Creation in Death

Fantastic book! Well up to the usual standards of J.D. Robb and Susan Erikson.

I have read all of her books, both as JD Robb and Nora Roberts, more than once. This particular one did not read as one of hers. I almost want to say that it was written by someone else, or while she was distracted or not particularly happy. It felt rougher somehow. Her treatment of her major characters was lighter. I actually enjoyed a bit more revelation of the Urban Wars era and I am glad she gave us some insight there. I am hoping for more in the next one.

Veteran narrator Susan Erickson's excellent voice fuels a thriller set in New York City in 2060, revolving around one Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who finds a series of bodies marked by signs of painful torture - and carved with the time it took each body to die. An earlier killing spree is brought to mind - and with it, a personal involvement which leads Eve on a desperate new chase. Stuart Woods' SHOOT HIM IF HE RUNS (9780143142461, $29.95) receives actor Tony Roberts' excellent narrative skills and follows Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, who are involved in a case driving the CIA crazy. Soon Stone if back on the island he visited in DEAD IN THE WATER - and on a desperate search which involves close, dangerous inspection into the island's underlying connected crimes. A fine pick for any audio collection or listener strong in mysteries.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Flat-out classic Eve Dallas... Creation In Death by J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)... Roberts is hitting on all cylinders here, and Creation is exactly what drew me into the In Death series to begin with (many, many years ago). Tight story, driving plot, good interplay between the characters...

In this episode, Dallas is taken back to a case she and Feeney worked nine years ago... A killer was loose in the city, and his modus operandi involved abducting young women and slowly torturing them until they died. The total time it took was then carved onto their bodies as his "signature". The case was never solved, as the murders stopped before they could find the killer. Fast forward to now, and a body has turned up that has all the same characteristics of the prior killings. Dallas doesn't take well to the fact that they didn't put him away the first time, and Feeney shares her frustration. Now that he's back, they're both resolved that everything will end this time time around.

The case dynamics have changed somewhat, in that Feeney was lead the first time with Dallas as his secondary. Now the roles are reversed, and there's a bit of tension over how much Dallas feels she should hand over to Feeney as the secondary. However, the reality is that they are both cops first, and even through the stress they understand that it's not a matter of who leads, but that the killer is stopped. Roarke plays a slightly different role in this story, in that he's brought into the case from the very beginning as a "civilian expert". He usually gets involved in some ways anyway, but there's a possibility that the killer is focused on Roarke as a revenge factor. Being in it from the start, he sees exactly how Dallas lives and breathes a crime like this, and why she's unable to turn it off until the victims have justice.

Some of the more recent In Death novels have had a more prominent plotline involving the relationship between Dallas and one of the many secondary characters in the series. They've still been good, as it's served to round out the characters and make them even more real. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the more crime-driven episodes a bit, and Creation falls squarely into that category. I started this book just a couple days ago, and finished it up while I was working out at the gym. As always, my only regret is that I have to wait for the next one...

Book was generaly in great condition. Unfortunately 1/2 of one page (length-wise) was missing. This made two pages totally unreadable.