Origin in Death (In Death #21) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 2005

New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner Peabody enter the hallowed halls of the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery on a case. A hugely popular vid star has been beaten to a bloody pulp - and has killed her attacker in the process. After a post-op interview, Dallas and Peabody confirm for themselves that it’s a clear-cut case of self-defense, but before they can leave the building, another case falls into their hands. Dr. Wilfred B. Icove himself has been found dead in his office - murdered in a chillingly efficient manner: one swift stab to the heart. Struck by the immaculate condition of the crime scene, Dallas suspects a professional killing. Security discs show a stunningly beautiful woman calmly entering and leaving the building: the good doctor’s final appointment. Known as “Dr. Perfect,” the saintly Icove devoted his life to his family and his work. His record is clean. Too clean for Dallas. She knows he was hiding something, and suspects that his son, his successor, knows what it is. Then - like father, like son - the young Dr. Icove is killed . . . with the same deadly precision. But who is the mystery woman, and what was her relationship with the good doctors? With her husband, Roarke, working behind the scenes, Dallas follows her darkest instincts into the Icoves’ pasts. And what she discovers are men driven to create perfection - playing fast and loose with the laws of nature, the limits of science, and the morals of humanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in the year 2059, this latest in Robb's long-running series (Naked in Death, etc.) featuring acerbic Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York police is the best in recent memory. In the past, Robb has kept whiz-bang futuristic effects to a minimum, allowing her world to grow organically out of dialogue and characterization; this time she incorporates science fiction elements—including the future of cosmetic surgery, cloning, scientific morality and physical mortality—into her plot, giving the series a big shot of adrenaline. Eve and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, are visiting the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery on a celebrity murder case when the center's founder, old Wilfred Icove, is discovered with a scalpel rammed into his heart. Wilfred Jr., also a surgeon at the center, is grief stricken, as is his family and most of the rest of the country. Wilfred Sr., everyone agrees, was a saint. Except he wasn't, as Eve and savvy mystery readers will have already guessed. Eve gathers her usual crime-fighting crew around her, including her drop-dead gorgeous, fabulously wealthy, staggeringly brilliant husband, Roarke. Robb tones down the romance and ups the action ante as the team uncovers an increasingly horrific crime that builds to a race-against-the-clock climax that will have readers cheering. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

** 'Sheer entertainment.' GUARDIAN --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed; Unabridged edition (July 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596001704
• ISBN-13: 978-1596001701
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.1 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,691,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J.D. Robb is the pseudonym for a number-one New York Times-bestselling author of more than 170 novels, including the futuristic suspense In Death series. There are more than 300 million copies of her books in print.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Yet, July 25, 2005

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origin in Death (Hardcover)

While Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb) seems to be paling a bit in her romance novel genre, the In Death series is getting better and better with each subsequent book.

Origin in Death starts with a bang: The ugly, possibly professional murder of a Nobel Prize winning doctor and scientist, Dr. Icove, he of the famed Icove Center, plastic surgery hub for the rich and famous. Before the blood is even dry, so to speak, Icove's son, who co-runs the tony clinic, is murdered as well, in the same way.

It's up to Eve, cop extraordinaire, to get to the bottom of the murders and figure out what's behind the "too perfect" profiles of the two Icoves and their clinic. What she finds is beyond human imagination, even in the year 2059, where this novel takes place.

Along the way, Eve's husband Roarke painfully tries to plan a Thanksgiving dinner/reunion for his recently discovered huge Irish family; Mavis, near the end of her pregnancy, reminds a horrified Eve and Roarke that they are to be birth coaches, and Peabody and McNabb continue to cohabit in bliss. There are some really funny moments in this book, and the mystery and eventual solution are "prime," as McNabb would say. A winner!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Origin in Death, July 12, 2005

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origin in Death (Hardcover)

A saint has been murdered, someone that no one should want to kill. With a mystery so baffling, Eve Dallas is the only cop that can handle the case, and she dives right in. Immediately, she becomes aware that something is off about Dr. Icove Sr.'s death. Every clue she is able to wrest from the case confirms this, especially when Dr. Icove Jr. is also murdered. Soon, she is sure that the doctors were not as lily white as their mourners would have them believed to be, but tarnishing the memories of such sterling citizens has its own dangers. Once she learns what the two victims were perpetuating, Eve is not so sure that the killer was a villain, yet her duty is clearly delineated by the law. With her ever expanding cadre of supporting cast members, Eve Dallas faces her most emotionally charged case yet. Readers will also get to see something truly rare; Eve completely terrified.

***** Though set in the future, this book is extremely relevant to the present time. Despite the tension, or perhaps because of it, wry humor infuses this story, as it does every Eve Dallas book. Eve's ensemble of characters continues to expand, adding depth to the heroine and her world. Roarke is in the book, so to long time readers, need I say more. The chance to re-encounter him is worth the time to read the book, but every page is a reason as well. Not one word is a waste of time in this series. *****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thrilling page tuner, August 10, 2005

By 

T. M. Wheaton "tmwheato" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Origin in Death (Hardcover)

Dr. Wilifred Icove, A famous reconstructive surgeon is murdered cooly and efficiently - a scalpel to the heart - right in his office.

Soon after, the surgeon's son, WIll Jr., is also murdered in the exact same manner. Was it the beautiful woman seen leaving the good Dr.'s premises right before his death? Was Will junior's wife involved?

Through police procedure Eve and her trusty band of sidekicks (Peabody, McNabb, Feeney, Baxter, et. al) begin to delve into the background of the two doctors and find more than they bargain for.

I was severely disappointed in the last Eve Dalls book. I felt that Nora Roberts had drawn from a well that she had visited many times. Not so this book. If you're familiar with the series, you'll recognize another one of her favorite themes, the God-complected doctor. But this one is nicely different from her others.

The book begins like many of the others: a murder happens, Eve investigates and calls in her team, and begins to throw around theories. ABout half way through, this book takes off and doesn't look back. The story is tightly plotted and the mystery unravels with some great suspense and exciting revelations. The core of the story is really quite creepy (but in a shivery good way) and the ending just downright popcorn chomping exciting!

Outside of the mystery, a secondary plot is Roarke and Eve are planning Thanksgiving dinner. Roarke's Irish relatives come to visit and they've invited the whole gang (including Charles the LC and Crack, the owner of the Down and Dirty). My one regret about the whole story is that we don't get to see that dinner happen.

Excellent.