Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb

Treachery in Death

J.D. Robb

Futuristic Romantic Suspense

Grade: B

Detective Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a senseless crime-an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. This is Peabody's first case as primary detective-good thing she learned from the master.

But Peabody soon stumbles upon a trickier situation. After a hard workout, she's all alone in the locker room when the gym door clatters open; and-while hiding inside a shower stall trying not to make a sound-she overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. It doesn't take long to realize they're both crooked-guilty not just of corruption but of murder. Now Peabody, Eve, and Eve's husband, Roarke, are trying to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down-knowing all the while that the two are willing to kill to keep their secret.

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I've been tepid in my response to the most recent In Death releases, so I approached Treachery in Death with some trepidation. If I didn't like it a great deal, I planned to go on a semi-permanent J.D. Robb hiatus. Thank god I won't have to do that. If not for two flaws—I found it overly long and wished for another love scene—this one would have earned an even higher grade.

Although Treachery in Death is primarily a procedurally oriented book, Robb still serves up plenty of great personal interplay between Eve Dallas and her NYPSD cohorts. Peabody's relationship with Eve moves to a new level. The unmotherly Eve is like a mama bird in this book; she's pushing Peabody out of the nest knowing she's ready to fly. And Peabody, around whom this corruption plot circles, flies high and strong.

Robb didn't write enough physical intimacy between Eve and Roarke this time around, but their love and care for each other remains palpable. I particularly enjoyed their banter about Eve owing Roarke sexual favors as a result of his "consultant" work for her in this instance. He ups the ante each time she wants him to do more and do it faster; by the end of the story costumes are involved. Whenever she second-guesses him on the case, he becomes more and more "insulted" by her lack of confidence. It's all in great fun, and helps lighten the tone.

Even better than their banter, though, is how Roarke, a former criminal, totally "gets" Eve. She tells him that "at the end of the day, you're what fixes me up." It's a beautiful moment, particularly in context as Eve reflects upon her relationship to her squad and compares it to the corrupt relationship she uncovers between another lieutenant and her men. My all-time favorite moment of the book actually comes when one of her men, and not Baxter or Truehart or anyone who's gotten much (if any) screen time, takes down one of the corrupt cops:

"Drop the fucking weapon, you fucking motherfucker, or I'll fucking scramble your fucking brains. Hands up! Hands where I can fucking see them, you fucking cocksucker. You fucking breathe wrong, you fucking blink wrong, and I will fuck you up."

"On your fucking face, you fucking shit coward. Stream my lieutenant in the fucking back? Fuck you..."

"I seem to have misjudged my step, Lieutenant, and stepped on one of this motherfucker's fingers. I believe it's broken."

That's not a spoiler, btw, as in every book in this series there's a moment when Eve puts herself in the line of fire. And it all comes together at the very end, during that moment of reflection for Eve, and brings it back to Peabody too; Eve allows her squad to fly high, gives them the respect they deserve, expects the best, and they're glad to give it to her. Eve may not have family in the traditional sense—outside of Roarke—but her squad is her family, unconventional though it may be, and Eve, whether she likes it or not, is their mama bird. By the end of Treachery in Death, I believe she actually begins to like that fact.

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb

Possession in Death by J.D. Robb

Possession in Death as part of The Other Side anthology

J.D. Robb

Grade: C+

As I wrote in my Amazon review of Indulgence in Death, I believe that J.D. Robb is at the tipping point in her long-running In Death series. Reading Possession in Death did nothing to dissuade me from that belief. Those who prefer the procedural aspect of the series, or Eve Dallas' occasional forays into the paranormal, may enjoy this one better than I did. For me, though, the lack of interplay between Eve and her intimate circle of friends, as well as the author's failure to exploit the push me/pull you connection between Eve as cop and Roarke as ex-criminal caused the book to fall relatively flat for me. There was even a moment when I waited for Roarke to tell Eve she was insulting him because she relied on him to think like a cop...I'm still waiting, sad to say.

Even so, I found the whodunit component of the story compelling, which is why the story earns a C+ rather than a straight C. I still plan to give Robb one last shot with her next full-length book in the series, but if Treachery in Death fails to fully engage my imagination, I think I'm giving up on the In Death series.

I have no plans to read the remainder of The Other Side anthology, so when I link here from Goodreads, it'll be from the audio version of this short story on its own as the print version of this short story is not a stand-alone.

Possession in Death by J.D. Robb

Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb

Indulgence in Death

J.D. Robb

Grade: B-

Although I came late to J.D. Robb's long-running futuristic romantic suspense series, it didn't take long for me to become a zealot for it. Seven of the series' titles sit on my all-time keeper shelf, and an additional nine earned B+ grades from me, which adds up, astonishingly enough, to nearly half the series to date. I often hand-sell the first titles at the bookstore, using my sister as an example. I tell potential customers that although the series continues after fifteen years in the making, quality remains high; one of my favorites (Promises in Death), after all, was published just last year. Then I add this as the kicker: "My sister doesn't even like to read and she got hooked on this series, reading them like candy." That said, though, Robb may be at her tipping point with the series. Make no mistake about it - I can't wait to pick up each successive book/story in the series - but "only" two of those B+'s cropped up in the last fourteen titles...while three of the four C range grades appear in that same list of fourteen.

Read this review in its entirety at Amazon.

Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb