Delusion In Death: In Death, Book 35

Delusion in Death is another excellent book, and J.D. Robb once again gives us an exciting thriller. Delusion in Death begins as the work day in New York City is ending, and people are either rushing home or stopping for a drink with friends to unwind. As the story starts we are at a local bar, a nightly hangout for executives. We follow along as 4 friends sit at a table making plans for dinner. Soon one of them gets a headache, and out of no where becomes violently nasty. The next scene brings Lieutenant Eve Dallas to the bar, as she was called in to investigate a horrendous crime scene.Even Eve, who is always exposed to terrible crime scenes, and vicious murderers, finds herself fighting to maintain her calm composure seeing this mass destruction. We learn early on that within 12 minutes, 83 people were dead, having attacked each other like animals. The few survivors describe seeing hallucinations, of being attacked by monsters, animals, insects, and reacted in their own maddening rage of self defense. The virus is a short acting virus, but unless they can escape, no one can survive.Eve calls in her entire team to help with the bodies, and begin their investigations as to what caused this behavior, and to move quickly before it happens again. Of course, as normal, Roarke arrives on the scene to help, and we find out that he owns the bar, which isn't much of a surprise, as Roarke owns everything. :) Working with Morris and Dickie, it doesn't take Eve long to figure out that an airborne virus from a mixture of lethal drugs was used, causing massive deaths. The immediate worry was if this was a terrorist attack, and the threat and fear of more to come. The scary part was this was the type of attack that can come with no warning, at anytime, anywhere, with massive deaths, if this was not confined within a small indoor area.What I really love about this series is how you find yourself totally immersed into the case with Eve, as you see and know everything she is thinking, and you follow the case as if you were along side her. It was an exciting story, as Eve slowly, with the help of Roarke and her super team, begin to thread through all the details of the victims, and survivors to find the clues to unravel this mystery before another mass murder happens again. We also get to learn more about the Urban wars, and possible terrifying scenarios that may have begun from those ugly war days.This story also brings back memories of some previous books, as they reference some of those cases. Eve still has her nightmares, but now they were in-twined with her dead mother and father, and the victims of this mass murder. Eve seems to finally have moved forward, and perhaps we can put those monsters to the hell they belong in.What can I say about Roarke; how much he loves his cop, and how he ensures she takes care of herself, even if he has to push her to eat, and sleep. Eve Dallas is my all time favorite female in the literary world. She is a tough cop, with a horrendous childhood, and despite the odds, made herself into the best there is. But she is also madly in love with the most perfect man Roarke, and together they help each other survive in a wild and dangerous world.The last half of the book is extremely exciting, more violence, as Eve and her team race against the clock find the murderer. Along the way to the exciting climax, there are twists and surprises.Kudos to J.D. Robb (Nora), for keeping this series fresh, allowing us to share our love of Eve & Roarke, as well as the best secondary group of characters around. It was great to be able to enjoy Peabody, Mira, Summerset (it was nice to see them civil to each other), Nadine, Baxter, Trueheart, McNab, Feeney, Morris and the rest of the gang. I did think though that this book missed some of the humor between those secondary characters and Eve, though there was some. Make no mistake, the In Death series is about murder, police, violence; but it is the love of Eve & Roarke, and the camaraderie between those wonderful secondary characters that makes this special. Hopefully we see more of that in the next book, coming in February, 2013..Calculated in Death.

I tru!y enjoyed the history. The shock of the beginning. Vulnerability of the chacters. A really great read.Do not want to give up any spoilers.

Now let me start with, I really did love this book. I loved the premise of what people are capable of, that in a normal day one person can turn the lives of so many upside down or that one day I could go out to buy a sandwich and end up stabbing someone in the eye with a fork - whats not to be interested in there. Also I love the relationships in the book too, they always make me laugh out loud and this book had that but I do have to say I was a little surprised about what was lacking. The mystery and drama wasnt anything up to normal, where was Eve running on 1 hour sleep in 48 hours, getting so entrenched in trying to bring the killer in - I spend as much time sleeping as she does trying to suss it out - or where she falls in so deep, she starts to pull out all her own personal issues and we dig through those too. And although I did laugh in this book, I thought it needed a little more of the characters etc (like how much I love when Eve gets sucked into wearing a dress and having her hair done). All in all though, the book was fast paced, exciting, interesting and I got enough of a fix of them, I can wait until the next book comes out to stuff my face again. I do recommend the read!

Would recommend this series to anyone looking for a great read 📚. J. D. Robb is an outstanding author. 👏

This 35th full-length book of the In Death series is just as expertly written as each of the previous thirty-four and the intervening novellas. As far as the storyline goes, only a few weeks have passed since the conclusion of the previous work and barely two months have passed since the horrific events that went down in “New York to Dallas.”It is now early winter in the year 2060 and Eve Dallas has recovered from the physical wounds she received during the McQueen case in Dallas. But neither she nor Roarke has fully recovered from the emotional trauma that resulted when they discovered the role Eve’s long-disappeared biological mother played in that case.Eve’s nightmares have resurfaced with a vengeance since the confrontation with and death of her mother. And Roarke has to practically sleep with one eye open in order to help Eve wake up when her subconscious absolutely swamps her in blood, pain and unearned guilt. And as the story begins, they have no clue how strongly the nightmare that constitutes this day’s case is going to affect the nightmares of their sleep.As Eve stands in the doorway of On The Rocks, a neighborhood bar owned by Roarke, she stares at the carnage of what used to be over 80 executives, rising corporate stars and workers from the business district nearby. Happy Hour turned out to be anything but happy when a hallucinogen was released into the atmosphere in the club, causing headaches followed by delusions, fear, and murderous anger.Patron after patron turned forks, knives, bottles, glasses and chair legs into weapons of mass destruction and proceeded to kill each other in a mad frenzy. Twelve minutes after the onset of the first patron’s outburst, it was done. While a few people were still miraculously alive, only one escaped without injury, having left the bar just seconds before the first blows were struck.Any regular reader of the In Death series knows, after 30-some novels that Robb is going to insert certain devices and scenarios into each tale. There are going to be the previously mentioned nightmares. There is going to be a scene with Somerset, and a scene with the cat Galahad. There will be at least one tense scene with Nadine and a cute scene with Mavis and “Bellalissimo.” There is usually a humorous scene with some perp on the street as well as the requisite theft of Eve’s candy stash. There are going to be scenes involving her car, her clothes and her hair. Eve is going to have an argument with Roarke, a media conference and a session with Mira. And there is going to be some seriously hot sex with her husband Roarke.However, this time it’s as if Robb threw all these elements like dice into a Yahtzee cup and shook them up well before spewing them into the plot. None are in their usual places, in their usual quantities or have their usual pacing. And this is not a bad thing. This particular approach actually makes the book one you do not want to put down. And it serves as the platform for some of the most intense character growth that has ever been endowed upon Eve in the series.Yet another unusual aspect is that Robb has Eve reveal the name of her chief suspect at about the 50% mark in the tale rather than near the end. Frankly, I couldn’t see how Eve decided on that particular person so early, since the documentation and interviews to that point just didn’t seem that clear.Therefore, the remainder of the book was an intriguing exercise in reading between the lines and anticipating Eve’s moves. Yes, I lost sleep over it because I just knew that the early reveal meant a serious twist was coming and that the proverbial fat lady would not “sing” until the very last page. And I was right – tired, but right.

I like the way the characters are meshed together and the way the plot continues even when you think the plot is complete.

Always entertaining, with well written stories and interesting characters! They may be set in the future, but everything works seamlessly and seems very plausible. I'm hoping, though, that I never see the days of soy fries and fake coffee, unless I've got Roarke to bankroll it for me!

Really enjoyed it. Great read. Loved thinking it was over and then finding out about Gina. I recommend it. Glorie

As always a brilliant read, JD Robb wonderful writer

Sou uma pessoa suspeita pra avaliar essa série. Como sempre curto muito o desenvolver de Eve e Roarke entre cada caso, são um casal espetacular.Confesso que nesse livro eu esperei algo um pouco mais esperto por parte do vilão(?), mas a reviravolta no final foi o ponto chave.

I haven't missed one book from the "in death" series and I'm always amazed that Mrs. Robb still finds another great case for Dallas! This one didn't disappoint one bit - great reading, great story, nice development for Dallas' own history....I loved it and am already looking forward to the next one!

Another wonderful book from J.D. Robb, starting our favourite characters - Eve Dalkas, Roarke et al. Lovely to read a Christmas themed book at this festival time. As usual, the plot had many twists and turns - all of our favourite police characters turned up and generally (bearing in mind this is part of the "in death" series) it was a jolly good romp! Looking forward to the next one, J.D. - as a "not so young anymore" male reader, you always provide a lovely balance and depth in your books.