Okay, so I'm making a point to catch up on my J. D. Robb before Obsession in Death releases next month. I’m four books away, with the first two down in Calculated in Death and Thankless in Death. Concealed [book 38] and Festive in Death [book 39] are on the way. Now, how and where can I start, seeing how Calculated is book number 36 in the series? So really? Exactly where should I start my thoughts?
Well, considering each book contains an individual case, perhaps there. Calculated opens up in Manhattan’s Upper East Side–sometime in November. Stripped of her expensive coat and briefcase, an accountant named Marta Dickenson lay dead at the bottom steps of a brownstone apartment under renovations. At first glance, it appears to be a mugging gone wrong. Then homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas steps in and discovers Marta’s death was a lot more premeditated than it appears. Assigned to work on three financial audits, Marta’s murder begs for a closer look.
So with an innocent accountant and wife dead in her hands, it's up to Eve to speak for her. And what she unravels is a stream of financial corruption and fraud, tucked and hidden in mountains of company records. However, it takes a team of four players to provide the momentum of this corrupt engine. And the closer Eve gets to the truth, the more desperate the group of four become as they begin to sell and pick each other off to hide their role in Marta‘s murder. Which more or less made Calculated a little tangled in some areas. As well as sluggish. Nevertheless, it's demanding of readers' focus, to keep track of the many names and ties involved. So besides the standard series characters gone to work, what I found most alluring about this book is how it focuses on the tale of the hitman. His side of things. How he became who he is. That I did find satisfying, and even saddening to a degree.
Almost thankfully, but not so thankfully; Thankless in Death is miles and miles of trouble-free, painless, effortless plotting compared to Calculated in Death. As book number 37 in the In Death series, I would wager to say this was a sleeper. The plot is really quite simple. A twenty-something entitled and ungrateful brat of a man–still living under his parents after being fired from a job and being kicked out of his girlfriend’s apartment–decides that he’s had enough of his parents' nagging at him to straighten up his life. So what does he do? He kills them, swipes their money and other valuables, and then takes off. Still begrudging others who've made his sad existence of a life miserable, he decides to take on further murderous acts to focus his psychological distress. The reader witnesses his villainous progression throughout it all. And from the opening's murder of his parents, to the arrival of Eve, the evidence is clear that he’s her man. This, in turn, creates an open mystery and a not so tense cat-and-mouse chase between him and homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas.
Thankless wasn't a thrill ride at all. Interesting? Sure. Neurotic? A touch. But never an actual thrill. Partly because the villain was an idiot who spent more time running and whining than actually thwarting. However, there were a few character moments present that kind of made me understand what the book was really about. Which, in my humble estimation, would revolve around showing gratitude to the friends and family present in your life. At the end of the day, I could get with that and forgive the book.
Getting to the Point
So yeah. Books number 36 and 37. Whether you have an on-again off-again relationship with this series, you'd probably want to have some history behind you before you jump into Calculated and Thankless in Death. In saying so, as much as I want to write an outstanding post about the two, I can’t. All I can say is that if you've gotten this far, you've gotten this far for a reason. Either you're in the game, or you're not at this point. You love the futuristic setting blended with police procedural, or you don’t. You love Eve and her relationship with Roarke (or as most readers read only for Roarke), or you don’t. You love the ensemble cast–including the colorful Detective Peabody and the motherly-figure Dr. Mira–or you don’t. Some readers express concerns about some “switch” in writing styles. Some even express suspicions of a ghostwriter. Some express concerns about characters’ attitude “changes." Some are just worn of it all. And some (actually many) just don't give a damn and keep going.
Most of these things pass over me, as I’m in the game for Eve’s smart-ass mouth and dedication. However, if anything does bother me, it’s usually the comma splices and the slightly swelling Mary/Gary Sue-ish flavor decorating the power couple that makes up Eve and Roarke. Okay, and also the lack of action scenes. Oh yeah, and the corny names for futuristic foods, games, businesses, and various forms of slang (I detest the use of “vid” for “video” and “mag” for “magnificent”; incidentally, this is probably why I find the popstar character Mavis obnoxious).
Furthermore, the series is unhurried outside of its crime-of-the-day format. And I mean unhurried as in character progression, overarching developments, series expansion, and so forth and so on. It’s a good thing. It’s a bad thing. It’s a comfortable and formulaic thing. Honestly, that’s just it. It is what it is at this point. Not a disappointment, but an old, fun pair of friends. Some visits ballpark it more than others, though.
I would always suggest the unfamiliar to start with the first book, Naked in Death, and work (at their pace) forward. J. D. Robb releases two new books a year in the series, and its only for the truly dedicated and addicted. Even I learned during my two-year hiatus that it was pointless to nick-picked this series apart when all I ever crave is the next book. The next crime. The next Eve Dallas banter and dedication to her work.
There'll be good books. There'll be bad books. And the pump will keep pumping toward somewhere. Not quite sure where. But somewhere. And I'll do my part and pump along.
How about I do a post listing my 5 favorite and least favorites? Before then, if you're familiar with this series, tell me your favorite and least favorite entries as we approach the 40th book next month.
I've decided that I'm going to cheat here. See, for me to lay down exactly what this series is about (the series is almost 50 books deep) would cause me to burst into tears in an attempt to pull off a summary in one, clip paragraph. With that said, I've got a link HERE that summarizes the story so far–from the author's own website. If you're curious, click there. Other than that, here's my last thoughts on this particularly entry in J. D. Robb's In Death series.
So it’s been exactly two years since J. D. Robb’s Delusion in Death (book 35 in her Eve Dallas series) was released, and two years since I got 20 pages in and decided to put it down. That’s where I stopped reading the series, having decided that after the disappointment of book 33, New York to Dallas, that I had my fill of Eve’s resurging past drama. Nonetheless, I won't spoil anything. Truly, it is a great and addictive series if all else fails. Recently, I've been thinking about the series–despite my previous complaints at its lack of character momentum and resolution–before I followed the urge to pull myself back into its world. It all just kept calling me back.
So what have I missed in two years? Well, Delusion in Death takes place in the year 2060. It opens inside of a crowded bar called On the Rocks (Robb was always, always kind of corny with names) in Manhattan’s Lower West Side. The bar is crowded during happy-hour, with business professionals searching for unwinding conversations and equally effective drinks. Everything seems sunny and cheerful until the headaches start. Like an invisible wave, those headaches quickly entice a blind rage that sweeps the brains of the bar’s patrons. Suddenly, On the Rocks becomes a bloodbath where the once docile and tipsy patrons start a full-out assault against what appears to be their worst nightmares. The murderous frenzy leaves eighty dead. Only a few survive to tell their story.
Naturally, homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas reports to the scene, stepping her way over the bodies as she gathers evidence. Furthermore, considering her husband Roarke owns the bar, Eve has her hands full keeping his stake in the matter at bay. Nonetheless, through witness accounts and a set of interviews, Eve eventually uncovers the connection between an aerial hallucinogenic that swept the bar, and a buried apocalyptic cult called Red Horse. The question then becomes who is responsible for reviving the cult’s method of mass murder? Will he or she strike again? And how can Eve and her team stop the murderer and put the formula behind the airborne hallucinogen where no one else can ever have access to it?
So after a two-year hiatus from the series, I have to say that I did enjoy stepping back into Eve Dallas’s world. All the joshing between Eve and Roarke and Eve and her partner Peabody were present still. I'm grateful for that, because the dialogue between characters are probably this series' strongest element. So I did miss the characters, and it felt great to be back alongside the cast during one of their investigations. Nonetheless, like usually, there are a number of other cast members who make up Eve’s team (and support) that continue to show and crowd up the pages. Having started the series in 2008, I'm very familiar with the cast, but after my little two-year break, I actually started to grow weary of some of them. There are just too many with minor purposes and even lesser development. Trueheart is still Trueheart, the green-around-the-ears cop. Baxter is still Baxter, Trueheart's mentor. Morris is still Morris, the cool medical examiner. (And you probably have absolutely no idea who these characters are!) Like the series itself, character development often appears stagnant. Now that's notwithstanding how each book/investigation covers approximately a weekend’s worth of time–give or take. But regardless, a shake up in the cast is long past due.
As for the actual detection and police procedural portion, nothing much as change. On occasion does Robb write some solid action mixed with some even better avenues of investigation. And I mention that in regard to some of the other books in the series. Delusion, however, was mostly tepid in this area. Almost all opportunities to showcase Eve’s detection skills were unimaginative. To me, someone else is doing all the cooler stuff off-stage before handing Eve the information necessary to build her case. To my chagrin, this is very contrary to her “digging up the dirt“ and "getting dirty" herself. In turn, this leaves Eve capable of only doing two things: processing interviews and staring at her murder board until an idea strikes. The former she pulls off excellently; it’s always a joy to watch Eve interview witnesses and suspects. The latter she more or less dispatches another cast member to act on her idea. I suppose she can do that as the lieutenant, and even in the very end she played a more active role in the story's conclusion.
Nevertheless, it would be nice to see Eve untangling a little more than the files on her PPC (Personal Portable Computer). Even so, the series isn't so bad if you like Eve–which I do. Not only do I find her charming, but she's also one of those characters that ask for your loyalty just as she displays it to her cast of supporters. You learn to trust her as a reader. She's the good guy. This is why I'm kind of glad I'm enthused about the series again. For me to detail what I love and what I dislike about the series would take an eternity, so from this point on, I’m just going to enjoy the ride and complain and marvel my way through to its end.
Super side note: thank goodness Robb chilled out on the comma splices this time around. And what about those rumors that the series is now ghostwritten? Anyone have a clue?
