Book Review; Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb

Summary:
A crisp winter morning in New York. In a luxury apartment, the body of a woman lies stretched out on a huge bed. On the wall above, the killer has left a message in bold black ink: FOR LIEUTENANT EVE DALLAS, WITH GREAT ADMIRATION AND UNDERSTANDING. Eve Dallas is used to unwanted attention. Famous for her high-profile cases and her marriage to billionaire businessman Roarke, she has learned to deal with intense public scrutiny and media gossip. But now Eve has become the object of a singular and deadly obsession. She has an ‘admirer’, who just can’t stop thinking about her. Who is convinced they have a special bond. Who is planning to kill for her – again and again…With time against her, Eve is forced to play a delicate – and dangerous – psychological dance. Because the killer is desperate for something Eve can never provide – approval. And once that becomes clear, Eve knows her own life will be at risk – along with those she cares about the most.

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Murder Is

I have never read a J.D. Robb (or Nora Roberts) book before and I was told that it was possible to read this one without prior knowledge of the series so I decided to give it a go as the synopsis intrigued me. Thankfully I ended up really enjoying the book and while there were some things I didn’t understand and some character names that were thrown in without explanation, it was in fact true that you could just jump in with this book. For what it is worth, I will definitely be checking out more of J. D. Robb’s books in the future.

The Game

It took me a while to get used to the writing style in this book which is quite stilted, in an attempt to keep the pace up. I also got a little confused over who was talking at certain times. However, despite all of this, the action of this books starts straight from the very first page – and that did keep me going even through the new style. And then, before I knew it, I was over half-way through the book and I was completely riveted. I loved the strong characters and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. The crime in this novel was well thought-out, very descriptive and everything just read so realistically. It reminded me of brilliant cop shows such as C.S.I and Bones, both of which I love. I loved how detailed it was and how it all came together at the end.

But Who

What I really loved about this book was the themes that it touched upon. The book looks at the way celebrities and people in the media can get treated and how worrying some of that behaviour can be. I liked that it didn’t shy away from certain topics and just felt that it was all dealt with sensitively and made the book more entertaining and realistic. While some of the things mentioned during the story (which was set in 2060) were hard to get my head around as they weren’t fully explained (‘links, AutoChef, etc), these were minor details that didn’t derail the plot for me and just made me more interested to go back to the beginning and see how it all came together.

Will Win?

Overall, this book was one that I found truly fascinating. It kept me riveted and I simply couldn’t not turn the page to find out who the murderer was and what she would do next. The pace of this book is fast, the tension is kept high, and it is quick to create an emotional connection to the characters which certainly instilled a fear in you throughout the story. I think this is a brilliant detective crime novel – and I didn’t expect anything less from one of the greats – and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves detective crime novels. I will definitely read more by this author from now on. If you’re looking for a novel that holds deep psychological profiling, involves interesting digital technology, and is incredibly exciting from start to finish, then you should definitely give this book a read.