Holly’s review of Creation in Death by J.D. Robb
Romantic suspense published in hardcover 6 Nov 07 by Putnam
This is the 25th installment of the In Death series, and I’m amazed that it’s still as fresh and engaging as it was with the very first novel. I am in awe of the author… seriously.
After the previous novel, where the focus was on Eve and Roarke’s relationship, I really wondered if JDR could pull off a follow-up with as much panache. After the intensity of the last novel and their relationship, seeing the focus shift back to Eve’s work and her relationship with Feeney was the perfect follow up.
Blurb:
NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas keeps the streets of a near-future New York City safe in this extraordinary series. But even she makes mistakes, and is haunted by those she couldn’t save-and the killers she couldn’t capture. When the body of a young brunette is found in East River Park, artfully positioned and marked by signs of prolonged and painful torture, Eve 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 “The Groom”-because he put silver rings on the fingers of his victims.
When it turns out that the young brunette was employed by Eve’s billionaire husband, Roarke, she brings him in on the case-a move that proves fitting when it becomes chillingly clear that the killer has made his attack personal. The victim was washed in products from a store Roarke owns, and laid out on a sheet his company manufactures.
With the Groom’s monstrous return, Eve is determined to finish him once and for all. Familiar with his methods, Eve knows that he has already grabbed his next victim. Time is running out on another woman’s life.
And chances are he’s working up to the biggest challenge of his illustrious career-abducting a woman who will test his skills and who promises to give him days and days of pleasure before she dies: Eve.
Read an excerpt.
It’s not unusual for Eve to be an intended victim in these novels, but this is a different kind of case, a different kind of killer, and a different type of situation. Since the killer is someone Eve and Feeney tried – and failed – to capture nine years ago, this makes for an interesting storyline. The problem? There was a lot of stress on Eve and Feeney’s relationship, but I don’t feel as if it was fully explored, or fully resolved.
What could have been an amazing opportunity to show us the father/daughter relationship between them was instead glossed over and not completed. I kept waiting for Eve – or Feeney – to have an epiphany and realize how much they fed off of each other on a personal level, but that never happened. I can’t say it was extremely badly done, but it wasn’t done to my satisfaction.
Roarke’s reaction to Eve being the target of the murder was somewhat expected…and yet a surprise. At first he was torn up about it, but then he realized Eve wouldn’t be victimized as the other girls were. I think that was a good revelation for their relationship. And seeing him work as a drone and do mind-numbing cop work was hilarious. Whenever he thought, “My brain has to be bleeding by now” I’d snicker.
The villain was creepy. I was surprised when they finally figured out who he was (I think I guessed it as soon as the possibility was introduced). I was a bit surprised at the way the book ended, and I don’t know exactly where I stand on its abruptness. It was satisfactory, but left me feeling unsatisfied. How’s that for a paradox?
In any case, the book was well written, the suspense was fabulous, the world building as amazing as always and the relationship development good, if not quite great. An excellent addition to the series, even if it did leave me feeling like something was missing.
Grade: B++ (I’d give it an A, but that unsettled feeling won’t let me)
