Tag: Susan Ericksen (Page 1 of 5)

Forgotten in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen

May 30, 2023 / Kaetrin

Forgotten in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen. When I said I was right back into the series, I meant it!

Homicide detective Eve Dallas sifts through the wreckage of the past to find a killer.

The body was left in a dumpster like so much trash, the victim a woman of no fixed address, known for offering paper flowers in return for spare change—and for keeping the cops informed of any infractions she witnessed on the street. But the notebook where she scribbled her intel on litterers and other such offenders is nowhere to be found.

Then Eve is summoned away to a nearby building site to view more remains—in this case decades old, adorned with gold jewelry and fine clothing—unearthed by recent construction work. She isn’t happy when she realizes that the scene of the crime belongs to her husband, Roarke—not that it should surprise her, since the Irish billionaire owns a good chunk of New York. Now Eve must enter a complex world of real estate development, family history, shady deals, and shocking secrets to find justice for two women whose lives were thrown away…

Forgotten in Death is a twofer – two separate crime scenes a block apart, two separate murders decades apart. Are they connected? This one is a less ambitious story than the previous book with a plot which is somewhat disjointed at times but still entertaining. I did appreciate Eve taking the time to go back into the first victim’s past and setting that right (as right as it could be at least).

Susan Ericksen’s narration is a large part of the enjoyment. I recognised the regular characters by voice alone and I love the way she helps me connect to the new characters – some of whom have only very brief airtime. I know that she will deliver a great narration – it’s part of why I keep coming back.

I get through an In Death book very quickly – 3 or 4 days tops – and after 53 books, it’s impressive it still holds my interest so well.

Grade: B+

Faithless in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen

May 23, 2023 / Kaetrin

Faithless in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen. After taking a break from the series, I’m right back into it.

What looked like a lover’s quarrel turned fatal has larger – and more terrifying – motives behind it…

The scene in the West Village studio appears to be classic crime-of-passion: two wine glasses by the bed, music playing, and a young sculptor named Ariel Byrd with the back of her head bashed in. But when Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don’t add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant, comforted by her handsome fiancé as she sheds tears over the trauma of finding the body–but why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things?

As Eve and her team look into Gwen, her past, and the people around her, they find that the lies are about more than murder. As with sculpture, they need to chip away at the layers of deception to find the shape within–and soon they’re getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.

After a long break between In Death listens, I’m right back into the series. Faithless in Death is a strong entry into the series, with awful bad guys and a message about acceptance and a rejection of bigotry that hit the spot for me. Mavis and Leonardo are buying a house and there are updates with Peabody and McNab as well as the usual (welcome) interludes with Roarke and Eve. Susan Ericksen’s narration embodies the In Death series for me. Even if I read a book, it’s her voice(s) I hear in my head as I do. She’s consistently reliable and has a wide range of character voices – which is necessary with such a large recurring cast.

Grade: B

REVIEW: Shadows in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen

October 21, 2020 / Kaetrin

CW: Rape, graphic violence

Why I read it: This is one from my own TBL.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Lt. Eve Dallas is about to walk into the shadows of her husband’s dangerous past.

As it often did since he’d married a cop, murder interrupted more pleasant activities. Then again, Roarke supposed, the woman lying in a pool of her own blood a few steps inside the arch in Washington Square Park had a heftier complaint.

When a night out at the theatre is interrupted by the murder of a young woman in Washington Square Park, it seems like an ordinary case for Detective Eve Dallas and her team. But when Roarke spots a shadow from his past in the crowd, Eve realises that this case is far from business as usual.

Eve has two complex cases on her hands – the shocking murder of this wealthy young mother and tracking down the shadow before he can strike again, this time much closer to home. Eve is well used to being the hunter, but how will she cope when the tables are turned? As Eve and the team follow leads to Roarke’s hometown in Ireland, the race is on to stop the shadow making his next move . . .

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I have enjoyed the In Death series for many years. Eve Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Mira and the rest are kind of like family now, I feel like I know them so well. Right now I’m reading fewer and fewer books with police officers as main characters but I make exception for Eve. Maybe that was a mistake this time. Continue reading

February Round Up

March 2, 2020 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Golden in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B+ Can you even believe this is book 50 in the In Death series?? That must be some kind of record. Normally, I bail out of a series at about book 12 or so but I’m still up for stories about Eve Dallas, Roarke and the rest of the crew. I am desperate for Morris to get a HEA – maybe next book??

Golden in Death has the trademark characters I care about in a very short time. The families of the victims, most of the victims themselves were all well drawn as usual.

This book had many twisty turns and red herrings so it took a long time (in terms of listening, not in terms of days of investigation by Eve and Peabody) to get ID the who-did-it. I liked this. It felt like the kind of thing that might occur in a real police investigation. I also liked that Roarke had a part to play in the investigation but it wasn’t massive. Most of the work was Eve and Peabody. While McNab and even Feeney were involved, it was mainly the core two detectives and that was a little different to previous books as well. Continue reading

November Round Up

December 3, 2019 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Vendetta in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B Book 49 in the series takes place in about 4 days from start to finish and is obviously heavily inspired by #MeToo. At first I was a little worried about the killer being a woman who calls herself “Lady Justice” and abducts, tortures and kills men she has judged as being lacking. The first victim was certainly someone who inspired little sympathy (very much a Harvey Weinstein/Roger Ailes type character, albeit in a different industry). I didn’t want to read a story where the victims were all horrible men – I felt like that would have been too on the nose for me. However, after a while I saw that Robb did something clever here. There were a couple of victims/targets who did little more than divorce their wives (we aren’t privy to all the circumstances, though in some cases we can guess) and this served to illustrate that Lady Justice wasn’t really about “justice” at all. It was not a case of the punishment necessarily fitting the “crime” – in some cases, there was no crime. There were also multiple stories about women who had been assaulted by men, sexually or otherwise. Their stories were (sadly) more familiar and here, justice bent toward them – actual justice; because Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody were on the case. There was a a strong believe women vibe and no endorsement of toxic male behaviour. So it wasn’t the book I feared at all. Continue reading

March Round Up

March 26, 2018 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Dark in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B- I’m still in for this series but Dark in Death was one of my least favourite books so far. In terms of romance, there wasn’t any conflict or tension between Roarke and Eve. They’re happy, having great sex and enjoying their marriage. That’s good and it’s not exactly that I get sick of it, but at the same time, I’d like a bit of conflict (with a happy resolution of course!) to shake things up a little. The main issue I had with the book however is the premise. A killer is recreating murders from a police procedural series and particularly the section where Eve is interviewing the author and talking about fan expectations and the challenges of being an author were just too meta for me. (I had a similar issue with the latest Suzanne Brockmann.) I can’t help but feel like the actual author is talking to the reader this way and even if that is only in my imagination, it makes me uncomfortable. There wasn’t really anything objectionable in what was said but I want to be immersed in the story and forget about the author altogether when I read/listen and I couldn’t here.

The other thing to mention is that a member of Eve’s squad, Jenkinson, uses a transphobic slur twice in the course of a conversation with Eve and there was zero narrative pushback on it. I do not accept that such slurs are okay in 2062 – they’re certainly not okay now. I dearly wished Eve would have told Jenkinson off about it. Continue reading