Visions in Death

This one was more successful for me. It struck me that for once, Roarke didn't have a lot to do with the investigation, only popping in for bits and pieces and a little at the end, which considering his heavy involvement in the previous book was a refreshing change. Some fun stuff with Peabody and McNab, Louise and Charles, Mavis and Leonardo (the part where Mavis asked Eve and Roarke to be the back up birth coaches was hilarious) and some drama for someone close toward the end. I think I must have been pretty worried when I first read the book. I even had (a tiny bit of) sympathy for the villain here. Very good.

Visions in Death
In Death, Book 19

I Picked Up This Book Because: #IDLR #InDeathLongReadathon

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Everand
Dates Read: 2/25/26 - 2/28/26
Stars: 4.5
Narrator(s): Susan Ericksen

The Characters:

Eve Dallas: Police Lieutenant
Roarke: Husband, independently wealthy, entrepreneurial, man of mystery and sexy times
Delia “DeeDee” Peabody (Police Detective), Ryan Feeny (former police partner, cyber detective, and friend), Mavis Freestone (BFF), Dr. Charlotte Mira (psych), Nadine Furst (reporter/friend), Ian McNab (cyber detective, Peabody’s boo), Officer Trueheart

The Story:

This one had me so twisted. I was happy. I was sad. I was confused. I was amazed. I cried because... well, if you read it, you know why. And my show more flabbers were gasted in the end. I never saw it coming. Needless to say, I found this installment excellent. Each book has me ready to jump into the next one immediately, but I do like taking my time and reading with the group. show less

Book nineteen in J. D. Robb's In Death series is VISIONS IN DEATH. As usual, Eve must solve a heinous crime while balancing her life as a billionaire's wife. This time, the murderer hits a little too close to home, and Eve has to rush to find the killer before he attacks another person she loves.

Some of Eve's cases have been terrible but not disturbing. In VISIONS OF DEATH, the murders are awful, made worse by the fact that Eve meets with a psychic who relives the murders in detail. If Ms. Robb was writing these books today, this one would definitely have a trigger warning at the beginning.

What eases some of the trauma is watching Eve learn what it means to have friends and what it means to be a friend. Intimate dinner parties, saying show more yes to a friend's request for help, and sharing your most private secret - these seem like such easy things, but for Eve, they are monumental steps forward.

Susan Erickson remains one of the best narrators. In the last book, you could tell she suffered from a cold because her character voices were off. Roarke's Irish lilt wasn't quite there. Peabody's voice was lower. In VISIONS IN DEATH, she recovered from whatever was ailing her, and everyone sounds like they should.

Nineteen books in, and Eve Dallas' story keeps getting better. I love seeing her grow as much as I enjoy the reminders of how much more she needs to heal. (The scene with Mavis asking Roarke and Eve for a huge favor is particularly entertaining.) The murders in VISIONS IN DEATH are just as fascinating and disturbing as the first few. I can't wait to see what is next! show less

I really enjoy this series. It is a straight forward mystery that is based in NY and the future. The characters are well developed and fun to continue to read about. In Visions, Eve is in hot pursuit of a killer that is preys on women who meet a certain profile. She will utilize everything at her disposal to catch the killer. She will even use the skills of a physic. Although she is skeptical she will use the information if it proves to be helpful. Eve and Peabody begin to close in and then a tragic event happens that may change the entire story.

I really enjoy the way J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) writes and these stories although somewhat based in the romance genre are good, solid, mysteries. Recommend the series to all fans of show more mystery/thrillers. show less

The 19th In Death concerns a killer who is beating, raping, and brutalizing young women and removing their eyes as the final insult. A psychic named Celina Sanchez comes to help with the case. She's a friend of Dr. Louis DiMatto.

The case brings back the trauma of Eve's own childhood. She tells her partner Peabody about her childhood expanding the very small pool of people who know about it.

Eve visits Dochas for the first time which also reinforces the bad dreams she has. However, it also illustrates the ways she and Roarke have dealt with their childhood traumas in contrast to the way the killer deals.

Peabody almost becomes a victim of the killer and spends some time in intensive care.

This story has Eve realizing how big her circle of show more friends has grown and how much she cherishes them all. There's a dinner party with Charles and Louise, McNab and Peabody, and Eve and Roarke that gives her a nice break from the intensity of the murder investigation. I also really like that Eve and Mira are getting closer with each book. show less

I always had a strong skepticism of folks who claimed they could see things, whether it be visions of the future, or something else. Then I met Sandi. We had been married a number of years and with kids before she told me she had the ability to see things before they happened. Not during the event, but before it. It did not happen that often, sometimes more than a year would pass between such deals, but I learned that when she had a very strong dream of something that she believed would happen, I really should pay attention.

So, Lieutenant Dallas’s skepticism of such abilities reflected my own long ago as Visions in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb begins. This is the 19th book in the series. It is still September 2059 and show more just after recent events detailed in the last book. She has been out with Roarke, doing the corporate wife thing, and has survived the four-hour event without killing anyone. She counts that as a win and is looking forward to getting out of her dress and high heels. That is until her latest case begins.

Her and Detective Delia Peabody are dispatched to Belvedere Castle in Central Park. A young woman has been brutally assaulted and killed. It wasn’t bad enough that she was raped and strangled by way of a red ribbon wrapped around her neck. The killer set the body up as a presentation of what he done and finished the act by taking her eyes with him.

This poor woman wasn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last. Detective Peabody and Lieutenant Dallas are chasing yet another killer across the city from kill site to kill site as he works his own agenda. What that agenda is or why he is doing it remains a mystery to them both. That means Dallas is going to come up with a risky plan in Visions in Death.

All the usual caveats apply here in this read as they have been from the beginning. The former writer in me cringes every so often with all the head hopping shifts of POV in many paragraphs, awkward transitions, and all the rest of it. At the same time, this read, and the series in general, pulls you in from the start of the tale.

Which is ultimately why it works. The series characters you care about, the crimes are often twisted and gruesome, and the stories are interesting. While there might be flaws in the construction of the storytelling, depending on the eye of the beholder, there is no doubt the actual story is compelling. Every case, including this one, pulls the reader in quickly and weaves a complicated world with murder at the heart of it. Technology changes over time, but human emotions do not. These books work well and can become quite addictive. Visions in Death is another good one.

My reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive app and the Dallas Public Library System.



Kevin R. Tipple © 2022 show less

This series by Nora Roberts writing as J.D Robb is a fun mix of romance and police procedural with a surprising amount of humor. It's set in the near future where things are familiar yet things like off planet travel are possible. I started out reading this series in print but somewhere along the way I opted for the audio edition of one of the books and I haven't gone back to print.

Susan Ericksen does a fabulous job of narrating this series. She creates recognizable character voices with a variety of accents.

This time around the case involves a serial killer. Eve is contacted by a psychic who claims to have information that will help. Ever the practical person with a hefty dose of cynicism, Eve is not thrilled. When a friend vouches show more for this psychic, Eve proceeds with her skepticism fully engaged but later begins to change her mind.

In the previous book, Eve and her husband Roarke were on the outs for most of the book but they're back to normal and he's naturally helping her with the case.

Peabody continues to be my favorite supporting character. At one point in the book, Peabody on pain medication had me laughing out loud in the car.

It's a great series and I need to add them to my audio queue more often because Nora Roberts is writing them much faster than I'm listening to them. show less