous books. I particularly enjoy her prickly friendships with her women friends, including her partner, so this was disappointing.

I also missed some of the futuristic elements from some of the other books. With few changes it could be a contemporary police procedural mystery.

All that aside, I did stay up late reading it!

As an avid reader of JD Robb and Nora Roberts I always know I am in for a good book. Excellent characters you can count on with a great story line. With this latest addition I was staggered by the twist and disturb by the story line. This novel was graphic without crossing a line. Something I appriciate since I am a profound sissy. Well worth the read. For those that follow the series I thought this book was a lot more fresh than the past few. Buy and enjoy.