2007 Book Log #48: Born in Death, by J.D. Robb

[annathepiper]

Is the In Death series really up to 23 books? Wow. No wonder it's getting harder for it to have installments that stand out from the crowd. The last few have been more or less "meh", and this one didn't particularly grab me either. It wasn't bad reading--just didn't have any particular substance. The mystery was simple and unsurprising, and I was tired of the subplot of "Eve and Roarke are panicky about Mavis having her baby" a few books ago. (At least the good news is, now they can actually stop the "Mavis is having her baby" subplot, since we do get some resolution with that. A bit heavy on the schmaltz with that resolution, though, and I mostly spent that scene going "yeah yeah yeah finish it up already".)

There were a couple of places in the writing, too, that looked like they were still on first-draft status and hadn't quite been properly edited. I caught myself going "wait, what?" and having to go back and re-read several preceding paragraphs when it looked as if a scene break was supposed to have happened and didn't. And that head-hopping thing? Noticed it here too, though at least Robb keeps it down to a miminum. Two and a half stars.

Comments

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's a pretty amazing # of books. And Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" ones are up to 15 (13 full ones and 2 novellas). There's nothing like flogging a dead horse in America--as I saw somewhere, we don't like to let a good thing end at the right time, we like it to play out as long as possible. Like many a TV series (X-Files, anyone?).

I keep hoping, with the suggestive titles, that we'll get more fully into Eve's past, what with having done Roarke's some time ago. But no, nothing around the central mystery of who Eve's bio-mom is, and why she was not in the picture. The foster mom was ... interesting, if predictable.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, that was an interesting little subplot. But I daresay that the big issue with getting into Eve's past would be, if Eve worked all that out, would we be out of stuff for her to angst about in between tracking down murderers? ;)

I'd be for that, though. It'd be nice if maybe Ms. Robb would consider winding up the series, maybe with a nice juicy trilogy, to settle that out for once and for all. Maybe in conjunction with Eve and Roarke's first kid. That would be dramatically interesting--have Eve confront the mystery of her own mother when she's about to become a mother herself.

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm actually hoping she winds up soon--the angst is losing its edge. A book or two angsting about Mavis' kid, and then she and Mavis and Peabody all get knocked up at once, around the same time, so they're all in the birthing room together, with Mira coaching, and Trina doing their nails. Oh, yeah, and Eve has twins. Heh.

I really would like to see her end this with style, instead of running it into the ground and whimpering.

[annathepiper]

*snicker* It would serve Eve and Roarke right if they had twins, yeah. And okayyeahfine I'd like to read about the look on Roarke's face when he learns he's going to be a father. That should be fun. *^_^*

But really, I'd prefer to see a good juicy crime around for Eve to solve. The last couple just haven't had much punch or mystery to them at all.

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

yeah, that too. but then, with 23 already under her belt, it gets harder and harder to top.

[annathepiper]

Very true!

I'll give her this, though--she's managed to keep things interesting enough that I have kept coming back after 23 books. ;) I still like these people, and even though the plots are pretty cookie-cutter at this point, her prose remains engaging and readable. I give her points for that!