Rapture in Death - J.D. Robb [July/06]

We are back! Another novel, this time the fourth, in the J.D. Robb In Death series. After much pestering, this is the review from Marg and me. (She wasn't really pestering, I was just being slow). This book is for the July TBR Challenge. The criteria was to read a romantic suspense, and I can safely say, she is the only romantic suspense author I even own. This review follows on the heels of Immortal in Death, our last review. Anyways, without further ado, the reveiw.

Marg is typing in black and I am in blue.

They died with smiles on their faces. Three apparent suicides: a brilliant engineer, an infamous lawyer, and a controversial politician. Three strangers with nothing in common - and no obvious reasons for killing themselves. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the deaths suspicious. And her instincts paid off when autopsies revealed small burns on the brains of the victims. Was it a genetic abnormality or a high-tech method of murder? Eve's investigation turned to the provocative world of virtual reality games - where the same techniques used to create joy and desire could also prompt the mind to become the weapon of its own destruction . . .

Title: Rapture in Death

Author: J D Robb

Year published: 1996

Why did you get this book?
I only started reading this series a little while ago, and so I am now working my way through the series. I got this book because it is totally different. I am not a romance reader, my genres are normal fantasy, historical fiction, and Canadian literature, so this series is something new for me. Plus, my friends read her, more so than some of the other authors I read, so I have a topic to discuss.

Do you like the cover?
I had a completely different cover, which featured a noose and a blue woman on a gold background. Whilst it fitted the story in a way (and no there were no blue women in the book!) it wasn't terribly attractive. Yep, it is a very descriptive cover, but at the same time there is something artsy about it. Something else liked my cover too, because there is something sticky on it... Have to wash that off.

Did you enjoy the book?
I did! I am going to be hopeful and say this is a series I will read all of, but one never knows. I enjoyed this book and hope to go on enjoying them!

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again?
Yes. I've already been to the library to pick up the next book in the series. Not a new author, no. This is my fifth book by her (remember, I snuck ahead for the first one). I plan to read book 5 as soon as Marg has her's from the library. (Which she tells me she has already)

Are you keeping it or passing it on?
It's a library book so keeping it isn't really an option. If I was buying this series so far they are all keepers. A keeper. I have been buying this series second hand, and so far I have not found that I haven't got my moneys-worth.

Anything else?
I really liked the fact that Peabody seems to be taking a much bigger part in this novel, and the fact that there is a friendship developing between Eve and Peabody helps to take some of the hard edges off of Eve. I imagine that Peabody was added just for that, to add some humour to what could be seen as a dark series of novels. There was humour before, but it was not central to the novel. I think Peabody as the comic relief was a good idea on Robb's part. I do hope though that Roarke doesn't keep on being suspected of being connected to the murder in every one of the remaining books. I like Roarke being the suspect, remember, I don't like romance novels, so when he isn't being the suspect he is generally at it with the main character, so it is nice to see him in roles that don't happen in bed. I think you really got to know Roarke in this book by the things that happened to him! I like that Lt. Dallas isn't the only one that is getting built up, we are learning about other characters as well. One thing that does bother me a little bit about some of these books is that there doesn't actually seem to be any real clues dropped along the way to help the reader guess who the murderer is. In this book it was obvious that the person that was the main suspect wasn't the killer because there was so much focus on that person, but I don't know that there was anything that could have given the game away as to the identity of the real killer. I have to disagree, I found the killer obvious. There was a moment where I doubted it, but then something happened and I knew I was right before the end of the book. I don't know if it was obvious or I just got lucky, but the person that ended up being the killer just made sense to me, and I think there were little clues. I did guess a few pages before it became clear (and then I peeked at the end to be sure! (Peeking is cheating! I don't know how you do it, I would hate to know the end before it is time. That's why I rarely read prologues, they give too much away!)) but it felt to an extent that the solution came completely out of the blue. I do like the way that the world building is happening, and how she puts in little facts such as the fact that someone has a tobacco license but that they had to have an anti-cancer innoculation in order to get that license! I think that Robb is trying to make a "perfect" world by this series. Perfection is not ever perfect, though, it is unattainable, but she shows that there are different ways to define perfect with this series. A lot of the stuff happening in this book I wish we had, though, I know that much. (Including Roarke!)