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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Creation in Death


****½ Creation in Death by J. D. Robb. Mystery.









It's impossible for me to talk about this book without acknowledging that it's the latest in such a long-running series and that it's like visiting with old friends. I have no idea how this would measure up if I hadn't read and re-read and re-re-read and discussed to death the rest of the books in the series.

First, my complaints:
  1. "The Groom" is David Palmer all over again, just expanded to a full-length book: he does the same sort of things with his victims; he's a case Eve and Feeney had worked on together before; Eve knows right away who the killer is. Okay, he was never caught, and David Palmer escaped, and The Groom has an additional motive... which leads me to
  2. Why, why, why is every single serial killer story the same? Apparently, all you have to do is find someone with a female in his past who died in a manner similar to that of the victims, and voila: there's your killer. Nora's not the only culprit--this is why I quit reading romantic suspense for quite a while.
That said, I still enjoyed the story very much. The race to try to find him before he kills again, and to discover his identity, was well done--very police-procedural-ish, with clues and deductions and dead ends. It was nice, too, how Eve has learned to lean on friends for help... at least a little bit.

And of course, there's the ongoing relationship story between Eve and Roarke, who are still adjusting to marriage. Huge kudos to Nora for showing a stable, committed relationship after the wedding, dealing with disagreements and all the little bumps life throws at them. Very few books tackle the reality of a happy marriage, and I think that's important, as well as being entertaining to read.

Best, though, was the emotional impact on Eve and Feeney. When The Groom had been killing in New York 9 years previously, it had been Feeney's case and Eve had been his aide. Now it's Eve's case, and Feeney is just consulting on the computer stuff. The layers of emotion between them regarding this case were realistic and vividly conveyed. In fact, it's nearly more affecting than Ceremony, where Feeney's hurt because Eve keeps information from him, because in this case the emotions are so mixed and complex. For me, this made the entire book.

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// posted by Darla @ 12/04/2007 05:49:00 PM
Comments:
Okay, I'll pass ont his book I guess? But I will check out Balls of fury,...I just laugh at the title! Although both reviews seem to kind of like the book and the movie...why not both?

Hey I've got a small "quiz" you mighyt find of interest about "how much parents matter?"
# posted by Blogger Candy Minx : 12/04/2007 11:56 PM
 
I wasn't impressed with Creation--although it was nice to see more of Roarke and Eve together. I enjoyed Innocent a LOT more. And I have to respectfully disagaree that each ID gets better and better. IMHO (just mine), I don't think they are. I think, up to...Reunion was really good.

I don't care so much about the mysteries; that is, that's secondary to me. I'm not a purist where I don't want to know who the killer is; i.e., Seduction, Reunion, we pretty much knew from the get go--I liked reading how Eve would figure it out. But I know there are those fans that HATE knowing the identity of the killer(s). For me, it's all about Roarke and Eve, their angst, fights, make-ups (hubba hubba). And actually Darla, I think those that say this is the "Best book ever!" well, one, I guess we see things differently, but two, I think, and it's jmho here, that they say that, on the off chance Nora sees it and they don't want to say they didn't like it as much as say, Conspiracy, Vengeance, Glory, Naked, JUDGMENT, Betrayal, Divided, for example. I could be wrong, but again, this is just my take. There wasn't enough, I don't know "relationship stuff" between Roarke and Eve. FOR ME. Yeah, Roarke was like a "cop" in this, to the extent that he got to see how Eve does her work, blah, blah.

But yes, the emotional punch, if you will, between Eve and Feeny nearly brought me to tears.

I wish Eternity would've been a full length book--if only to see more of how Eve would've handled how she saw her father in the killer in that one. We got a glimpse, a very short glimpse. But I digress. I'm hoping Strangers will be better.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1/15/2008 2:42 PM
 
Hmm. For me, this was about on a par with Reunion, but Innocent was a little better than both of them. Although it's been an awful long time since I've read Reunion, so maybe I'll re-read it this year to refresh my memory. I agree with you on Eternity--hmmm... maybe this story should have been the novella, and Eternity the full-length novel? Particularly since Eve already knew whodunit....oh, wait. Then this would be even more identical to "Midnight in Death."

I'm not a mystery purist either, but it does take a lot of the suspense away from the book if we already know who the killer is.
# posted by Blogger Darla : 1/16/2008 4:38 PM
 
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