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Fiction. Mystery. Romance. Suspense. HTML:ā??IF YOU HAVENā??T READ ROBB, THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO START.ā?ā??Stephen King ā??A WITTY, DARK, PAGE-TURNING TALE OF FUTURISTIC CRIME FIGHTING. RAYMOND CHANDLER MEETS BLADE RUNNER MEETS SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.ā?ā??Jonathan Kellerman New York City, 2060: Lieutenant Eve Dallas never forgets a corpse. Her new case will resurrect the memories of women she couldnā??t saveā??and the killer who slipped out of her graspā?¦ When the body of a young brunette is found in East River Park, artfully positioned and marked by signs of prolonged and painful torture, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is catapulted back to a case nine years earlier. The city was on edge from a killing spree that took the lives of four women in fifteen days, courtesy of a man the media tagged ā??The Groomā?ā??because he put silver rings on the fingers of his victims. But this time, it becomes chillingly clear that the killer has made his attack personal. The young woman was employed by Eveā??s billionaire husband, Roarke, washed in products from a store Roarke owns, and laid out on a sheet his company manufactures. Chances are, The Groom is working up to the biggest challenge of his illustrious careerā??abducting a woman who will test his skills and who promises to give him da… (more)
User reviews
It's a very interesting and very strong story and the tension driven by the clock ticking on the women's lives keeps the pace going well. Nora Roberts knows her subject and knows how to keep the story driving forward. I do enjoy visiting this world of hers and hope she keeps it up as well as she continues writing them.
First, my complaints:
1. "The Groom" is David Palmer all over again, just expanded to a full-length book: he does the same sort of things with his victims; he's a case Eve and Feeney had worked on together before; Eve knows right away who the killer is. Okay, he was never caught, and David Palmer escaped, and The Groom has an additional motive... which leads me to
2. Why, why, why is every single serial killer story the same? Apparently, all you have to do is find someone with a female in his past who died in a manner similar to that of the victims, and voila: there's your killer. Nora's not the only culprit--this is why I quit reading romantic suspense for quite a while.
That said, I still enjoyed the story very much. The race to try to find him before he kills again, and to discover his identity, was well done--very police-procedural-ish, with clues and deductions and dead ends. It was nice, too, how Eve has learned to lean on friends for help... at least a little bit.
And of course, there's the ongoing relationship story between Eve and Roarke, who are still adjusting to marriage. Huge kudos to Nora for showing a stable, committed relationship after the wedding, dealing with disagreements and all the little bumps life throws at them. Very few books tackle the reality of a happy marriage, and I think that's important, as well as being entertaining to read.
Best, though, was the emotional impact on Eve and Feeney. When The Groom had been killing in New York 9 years previously, it had been Feeney's case and Eve had been his aide. Now it's Eve's case, and Feeney is just consulting on the computer stuff. The layers of emotion between them regarding this case were realistic and vividly conveyed. In fact, it's nearly more affecting than Ceremony, where Feeney's hurt because Eve keeps information from him, because in this case the emotions are so mixed and complex. For me, this made the entire book.
The in Death series is fairly formulaic, but Creation... harks back to the stronger installments
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!
The mystery is very skillfully woven through the
The killer (The Groom) was actually one of the first cases Eve worked on as a detective, and he got away, now he's back, and you could say he's back with a vengenace. Nine years and at least 20 kills later he comes back to where he started, but why? That's the question and can Eve and crew stop him this time.
I didn't realize it was set in the future, and I have to say that it's the first futuristic romance I've ever read, and had I known it was set in
That would have been unfortunate, as I actually did enjoy this book very much. I loved the main couple, and as it seems that they are the main couple in the series, I'll probably pick up more of them.
Eve is strong, and confident, and yet vulnerable at realistic times -- she can handle a horribly gruesome investigation without falling apart, but when those she loves turn their anger and frustration on her, she can't cope.
Roarke -- a reformed (sort of) bad boy (and an Irish one at that) -- is hot, of course, but also strong, loving, and confident in himself, his love for Eve, and the strength of their marriage. He is also confident enough in her that he lets her do her job, which she is extremely good at, without getting in her way, even when it puts her in danger. He is alpha without being neanderthal.
The mystery in the novel was intriguing as well, and though I sort of got lost trying to figure out whodunit towards the end, that may have been because it was very late, I was very tired, and I simply couldn't put the book down and finish it in the morning.
I'm very interested now in picking up some of the earlier books to see how this rleationship evolved.
"To police lieutenant Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, the corpse seemed like a ghoulish personalized greeting card. Not only was the young brunette victim an employee of Eve's billionaire hubby; products from his company were used in the staged crime scene. Dallas
My Thoughts:
This series gets harder and harder to review the farther I get in to it because it is next to impossible to not share a spoiler here and there from past books. In this book Eve is up against a killer from a past case that was never solved. The killer seems to be taunting both Eve and Roarke, and it is turning out to be one of her toughest cases yet. What I liked about this book is that we got to see a little bit of Eve's past history as a rookie cop. This wasn't an easy case for Eve (back then and now) and it was a nice change to see her work so closely with Feeney. This series has become a comfort series for me that I go to whenever I need my Roarke and Eve fix or when I'm in the midst of a reading slump. This wasn't my favorite book of the series but it was a solid read.
This is a series that I can't help but recommend. Start at the beginning and watch as the characters grow throughout....I couldn't resist and found myself immersed in the world that Robb has created. Highly recommended!!
Bottom Line: Another great addition to one of my favorite series!
Disclosure: This book was given to me by a friend.
Side note: I'm never going to New York.
The characters are real and engaging. They have grown and
The book is written well, the action is fast paced. It's hard to put this book down once you start reading it! Even though this book is later in the series, you can read it as a stand alone if you wish. But to get the full background on the characters and their stories, start from the first one, Naked in Death.