Naked in Death

The opening of JD Robb's cyberthriller introduces us to Eve Dallas, a no-nonsense police officer who is great at her job, but not as skilled when it comes to personal relationships. A case is thrown on her doorstep that is so dastardly evil, she must step outside the lines of her job as a public official to track down a killer and come to grips with her past in the process.

// The year is 2058, and a few ladies of the night have been murdered in a way that showcases the egotistical nature of the killer. The police find letters of intent, vintage weapons, and scrubbed video, which sets them down a path to bring justice to the victims. \

To me, the book seems a bit to written and hops to conclusions faster than you can say “Book ‘em, Danno.” It never really takes it's let time setting up interesting characters and it meanders it's way through the police procedural elements as well. It's a bit confusing as a whole. On one side, it does its best to play up the political intrigue, but it always seems to find a way to bog it down with on-the-nose statements that, surprisingly, are still a bit relevant today. For example, Eve uses her wit and cunning to pull some strings to patch together a few suspects from some pretty flimsy evidence. One of whom, she starts to sleep with. When confronted about it by her colleagues, she states that she can “sniff” it out that he is not a suspect and that they should all trust her instincts. Eye-rolling's aplenty.

The problem with the book Is that it never truly puts it's mark in the sand declaring it a hard boiled police drama or a steamy revenge thriller. It does everything ok, but I would have enjoyed it more if it was more subtle and focused on the police work or tipped the scales to one side and became much more unhinged. The final confrontation is a tried and true info dump with no teeth. It could only be a handful of people, but the person chosen was pretty obvious. The subject matter is quite distressing and deplorable, but to me, it was used to trigger heartfelt emotions in characters I didn't feel that drawn to.

It's fine, I guess, and the series must be popular because there are a mountain of sequels, but this caper didn't really draw me in.

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