dragonfire88's Full Review: J. D. Robb - Naked in Death
Several years ago, I picked up Naked in Death by J.D. Robb, the first book in a series. I had heard a lot of good things about the series and decided to finally pick up one of the books. I loved the book and quickly decided to read the rest of the books. I’ve been hooked on the series ever since and now pick up the new books as they are released. I recently decided to start re-reading the books even though I still have all kinds of other books around to read.
I want to share a little bit of general information about the In Death series before I talk specifically about Naked in Death. The series is set in the future and many things have changed. The police used tasers and guns were illegal. Murders were still committed in other ways. Prostitution was legal and prostitutes were called licensed companions. Body sculpting procedures replaced exercising for many rich people. Cars still drove on the ground though they had the ability to fly as well. Colonies and vacation destinations were located in space and space travel was common. People used a machine called an Auto Chef instead of actually cooking food. They just had to push a few buttons and the fully cooked item would come out. One of those things would be very handy to have. I enjoy reading about the futuristic gadgets that were created for this series.
Eve Dallas, a lieutenant on the New York police force, got a high profile case involving special security measures. Only one other detective, Ryan Feeney, was assigned. He and Eve had worked together in the past when he trained her to become a detective. He was now in charge of the Electronic Detective Division. Sharon DeBlass, a licensed companion and granddaughter of a Senator, was found murdered in her apartment. She’d been shot several times, something that Eve hadn’t seen before since guns had been illegal for more than twenty years. Sharon’s grandfather was putting pressure on the force to catch her killer which trickled down to Eve since she was the detective in charge of the case. Eve discovered that Sharon had some kind of connection to Roarke, a billionaire that owned many businesses around the world and off planet as well. Roarke had a collection of guns, something else that made Eve want to talk to him. There was an attraction between them from the beginning that Eve tried to deny since he was involved in the investigation. Other licensed companions were discovered murdered and the case was complicated more by other connections to Roarke. Eve had to decide if she should trust Roarke and follow the attraction while trying to solve the murders under growing scrutiny.
Naked in Death followed Eve’s investigation into Sharon’s murder and later the other licensed companions, which provided the mystery for the book. The case was one of the more complicated ones that Eve had worked on because of who Sharon was which lead to all the extra security measures within the force. Sharon’s grandfather was a very powerful man that wanted results in the investigation immediately and felt that he had the right to butt in on the investigation and have Eve tell him everything she knew about what was going on. The case got more complicated after Eve met Roarke and found herself attracted to him even though she considered him a suspect at that time. I thought that the mystery was strong and interesting. Several aspects of Eve’s investigation were shared and how the police did things in the future were shared. I thought that the book was suspenseful and it kept my interest. One thing was predictable since I was already aware of there being several other books with the same main characters when I read first read this one. That didn’t bother me and was the only thing I did think was predictable in the book. Eve was also having to deal with some issues related to how a previous case had ended. That didn’t have a big impact in what was going on other than to pop up again at a bad time to cause more trouble for Eve. There was some violence in a few scenes. All of the dead bodies were described once they were found. Those descriptions might be too detailed for some readers. Some of the encounter between the killer and one of the victims was also shared. People that are bothered by violence in books may want to pick a different book to read.
Eve and Roarke met because of the murder investigation. They were attracted to each other and ended up starting a relationship even though it really wasn’t the best time to do that. Eve and Roarke were different types of people that shared some similarities in their troubled childhoods that they over came. They did tend to look at things differently. Both were wary of starting a relationship, though Roarke accepted his growing feelings much faster than Eve did. He seemed to always be the one who did something to move their relationship to the next step. Even though Eve tried to avoid it, they started a sexual relationship. There were a few sex scenes between them in the book. The scenes were very descriptive. I didn’t think they were too graphic, but some readers may feel differently. The book wasn’t loaded with sex scenes, but people that are offended by those types of scenes may not want to read this one. I didn’t feel that the growing relationship between Eve and Roarke distracted from the mystery of the book. Since the case that Eve was investigating dealt with licensed companions, some things related to that were also shared, including a small amount of what happened when one of the women met a client.
Since Naked in Death was the first book in a series that is still going strong after more than twenty books, several of the future returning characters were first introduced in this book. Eve was the main character and in almost every scene. She was a dedicated detective that felt it was important to get justice for the dead. She really had no life outside of her job before she met Roarke. She suffered from frequent nightmares related to events in her childhood. She was a likable character even though she did have a bit of an attitude at times. She struggled in dealing with people, especially if she was in a relationship with them. Even though Roarke wasn’t in as much of the book, it was clear that he was important to what was going on and would be important in future books. He was a very rich man that had secrets related to his shady past. He distrusted cops in general but still wanted to pursue a relationship with Eve.
Mavis was Eve’s best friend. Mavis worked as a singer in a dive of a nightclub and frequently changed her hair color. She was very outgoing, free spirited, and a bit flamboyant, the complete opposite of Eve. The two women had still managed to develop a friendship, really the only one that Eve had outside of work. Summerset was Roarke’s butler. The two men had known each other for a long time. Summerset was very loyal to Roarke and didn’t really care for Eve. She shared his feelings. Ryan Feeney was the cop that had trained Eve before she became a detective. The two remained friends once Feeney transferred to a different division. Feeney didn’t like Roarke when they first met. Nadine was a reporter after a big story. She was professional and willing to wait to air her story, though she did want exclusive information from Eve in return. Dr. Mira was the psychiatrist for the police department. Cops had to visit her after incidents on the job. Dr. Mira also developed profiles of suspects. She was concerned about Eve and her obsession with her job. Charles Monroe was a licensed companion that lived in the same building as Sharon. The two had been friends. He acted like he was interested in Eve.
J.D. Robb is the name that Nora Roberts uses to write the In Death series. I once read that she decided to use a different name for the series because she wanted to see if it would take off just based on the merits of the book and not her name since she was already established as a successful author at the time. The books in the In Death series are very similar to the ones she writes under her own name. Both sets of books are well written, descriptive, and have well developed characters. The older Nora Roberts books aren’t as good in any of those areas, but that’s to be expected since she was just getting started writing then. I started reading the In Death series and once I read all of them that were out, I moved on to other Nora Roberts books. Really the only difference between the books is that the series is set in the future and has stronger mysteries than her other books tend to have. The book Remember When is listed as being written by Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb. The first part of the book took place in current time and then the book jumped forward to Eve’s time for another mystery that was connected to the first half of the book. Eve's part of Remember When took place between Imitation in Death and Divided in Death.
Naked in Death was a very good, entertaining first book to a long running series. This is the book to start with if you are interested in the In Death series. Fans of Nora Roberts may also enjoy the book since she was the author.
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