Piatkus
“There’s a thin line between hero worship and dangerous obsession . . . the explosive new Eve Dallas and Roarke thriller
A crisp winter morning in New York. In a luxury apartment, the body of a woman lies stretched out on a huge bed. On the wall above, the killer has left a message in bold black ink: FOR LIEUTENANT EVE DALLAS, WITH GREAT ADMIRATION AND UNDERSTANDING.
Eve Dallas is used to unwanted attention. Famous for her high-profile cases and her marriage to billionaire businessman Roarke, she has learned to deal with intense public scrutiny and media gossip. But now Eve has become the object of a singular and deadly obsession. She has an ‘admirer’, who just can’t stop thinking about her. Who is convinced they have a special bond. Who is planning to kill for her – again and again…
With time against her, Eve is forced to play a delicate – and dangerous – psychological dance. Because the killer is desperate for something Eve can never provide – approval. And once that becomes clear, Eve knows her own life will be at risk – along with those she cares about the most.”
3.5 of 5 stars
I received a copy of this book from the publishers and this is my honest opinion of the book.
Eve Dallas has an admirer. Not the first, but this one is willing to go the extra mile for her. This one is willing to kill for her. When Eve attends the scene of the brutal murder of a criminal defence lawyer, she finds a grim message. Her ‘one true friend’ murdered the lawyer, for Eve. Eve and her team know this won’t be the last, and that the killer won’t stick to just killing ‘the bad guys’. They have to unmask the killer before Eve’s friends or family, or Eve herself becomes the next target.
J.D. Robb has to be the best known pseudonym in the book world. A pen name for prolific author Nora Roberts, Obsession in Death is the 40th book in the In Death series. I had read some of the earlier books, and enjoyed them, but for some reason stopped reading the series.
This was an enjoyable crime novel, with engaging characters and a fast paced storyline. You find the clues as Eve does so there is no guessing of ‘whodunit’ until the reveal. To use that cliché it is a ‘quick read’. Once I started I did find myself flying through the pages. If you were to start to read the Eve Dallas series I would recommend that you read them in order. There are a number of re-occurring characters that feature and the relationships are already developed. The author relies on the reader having read the rest of the series to recognise these characters without much explanation. Similarly there are references to previous cases that will have featured in other books, so avoid if you haven’t read them and don’t want any spoilers.
The fact that the stories are set in the future gives the books a slightly off-kilter edge to them. The New York depicted in the series is familiar yet different. Sometimes the technology referred to seems to not fit, almost as if it’s a vision of the future taken from a 1960’s SciFi TV series. However it does make the series different from others of its ilk, and allows the author some creative leeway in how the direction of the series will go.
Part of the worry with such a prolific writer is how can she come up with so many ideas, so often. Part of the flexibility of setting the Eve Dallas series in the future is that methods of murder can be more creative and ‘unreal’.
Fans of J.D. Robb will love this latest in the series. It is a great piece of escapism and has certainly peaked my interest again in Eve Dallas and I’ll look out for future novels featuring her.
From First Page to Last 