Innocent In Death

Berkley - Berkley

Release date: 2007-08-28
Mass Market Paperback
Author: J.D. Robb
American Light Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Mystery/ Detective, Fiction - Romance, Romance: Modern, Fiction / Romance / Suspense, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Romance - General

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Innocent In Death

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The 24th book in the series? That can't be right, can it? Wow.

If you're unfamiliar with this series, you could start here, but I wouldn't recommend it. In brief, Eve Dallas is a New York homicide lieutenant in the year 2060. She's married to the ultra-rich Roarke.

As in most of the In Death books, Innocent in Death has a mystery plot and a... hmmm... for lack of a better word, a personal plot. The mystery plot here starts with the poisoning death of an apparently popular, happily married teacher at an exclusive private school. So not only does Eve have to deal with the usual difficulties of a murder case, but she's also hampered by a school administration that's more concerned with image than murder, and wealthy and influential parents who are trying to protect their children.

Making things even more difficult, Eve can't rely on Roarke's help as much as she usually does, because he's distracted by the reappearance of an ex-lover in his life. Which, in turn, weighs on Eve's mind and distracts her as well.

The problem is that Magdelana isn't just another beautiful bimbo that Roarke slept with. She's The One That Got Away, the one who dumped him for another man. She'd been his partner in crime, in bed, and in his life, until she left him for a mark. And now she wants him back.

On the surface, it's not all that much different from Reeanna Ott from Rapture in Death, but Eve and even Summerset realize she's much more dangerous. Roarke, of course, is a typical oblivious male. He thinks he's got Magdelana under control, and that Eve is just overreacting out of jealousy.

Both plots were very well done, I thought, and though I figured out whodunit before Eve did, it didn't seem too obvious or contrived.

And even though I wanted to thump Roarke on the head a few times, I thought his actions were very true to character--fitting how he's behaved in the past whenever an ex lover (of his, not of Eve's--apparently the double standard is alive and well in 2060, at least in Roarke's mind) has resurfaced. Perversely, I really liked that about this book--sometimes, Roarke can get pretty darn too-perfect-to-be-true, particularly in the relationship arena, and I was glad that, for once, Eve wasn't the one screwing up.

Even better, you can see Eve's growth through the series. She actually turns to her growing circle of friends for advice, something she wouldn't even have considered at the beginning of the series.

Which leads me to the number one reason why this series is on my must-buy list in hardcover. The slow but definite and realistic character growth. In those 24 books, only about 2 years have elapsed, and we've seen distinctly gradual changes in the characters, most notably in Eve, but also in Roarke and their marriage, and in the secondary characters. Because of this, I'd really recommend reading them in order. You can still enjoy them in a random order, but you'd miss out on my favorite part.

My only complaint, and it's not really a complaint, so much as it's an explanation of why this gets 4.5 instead of 5 stars, is that the (let me know if I've mistaken the meanings of these terms) internal and external plots don't really mesh. One of the Amazon reviewers came up with a convoluted reason to connect them, but I didn't agree.

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Innocent In Death

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I've been reading Nora Roberts for years and have always loved her work, but had never tried one of her books written under the name J. D. Robb. As soon as I read the cover blurb, I knew it was right up my alley, so took a day off my own work to indulge myself with a day of reading. I wasn't disappointed. I couldn't put it down until I'd finished the last page. Set in future day New York, it's a crime drama, murder mystery, romantic suspense, all rolled into one, so loving all those genres, I was pretty sure I'd enjoy it. With a strong, intelligent heroine and equally interesting and likable hero, it kept me glued to the page.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is on the hunt for the killer of a schoolteacher, by all accounts a respectable and well-liked young man with no enemies and a devoted wife. There are a more than a few suspects for her to sort through, all more than capable of doing the deed and with opportunity galore. While trying to solve the crime, Eve has to deal with her emotional turmoil at the reappearance of one of husband's old girlfriends, a woman who seems determined to continue where they left off.

There were a number of secondary characters that I'm sure had appeared earlier in the series, but I wasn't confused by their reappearance. Ms. Roberts does a bang up job of giving enough information to make them interesting without slowing the pace of the story. I wasn't sure how I'd like the futuristic aspect of the setting, but it was subtle and I actually enjoyed some of the different lingo. I loved the story, even though I guessed who the killer was way too soon. Making that guess only made me more excited to finish and see if I was right. Having said that, there was one scene in the story that totally turned me off.

Caution--minor spoiler:
When Eve walks in on an intimate moment with her husband and his ex girlfriend, she punches him in the face hard enough to do damage and draw blood, even though she knows the truth about what's happening. This is followed by rather violent and steamy sex. The steamy sex was okay and at any other time would have had me panting for my hubby to come home, but having followed the punch in the face, it turned me off. I mean come on--if a hero punched the heroine in the face that way, we'd all be up in arms and trying to get a boycott going on the book. As far as I'm concerned, the heroine doing the punching is no different and should not be allowed just because it's maybe in character. I'm sorry Ms. Roberts, but any punching done by the hero or heroine of a story in the genre of romantic suspense should not be on each other. The scene could have played just as well without that punch.