Glory in Death

Long-time readers know I adore Nora Roberts and will gleefully read anything she publishes. Despite my love for her, I always avoided her In Death series because I didn’t want to have to tackle the 50+ novels in that series in addition to everything else I want to read. Still, I tasked myself with listening to my long audiobook list in order of publication date, and it just so happens that my husband had downloaded the first book in the series. So, I started Naked in Death, not knowing what to expect. I finished it in a day and immediately listened to books two, three, and four in short succession. Yeah, I’m a fan, and I cannot wait to get back to the series. First of all, I love the tone of this series. Not only is it darker and show more grittier than the novels she writes under her name, but there is also a rawness to Eve and Roarke that I adore. Everything about the series has an edge, from the characters to the world itself. Sure, it has fancy technology and gadgets, but there is something broken in Eve’s world that draws you to her. Only my self-control is preventing me from using my extra credits from downloading as much of the series as I can get and devouring them all. show less

Glory in Death
4 Stars

Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s investigation into the deaths of two prominent and successful women takes a personal turn when both victims are linked to her lover - the enigmatic business magnet known only as Roarke. Although she believes in his innocence, as a police detective, Eve is to follow every lead no matter where it takes her.

Suffice it to say that the reasons J.D. Robb fans adore this series are starting to become clear to me: Fast paced writing, interesting character development, an unpredictable romance and a mystery with some compelling twists and turns.

Eve is a very complex heroine. On a professional level, one cannot help but admire her resilience and independence as she strives to attain justice show more for the victims. However, on the personal front, she is somewhat of a mess as she struggles to cope with her feelings for Roarke and difficulty expressing her obvious love for him.

Roarke is just as interesting but for opposite reasons. It is rare to find an alpha hero so ready to embrace his new and unexpected feelings for a woman, but Roarke does so without hesitation and this makes him more appealing than all of his enigmatic sexiness (which he also has in abundance).

Eve and Roarke’s romance is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, arguments and reconciliations, ultimatums and acceptance. It keeps the reader guessing and the pages turning.

Unlike the first installment, the mystery in this one caught me by surprise. Although all the necessary clues are available to anyone paying attention, guessing the culprit before the big reveal also requires an ability to see past the obvious and look beyond surface appearances. Kudos to Robb for being able to blindside me in this regard.

In sum, this series is growing on me and I’m eager to read on and see what happens next. show less

As the narrator began, I realized how much I had missed the character of Eve Dallas and her world. It has been awhile since I finished the first book, but the author immediately drew me back into New York of the future. The book set the mood and environment easily without having to rehash the first book over and over and I liked that JD Robb didn’t waste the readers time with that.

The case Eve is assigned in this book is very different from the previous one but just as interesting. JD Robb works in the characters we met in the first book into the story seamlessly. My favorite parts were getting to know the characters of Commander Whitney and Mavis a little better.

I was worried that this book was going to reduce Eve’s character by show more her relationship with Roarke but it does not. The author does a fantastic job of balancing Eve’s personality with her developing emotions for Roarke. Her reactions to him are true to form while also showing her some growth in allowing both Roarke and Mavis closer to her. I really appreciated seeing the author respect the character as much as I do.

The narrator was excellent at maintaining the characters voices from the first book which helped draw me right back into the story. I think I enjoyed this book better than the first because of my attachment to the characters. show less

Glory in Death
4 Stars

Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s investigation into the deaths of two prominent and successful women takes a personal turn when both victims are linked to her lover - the enigmatic business magnet known only as Roarke. Although she believes in his innocence, as a police detective, Eve is to follow every lead no matter where it takes her.

Suffice it to say that the reasons J.D. Robb fans adore this series are starting to become clear to me: Fast paced writing, interesting character development, an unpredictable romance and a mystery with some compelling twists and turns.

Eve is a very complex heroine. On a professional level, one cannot help but admire her resilience and independence as she strives to attain justice show more for the victims. However, on the personal front, she is somewhat of a mess as she struggles to cope with her feelings for Roarke and difficulty expressing her obvious love for him.

Roarke is just as interesting but for opposite reasons. It is rare to find an alpha hero so ready to embrace his new and unexpected feelings for a woman, but Roarke does so without hesitation and this makes him more appealing than all of his enigmatic sexiness (which he also has in abundance).

Eve and Roarke’s romance is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, arguments and reconciliations, ultimatums and acceptance. It keeps the reader guessing and the pages turning.

Unlike the first installment, the mystery in this one caught me by surprise. Although all the necessary clues are available to anyone paying attention, guessing the culprit before the big reveal also requires an ability to see past the obvious and look beyond surface appearances. Kudos to Robb for being able to blindside me in this regard.

In sum, this series is growing on me and I’m eager to read on and see what happens next. show less

I love detective Eve Dallas and billionaire Irish boyfriend Roarke more with every book in this series. In this second book, Eve is assigned to investigate the murder of the DA. Complicating things is the fact that her supervisor was close to the DA, and knew her family and kids. He tells Eve he won’t interfere, but we all know how that goes, LOL. This had a great mix of police procedural and interpersonal politics. I liked how we got a bit more of Eve’s backstory and saw her and Roarke’s relationship develop, too. I like the side characters in this one. I love a good mystery/police procedural and the side character stories plus the ongoing romance make this one really great besides. Great pacing and a fun mystery to figure out in show more each book.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

This one went fast and I liked it even better than the first one. Read it in three days on the treadmill and a couple hours of late night reading. Turned pages faster and the pacing kept up. PLUS the relationship moved along. I'm timing in each book where I figure out who the villain is. In the first one it was about 2/3rds of the way through. In this one it was a little later, maybe 3/4s. A fun game.

I can see I'm in for the long haul on this series. There goes my Nook budget again. :)

Every once in a while I need a comfort book, sometimes I’m just feeling a little down and I need an old friend to cheer me up - lately J.D. Robb has been my teddy bear. Hard to believe a book about a hard-nose cop who tracks down serial kills can be just as good as a pint of Ben & Jerry’s - but trust me, it’s better.

In this second incarnation of the story of Eve and Roarke, people are dying as always. This time it’s a high profile prosecuting attorney, and a sometimes colleague of Lieutenant Dallas, who had her throat viciously cut in a dark rainy alley. Meanwhile Eve is trying to come to grips with her feelings for Roarke, not to mention him pushing her to accept his love.

With the media almost one step ahead of her, her show more commander’s lack of objectivity, and Eve’s nightmares about a past trauma she’s repressed - oh, and some steamy loves scenes and heated arguments - it’s just another chase in the park for NYPSD’s best and most sarcastic. show less