Helpful Score: 1
Yay! The things that made Robb's "in Death" series "hard to put down" are back. The pacing is fast, and urgent. The villans are dispicable, vicious, and bloodthirsty pyschopaths. The secondary characters are sartorially wacky, darke humored, dedicated, and intelligent. We have the supportive husband, the warm mother figure, and "Good Management" in contrast to the myoptic, incompetant Feebee directors hamstringing their field agent, and rustic good'o-boy sheriff departments that wrote off past victims as accidents. The ending is a bit anticlimatic compared to the buildup. So the ride is definitly the point, not the destination.
We also have two new side characters to consider. First, DeWinter finally makes a plot impact in an assertive series of forensic anthropologist briefings to Dallas. She's not exactly new, but she was pretty peripheral in the previous 3 books. Here, her skills and connections allows Dallas to find our pyscho-couple's origins. A lot of reviews seem to like small town deputy Will Banner and his "country boy in the big city" reactions. But I found it too stereotyped and predictable. I also thought the way he slid right into Dallas' NYPSD Homicide team a bit unbelievable.
The main character development happens to the Homicide Squad. Each of her detectives get a share of the spotlight. Our favourite patrolman gets a chance to advance, if he can hold it together while racing to find our villians hours before his exam. The Candy Thief strikes again. But is it really Baxter? Or is it just a red herring by the author?
I kinda miss seeing Mavis, Charles, and Nadine - the longest of the secondary characters. But they would have chewed up time that the victoms could not afford. In fact I think Banner played that relief role AND helped carry the plot forward at the same time. So maybe Robb should start rotating the support cast through the new books, instead of bringing them all through.
Anyway. Devoted in Death is tight, funny, fast paced, with passages that make me think J.D. Robb actually wrote the thing instead of phoning it in or using a bad ghost writer. It still does not come up to the standards of the first three books. But this installment returns back to the writing and suspense that first hooked me when Nora Roberts decided to use a psuedonym to publish grittier mysteries starring very damaged protagonists.
--Kuzu
PS. We finally see Galahad steal that bacon slice, in that running joke between Roarke and the cat.
We also have two new side characters to consider. First, DeWinter finally makes a plot impact in an assertive series of forensic anthropologist briefings to Dallas. She's not exactly new, but she was pretty peripheral in the previous 3 books. Here, her skills and connections allows Dallas to find our pyscho-couple's origins. A lot of reviews seem to like small town deputy Will Banner and his "country boy in the big city" reactions. But I found it too stereotyped and predictable. I also thought the way he slid right into Dallas' NYPSD Homicide team a bit unbelievable.
The main character development happens to the Homicide Squad. Each of her detectives get a share of the spotlight. Our favourite patrolman gets a chance to advance, if he can hold it together while racing to find our villians hours before his exam. The Candy Thief strikes again. But is it really Baxter? Or is it just a red herring by the author?
I kinda miss seeing Mavis, Charles, and Nadine - the longest of the secondary characters. But they would have chewed up time that the victoms could not afford. In fact I think Banner played that relief role AND helped carry the plot forward at the same time. So maybe Robb should start rotating the support cast through the new books, instead of bringing them all through.
Anyway. Devoted in Death is tight, funny, fast paced, with passages that make me think J.D. Robb actually wrote the thing instead of phoning it in or using a bad ghost writer. It still does not come up to the standards of the first three books. But this installment returns back to the writing and suspense that first hooked me when Nora Roberts decided to use a psuedonym to publish grittier mysteries starring very damaged protagonists.
--Kuzu
PS. We finally see Galahad steal that bacon slice, in that running joke between Roarke and the cat.
The page turning read you expect from Robb with victims who show strength even in the face of torture and a great new secondary character. Will Banner is a small town cop from the Ozarks who heads to NYC when he knows a local man has been murdered even though his superiors believe it was an accident. His interactions with tough city based Eve are great.
Love it. Great Author. Great characters. Love Roark and Eve. Wished I lived in this time.
Michelle S. (chocolatyshatnr) -
Another great entry into the series. It seems like in the last couple of books we have been spending more time with Dallas' cops at work, and I'm really enjoying their increased integration into the story.
As always J D Robb delivers. I have this series from Naked in Death To Dark in Death and will re-read. This book was up to the usual standard set in the first book of the series. A good mix of crime, suspense, romance, humor and family...yes cop family. I find the writing sharp and the story believable and about the characters I've come to see as friends and family.
