Obsession in Death
[7/26/15]Eve is stumped when a serial killer obsessed with Eve kills people in order to prove "friendship" with Eve. Eve has trouble getting into the head of this killer -- which is normally her strength -- because an obsessive admiration of her is so incomprehensible. And then it becomes worse because her friends and "family" are threatened.
This is one of the best of this series. Gripping, unpredictable, and still realistic.
Festive in Death
[9/10/14]Pretty good, standard J.D. Robb murder mystery. Definitely worth reading again, but not her absolute best. Not quite enough of Roarke, and Eve's other friends.
[7/24/15]
I think I liked this better the second time through. I didn't remember the actual solution until I was almost at the end, and it was still enjoyable reading to see how it was resolved. Also, there was more of the Eve/Roarke dynamic than I remember from the first reading.
Concealed in Death
[2/19/14]This was a good one, but not the best. A good mystery, with some surprises. Not much focus on the Eve-Roarke relationship, but we learn something important about Mavis.
Thankless in Death (In Death, #37)
[11/29/13]The last couple installments in this series that I read seemed somehow less -- as if maybe the author was getting tired of the series. But that wasn't true of this one. It was also a little different than the norm of the series (if there is one).
This one could almost be subtitled "The Making of a Serial Killer" because the action follows a single man who almost accidentally makes his first kill and discovers he likes it, then sets out to explore this new activity. Eve Dallas is sharp as ever in tracking the perp, but still has trouble keeping up with him.
An enjoyable detective story, as always, with plenty of personal action in the lives of Eve and Roarke, including one surprise.
 - J.D. Robb)
Calculated In Death (In Death, #36)
I enjoyed this latest installment in the In Death series, but it seemed very much derivative. Many of the "new" characters, and plot devices seemed repeated, slightly changed, from earlier installments -- venal business executives, brutish killer for hire, trap set for the bad guys. Even the all white apartment of one of the persons of interest has been used before. It all seemed very familiar. There wasn't even anything new with the friends of Eve. Of course, after 35 books, I'm surprised when she comes up with anything original.
 - J.D. Robb)
Delusion in Death (In Death, #35)
[11/17/2012]Two months after I read it I couldn't remember what it was about without checking the book description. But it doesn't matter; it's an Eve Dallas story and I'll read anything about her. Besides I did remember that I enjoyed it; read it in less than two days.
This is the 35th in the Eve Dallas series and this one is a little unusual in that the deaths that Eve must investigate appear that they may be terrorist in nature. Consequently there is more urgency in her investigation than usual, especially after the second event. There's plenty of action and suspense, though no particular danger to Eve or her friends.
Of course, in the long run, this series is not really about murder, or even police investigation. Those are just the vehicles for the real story. Which is relationships. Eve's marriage to Roarke, which has ups and downs and continues to evolve, and the relationships of Eve's friends and coworkers. That's what keeps me coming back after more than 35 books.
 - J.D. Robb)
New York to Dallas (In Death, #33)
Best of the recent Eve Dallas mysteries. Her personal nightmare returns in a most unexpected way, although I'd been expecting something like this to happen for a while. It only adds to the drama of the story. Definitely worth reading, but you need to have read at least some of earlier books in the series.
 - J.D. Robb)
Treachery in Death (In Death, #32)
February 23, 2011 - Enjoyable as usual. Does not include as much interpersonal conflict between Eve and Roarke or her friends/colleagues as some of the series, but the relationships are still there and very real. And the plot is good. Fast paced. You know from the beginning who the villains are, but the fun is in following how Eve and her cohorts manage to build their case and trap the bad guys. July 13, 2015 - Still enjoyable the third (maybe fourth) time. This time I noticed more all of Eve's musings about friendship and about what it means to be a cop.
 - J.D. Robb)
Fantasy in Death (In Death, #30)
[7/24/15]The first time I read this I gave it five stars, but after the second I had to cut it to four. It's still a very enjoyable, suspenseful locked room mystery, but the resolution is so unbelievable that I just had to drop one star. It makes a good story, but it's just wrong. And unusual for Robb to go that far.
 - J.D. Robb)
Kindred in Death (In Death, #29)
[7/8/15]You know a book is good when on the second reading it still keeps you up until 4:00 am. Of course, it's been more than five years since I read it the first time, but it still sucked me in. Sure, as I read, I remembered, but still didn't remember what was coming until almost the end.
Some of the In Death books are as much about the relationships of the main characters as they are about the mystery. But this one was all about the crime to be solved. It was a horrific one and although Eve had a few tough moments, she's recovered to a large extent from her personal demons and was able to focus on the job. The plot moved very quickly. In fact, I think at the end it was a little rushed, which partly explains the lack of the fifth star.
But it was an excellent read. Freely recommended.
 - J.D. Robb)
The Star Thief
This took me a while to read, but not because I didn't like it. At one point Renna did something that pissed me off, so I stopped reading. Then I was also reading several other books; and life got in the way. But eventually I picked it back up and continued and I'm glad I did. This was a pretty engrossing space adventure, with a little romance thrown in. The plot moved quickly and the characters were pretty convincing and sympathetic, in most cases.
I liked it enough to go out immediately and buy the next two books in the series and put them near the top of my TBR stack.
The Martian
I generally don't like first person narratives, but I enjoyed this book very much. It's very engrossing, suspenseful, and believable. The characters are likeable and consistent, even admirable. One of my friends dinged the book by one star because he thought there was too much tedious engineering detail. It's true there was a lot, but I somehow feel it was important. It demonstrates what an amazing accomplishment Mark's survival is, plus I think it helps the reader to understand how tedious the work must have been for our hero. And it clearly was, as well as terrifying. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense. Not limited to sci-fi. In fact, I don't even really think of this as sci-fi. It's near future speculative, maybe. Not just plausible, but entirely possible.
Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder (Signet)
I'm usually not a big fan of true crime, but this one was very gripping. It's been a while since I read it, so I don't remember details, but I remember making a point of stopping to see the author at a local book signing so I could tell her how much I enjoyed the book.
 - Ann Rule)
Beneath the Sky
The story of a multigenerational colony ship, which is interrupted part way through it's millenium-long voyage when it encounters other earth ships that got there before them, though starting long after. This is pretty well done for a first novel, though it did drag in places and I felt like the final resolution was a bit contrived. The Pope??!! The characters were generally pretty well drawn, but I lost track of some of them toward the end -- maybe because it took me so long to read.
However, I wouldn't mind recommending it to space lovers.
