Thankless in Death Mass Market Author: Visit Amazon's J. D. Robb Page | Language: English | ISBN:
051515413X | Format: EPUB
Thankless in Death Mass Market Description
From Publishers Weekly
Apart from references to such things as advanced robots and vids (the new name for theatrical movies), 2060 New York City is indistinguishable from present-day Gotham in bestseller Robb's 38th full-length Eve Dallas thriller (after 2013's Calculated in Death). In addition, nothing in the cookie-cutter plot couldn't have happened in the present or near past. On impulse, 26-year-old Jerald Reinhold, an unemployed loser, stabs his mother, Barbara, to death in his parents' Manhattan apartment, where he waits until his father, Carl, comes home so he can bludgeon Carl with a baseball bat. Lt. Eve Dallas, of the New York Police and Security Department, gets on Reinhold's trail, but the savvy veteran makes a rookie mistake by not warning a clear target of Reinhold's rage that she could be the next victim. Eve also has trouble assessing her quarry. At one point she calls Reinhold a fucking moron, then adds he's cannier than I gave him credit for initially. Readers will have to judge for themselves. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Sept.)
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
In best-selling Robb’s thirty-sixth title featuring the tough-as-nails police detective, Eve Dallas, and her enigmatic billionaire husband, Roark, Carl and Barbara Reinhold have spent their life trying to help their son, Jerry. They ignored his failures at school, excused his inability to hold down a job, and overlooked the times he “borrowed” money from them without asking. When Jerry is fired once again, however, and kicked to the curb by his girlfriend, they decide enough is enough. But what they see as tough love Jerry views as endless, annoying nagging. One morning, while his mother reminds him yet again to look for work, Jerry snaps, picks up a knife, and stabs her to death. Later the same day, he beats his father to death with a baseball bat. Now only one person can stop Jerry from paying back all the people he feels have wronged him, and that person is Eve. Robb shakes up a potent crime cocktail composed of fast-paced action and high-stakes suspense spiked with just the right dash of dry wit. --John Charles
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
- Series: In Death (Book 37)
- Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Berkley; Reprint edition (March 4, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 051515413X
- ISBN-13: 978-0515154139
- Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
I adore J.D. Robb/Nora's books and have been a loyal fan of this series from the beginning. I've loved all the previous books, although I felt the book right before this one was lacking sparks. I was shocked and very disappointed by this latest installment. The main focus is on the atrocities committed by the murderer and there is far too much from his point-of-view and far too much detail given to the grisly, brutal torture of his victims. After the 3rd murder, I honestly couldn't stomach reading the rest in detail, it made me feel physically ill. I ended up skimming to read about Eve and Roarke -- and yet found that part of the story oddly bland. Roarke came across as a "cardboard cutout" of himself, with none of his usual charisma. Even the love scenes felt recycled from other books, and seemed to be dropped in as an obligatory element rather than woven into the main thread. I am usually pleasantly surprised at how fresh and fun Robb/Roberts continues to make the sexual relationship between Eve & Roarke after so many books. Not in this one. Our beloved secondary characters also continue to be mostly missing in action, like in the previous book.
As other reviewers have stated, this doesn't even read like Robb/Roberts wrote it. Being a Thanksgiving themed novel, I expected to get a larger dose of our favorite couple's family life, but that didn't happen. I've been looking forward to this for months and I am just sad at this outcome. Unlike so many authors, Robb/Roberts very rarely lets me down.
"Treachery in Death" and "New York to Dallas" were such wonderful installments in this series, focusing so much on Eve and Roarke and their journey, and now I'm wondering about the ghostwriting speculation myself.
Jerald Reinhold wakes one day and kills his mother and father. From there it's a race against time for Eve and the rest of the police department to track him down before he strikes again.
We do get some welcome levity with Eve and Roarke in response to Roarke's family from Ireland coming in for a visit for the Thanksgiving holiday. This really is the first "In Death" novel that shows Eve and Roarke celebrating that holiday and we get a welcome look into New York at that time of year (2060). We also get Eve and Roarke celebrating with friends such as Peabody, McNabb, and Morris.
We also have the welcome appearance from a couple we have not heard or seen from since Survivor In Death which also allowed us an update into several other characters. I have to say that I never really thought of some of the characters from prior novels that Eve ended up saving and meeting and what happens to them later after the novel concludes. Hopefully J.D. Robb including an update on these characters is something that occurs in subsequent novels. We don't need the characters to show up but it would be nice to have some sort of throwaway lines so we can just know what did happen to those characters.
One thing I do love is that we do get some interaction with fan favorites Trueheart and Baxter. We also get to see Dallas be more of a Lieutenant in this one. We usually only have Eve investigating murders and once in a while an aside is thrown on how she is reviewing expense reports or some such thing. In this one we have her interacting with her squad a lot more and it was a very nice change.
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