Review - Ceremony in Death (In Death #5) by J.D. Robb

Even in an age of cutting-edge technology, old beliefs die hard...


Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own beliefs of right and wrong - and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil..

(Description from Goodreads)

Basic Plot 
A well respected police officer is dead.

The cause? Natural.

Or is it?

I wish that I could gush some more about the characters in these books but if I did I think there would be a risk of me repeating myself. As it stands I am still saying in every review for these books that I am really enjoying watching the relationship between Roarke and Eve grow. I am also loving seeing Eve’s aid – Peabody – come more into her own with every book.

My heart went out to Eve over and over again throughout this book as once again her drive to fulfil her duty as a police officer forces her to go against her heart and go behind the back of a man she has worked beside and grown to love over the years.

This book did have me feeling uncomfortable in places, what with the ceremonial deaths and what have you.

Because of this I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous books.

So that I don’t put myself off the series by reading to many of them at one I am going to have a little break away from the books for a few reads.

Rapture in Death (In Death #4) by J.D. Robb

When the autopsies of three suspicious suicides reveal small burns on the brains of the victims, Eve's investigation turns to the provocative world of virtual reality games--where the same techniques used to create joy and desire could also prompt the mind to become the weapon of its own destruction.
Basic plot – Eve is on her honeymoon when a young-man commits suicide. There is something about it that she just can’t shake, and when she learns of more suicides she can’t help but feel there is a connection.
The plot thickens.
Remember how I said in the post on book one that I felt this was going to be a series that I would get into more and more with each book. Well, I think it is safe to say that I may be hooked. Just a little.
We do not find anything knew about Eve in this book but more does come out about Roarke. I love that we are being fed little bits about their lives and personalities as we go along. And as this is a 30-odd book series Ms Robb will no doubt continue to let the characters grow on us this way as there is no rush to info dump us with the characters.
We see more of Mavis – Eve’s best-friend. And she is lovely – if a bit naive to the point of annoyance.
The relationship between Eve and Roarke is wonderful to watch as it develops and they grow closer. The little things that happen between them are cute and in my mind help to make their relationship more real.

Immortal in Death (In Death #3) by J.D. Robb

It is 2058, New York City. Lieutenant Eve Dallas uncovers a world where technology can create beauty and youth, but passion and greed can destroy them.
She was one of the most sought-after women in the world. A top model who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted -even another woman's man. And now she's dead, the victim of a brutal murder.
Police lieutenant Eve Dallas puts her life on the line to take the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the other woman in the fatal love triangle. Beneath the facade of glamor, Eve finds that the world of high fashion thrives on an all-consuming obsession with youth and fame-one that leads her from the lights of the runway to the dark underworld of New York City, where drugs can fulfill any desire, for a price.
Basic plot – there is a new drug in the making. ‘Immortality’. A drug people are willing to kill for. And between meeting the florist and being measured for her wedding dress Eve has to solve the case before her best friend is locked up for a crime she didn’t commit.
Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuun.
When Eve investigates the death of one of her informants she finds a strange unrecognizable powder and she quickly finds out that her informant was in a lot deeper than he could handle. But when her best friend Mavis is framed for murder and even all the evidence points to her Eve takes it personally.
Once again we get to see how far Eve will go to get the job done and what extremes she will go to to gain the truth. Eve is put into the same situation that her superior officer was put into in the last book – she has a personal interest in the case. But, unlike her superior, we see how strong she is as she still continues with her job, doing everything to the best of her ability.
In this book some of the minor characters also become a bit more main. And I am having fun learning about the people that pad out Eve’s world and support her.

Glory in Death (In Death #2) by J.D. Robb

 
It is 2058, New York City. In a world where technology can reveal the darkest of secrets, there's only one place to hide a crime of passion-in the heart.
Even in the mid-twenty-first century, during a time when genetic testing usually weeds out any violent hereditary traits before they can take over, murder still happens. The first victim is found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second is murdered in her own apartment building. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims were beautiful and highly successful women. Their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with a long list of suspects-including her own lover, Roarke


Basic plot – Famous woman are being killed and Eve has to find the killer before it is too late, even if it means using herself as bate.

I liked this book a tad more than the 2nd, I can’t really put my finger on why, maybe because I am getting to know more of the characters and their personalities and what makes them tick… I don’t know.
In this we get to see more of Eve’s steely personality and how much her job means to her and what she will do to make sure that her job is done to the best of her ability even if she suffers personally because of it.
I did feel slightly cheated in the romance side of things though. This book takes place several months after book 1 so I felt as though the development of the relationship had taken place off screen where I couldn’t see it, so that bugged me a little.

My heart went out to Eve several times through the course of the book. As several people close to Eve have a personal interest in the case her decisions and actions are questioned – which if it was just her work ethic that was being questioned I wouldn’t have minded so much – but some people also bring up her past in an attempt to hurt her even though she is just trying to do her job… Yeah, I wanted to slap quite a few people in this book, which on a side note was pretty nice as the last few books I have read I couldn’t muster up enough energy to care that much about what the characters did – they just bugged me. So yeah, it was nice to feel that emotional about the story.

I can’t wait to start the 3rd book

Naked in Death (In Death #1) by J.D. Robb

It is the year 2058, and technology now completely rules the world. But New York City Detective Eve Dallas knows that the irresistible impulses of the human heart are still ruled by just one thing-passion.
When a senator's daughter is killed, the secret life of prostitution she'd been leading is revealed. The high-profile case takes Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the rarefied circles of Washing-ton politics and society. Further complicating matters is Eve's growing attraction to Roarke, who is one of the wealthiest and most influential men on the planet, devilishly handsome... and the leading suspect in the investigation.

Crime fiction has never really been my thing. I love a good crime drama on the T.V. don’t get me wrong but I think I can trace my dislike for the paper side of the fiction to some rubbishy short tory I had to read in and dissect in secondary school. Isn’t it amazing how much school is responsible for.

Anyway, moving on.
In the past few months I have been picking up more crimey based stuff, starting with the Sherlock Holmes stories and after reading of the ‘In Death’ characters in the book “Everything I know About Love I learned from Romance Novels’ the series caught my interest and I thought I would check it out.

So there is the intro.

This book was pretty enjoyable but it coasted waaaaay to close to the edge of my comfort zone for…well…comfort but if I am to read the whole series I think that is something that I will have to get used to. It was not as ground shakingly AWESOME as I was maybe led to expect from various comments that I have read and heard about the books, but it was a page turner.

The book is set in the future – which except for some small things it doesn’t really make any difference. The technology is slightly different and you can zip across the pacific in next to no time or go gambling on a satellite…but nothing mind blowing. Which I will say I liked. I didn’t have to spend the book scratching my head trying to figure out what the technology was. Instead I could concentrate on the investigations and the people.

Eve Dallas our heroine is the investigating detective on a murder (that quickly becomes murders). She is head strong and self-reliant and does not take anything from anyone that she cannot dish back at them. But she has ghosts that haunt her from her past. And this was what made me uncomfortable. She was abused as a child and this is something that I just don’t like reading about – either in fiction or true-life stories. Like  I said though if I am to stick through the series I’ll have to get accustomed to it as it will no doubt come up more and more.

And then there is our hero Roarke. Who, to be fare as the book focuses mainly on Eve's thoughts and actions, I am not entirely sure what to think of him yet…

I am looking forward to seeing more of Eve’s relationship with the people that she works with and I think these characters will become more and more alive with every book.