Creation in Death

by J. D. Robb

2008

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley (2008), Edition: Reprint, 384 pages

Description

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

LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Eve is back and his time she's dealing with the return of a serial killer she thought long gone. He worked 9 years ago and killed 4 women that time. This time she's determined to catch him, no matter what it takes. She drags Rourke into the fray and he discovers more about her and how she
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works.

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.
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LibraryThing member Darla
It's impossible for me to talk about this book without acknowledging that it's the latest in such a long-running series and that it's like visiting with old friends. I have no idea how this would measure up if I hadn't read and re-read and re-re-read and discussed to death the rest of the books in
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the series.

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.
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LibraryThing member SunnySD
When a serial killer with classical taste in music returns to New York after a hiatus of 9 years, Lieutenant Dallas and her team struggle to track him down while the clock ticks for his latest victims.

The in Death series is fairly formulaic, but Creation... harks back to the stronger installments
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at the front end of the series. Eve & Roarke seem to have worked out most of their angsty-past issues, and what nightmares there are are the more mundane, crime-driven sort. The dialogue is entertaining -- it can't be easy to continually come up with witty comebacks -- especially between team members, but Peabody's whining about her weight, and descriptions of Eve's clothes are kept to a minimum, as are the sexual interludes.
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LibraryThing member jshillingford
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
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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!
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LibraryThing member claydragon
If I had to describe this book in 1 word - that word would be RIVETING. It caught my attention within the first few pages and held it. LOL, So much so that the family got tired of waiting for me to fix supper and someone decided to bring home McD's.

The mystery is very skillfully woven through the
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story with hints popping up here and there, but you don't really get a sense of who done it till nearly the end. You get to see Eve and Roarke's relationship deepend even further as does Eve's and Feeney's.

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.
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LibraryThing member ralkana
This is the first J.D. Robb romance I've read -- I've heard great things about her, and the series, so I decided to pick this one up and give it a try.

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
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the future when I picked it up (which I would have if I'd read the back cover blurb), I probably wouldn't have tried it.

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.
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LibraryThing member MelindaLibrary
I am disappointed that Robb chooses to denigrate being a female. It is disturbing to hear from the female protagonist (Eve) that if she is ever concerned with her appearance, she requests that her husband "put her down." (p.179) So she would rather be *dead* than sound or look or be female or
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associated with anything feminine. For her mostly female audience, it must be disquieting, at the very least, that the author spits out this message, from the mouth of the loved protagonist, no less. The author makes sweeping, judgmental statements about femininity and what it means to be a woman. Robb lacks creativity in distinguishing Eve as focused and driven (notice, those traits are non-gender specific). Instead she uses the trite concept that all other females are only interested in "girly" things, that is, "frivolous" things. Therefore Robb is attempting the impossible: proving a negative, as in describing Eve as 'not' something instead of who she is. This concept makes all other females viewed as 'less than' and okay to denigrate. Except if they are victims that Eve rescues. So women are put down for being interested in "female" things, but it is certainly okay if they are the victims. The author has really mastered the mixed message about femininity and what it means to be female.
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LibraryThing member miyurose
I really liked that more of this book was seen from Roarkeā€™s point-of-view. It was a nice change of pace ā€” like an episode of a tv cop drama where thereā€™s a camera crew tagging along and you see everything through *that* camera. I liked the sense of urgency in this one. Not a lot of side
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plots here, almost everything is about the case. Another change of pace. I guess you have to shake things up once you get to #25!
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LibraryThing member Barb_H
Oh wow I loved this one! This is most definitely my favorite of the series so far. Not much progression for the personal lives of the cast, but that was fine because the mystery was intense and the book was great. Looking forward to the next book of the series.
LibraryThing member kingsportlibrary
This was the best Eve Dallas novel to date! I loved it - I can't wait to see if she has children or not. I think it was hinted that Roark would like that. Great book!
LibraryThing member Camethyste
As with all the Eve Dallas books, I really enjoyed this one. A very interesting and creative story.
LibraryThing member Kace
I've read a lot of these JD Robb books, and there are things that massively irritate me about the author and things that I like. This story was pretty good. An old serial killer returns to his early killing grounds and cycles through his madness. Capturing the bad guy was a good story, and there
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wasn't a lot the awkward dialogue that just gets on my nerves in some of Nora Roberts books, so thats a plus.
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LibraryThing member Shelen
I enjoy all the JD Robb books, but this one was especially intriguing. Our favorite characters all participated in the mighty effort to track down the murderer. In this story the search was twofold, to find the current victims before they succumb and trace the genesis of the pathology to its
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origins. A good, fast read.
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LibraryThing member samantha.1020
Summary from Goodreads:

"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
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recognizes the slaying as the latest handiwork of "The Groom," an arrogant serial killer just returning from a nine-year break. What she doesn't realize immediately is that she herself is targeted as one of his next victims."

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.
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LibraryThing member phyllis2779
Pretty good Eve Dallas mystery with emphasis on procedural police work. The main thing I don't like about these books is the emphasis on terrorizing women -- torture and then murder. Robb's books in this series seem more often than not to go heavy on the gory and very nasty bloodthirsty deaths,
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especially of women. Why can't a procedural just deal with the kind of deaths that most often occurs? People killing the people they know, mostly with guns, knives and blunt instruments.
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LibraryThing member akmargie
Oh, I didn't rate this. Oh well, another Eve Dallas cop thriller. Sometimes you just need to scratch the itch.
LibraryThing member Bettyb30
This book has even flashing back to a case nine years earliers...does it help her solve the case. I'm not telling because I hate when someone tells me the book. You won't be disappointed in this one give it a glide!
LibraryThing member pmgaecon
Again, Robb hits it out of the park with an Eve Dallas mystery.
LibraryThing member windsaygale
It's time for Eve and Roarke to have a baby. Nora Roberts once said that a baby would end the series, well, that time has come. Not that this book wasn't good, but... It's the same old thing. Nothing new has happened in forever. It's time to let it go.

Side note: I'm never going to New York.
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According to this series, that's where all the serial killers hang out.
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LibraryThing member wndy2011
Someone from Eve's past is wreaking havoc in NYC again after a 9 year hiatus. Its up to Eve and her team to find the person and put an end once and for all to the killings of young innocent women and the torture they endured before their untimely death.
LibraryThing member NCRainstorm
Creation in Death is the twenty-fifth book in the In Death series written by Nora Roberts (writing as J.D. Robb). I've been slowly reading all the books in this series (and some of the novellas in between numbers) for over a year now.

The characters are real and engaging. They have grown and
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changed through the whole series. I enjoy how Roarke and Eve support and care about each other, even though they tend to fight a lot. Most of the characters have some snarkiness to them, and the sarcastic jibs help lighten the story which is about torture and murder.

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.
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LibraryThing member trishaj
As far as the In Death books go, I would place this one in my top five faves. All of our favorite characters were there in abundance, the suspense was palpable, the action was great, the humor was hilarious ;), and the romance was heart-wrenching. I LOVED it. What's more, my copy was autographed,
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in person, by J.D. Robb herself. What more can you ask for in a book??
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LibraryThing member ladypembroke
Another fine case in the Eve Dallas series. I was thinking while I was reading that, unlike some other serial mysteries with flawed heroines, Eve and Roarke both grow, change, and develop. They continue to remain compelling and interesting characters, and they do not stagnate. So many books into
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this series, and I'm neither bored with it or annoyed with it. I really love that about Robb's writing -- she sucks you in, and you never want to get out.
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LibraryThing member lmonch
Read and loved the book.
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
Enjoyed it more than the 1st 3 I read. Finally there is a future event that is essential to the plot. The "Urbans" were an important part of leading the killer to do what he did.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2007-11-06

Physical description

384 p.; 4.19 inches

ISBN

0425221024 / 9780425221020

Barcode

1600582
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