Naked in Death

CWs: rape, rape fantasies, murder, sexual assault, violence, child abuse, paedophilia, incest, anti sex work, sexual content, misogyny

I really REALLY wish I'd checked out the content warnings before I started this. The best way to describe this series from what I can tell is futuristic Law and Order SVU and considering I had to read a Nora Roberts book for a reading challenge, this seemed like a book that I might have enjoyed.

sigh

Our protagonist is Eve Dallas, a cop whose sole purpose in life is her job. Through the course of the book we find out that she was abused and raped by her father until 8 years old, upon which she went into the foster system. It also turns out that her father wanted to be her pimp??? And didn't even name her because he just saw her as something he could sell/profit from and not an actual person. Literally wtf.

During the investigation of the case covered in this book, she meets a mysterious/hot/rich man named Roarke who quickly becomes a suspect. But of course they have undeniable tension blah blah blah. He falls in insta love with her and does creepy things because of it (breaking into her apartment, keeping a button that fell off her clothing and not wanting to return it etc.) Eve battles with herself over her attraction to Roarke vs not getting involved with him because he's a murder suspect (listen to your instincts girl) which I don't understand because in one of their first meetings he sexually assaults her?? I would've arrested him right there but she just laughs it off and is still into him. As their ‘romance' progresses, they have an interaction where Roarke rapes her. Honestly I was digusted. She says no. He doesn't listen and penetrates her. He gets angry. But instead of it being shown for what it actually is, it's posited more that their chemistry is so undeniable that he couldn't help himself and obviously it's what she really wanted and it just adds to their romance. NO.

At the end of the book when Eve confronts the killer (who has broken into her apartment, hmm sounds like someone else in this book), guess what, he also gets violent with her and threatens to rape and kill her. Seriously, this woman cannot catch a break and I can't tell if J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) is trying to comment on rape culture and how often and casually women are threatened by men, if she genuinely hates her main character, or if she doesn't realise how often she's put Eve in situations like this.

There are elements of a good book here, but the amount of rape and child abuse just turned me completely off.