Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

JDRobb-Naked in Death

JDRobb-Naked in DeathEvery time I mentioned LE to my Mother-In-Law, she would start to talk about Nora Roberts’ (aka J.D. Robb) “In Death” series. Then I got jury duty and needed to take a paperback since they wouldn’t allow e-readers at the courthouse, so I borrowed the first of the series, Naked in Death, to try it out. I started reading it the day before I was to start. Naked in Death never made it to jury duty; I finished it that night (luckily I had a backup paperback).

In a world of danger and deception, she walks the line–between seductive passion and scandalous murder…

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all–and knows her survival depends on her instincts. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire–and a suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about–except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

Set in 2058, with legalized prostitution and off world resorts, New York Police Detective Eve Dallas finds herself investigating the murders of a cereal killer who is killing prostitutes with “antique” firearms. Eve is an orphan who doesn’t remember her past. She’s not very glamorous, but somehow she catches the eye of one of the suspects, an extremely rich eccentric named Roarke. And frankly anyone who will feed my coffee addiction is good in my book.

A very fast paced book, I enjoyed Naked in Death. The characters were great, not a whole lot of personal relationships (except for Eve & Roarke), but it’s early in the series. I like Eve, she’s a rich character with flaws and advantages and a weakness for real fresh coffee. Roarke on the other hand seems a bit of a “Mary Jane” character to me. He’s good at everything illegal and has enough money to do whatever he wants at a snap of his fingers. He fits into the category of guys I just don’t like because everything always goes right for them. His only weakness is the main character, Eve. I did like the idea that he wanted her because she was unattainable, and the wrong kind of girl for him. She needed something to go right for her.

In all, I’m glad I borrowed Naked in Death from my Mother-In-Law. It’s not my favorite series, but it’s still pretty entertaining. Robb must be doing something right to have over 20 books in the series, and it’s still going. I’ve already borrowed the next two. (By the way, a P-90 is not a handgun. It’s technically classified as a carbine. They are near and dear to my heart as I made a P-90 doily for a friend who said that doilies couldn’t be manly. He loves it.)

Spoilerish: Unfortunately I think Eve caved into his whims way too early in Naked in Death for me. I figured who the killer was right away, sort of. I had the motives all wrong. It surprised me about the original murder and the plot, but it takes all kinds of sick people out there.

Also reviewed by: Eclectic Review, The Jason Jack, The Book Binge, Writing for Keeps, ALPHA Reader

About Trish 11 Articles
Wife & Mom, part-time Chiropractic Assistant, Costumer, and avid table top Role-player/GM. Strong interest in history and historic fiction. Is totally loving the Steampunk movement.

5 Comments

  1. All I can say is… keeping reading… I know that the series is a bit daunting at 36 books and 8? novellas but the world and characters definitely get fleshed out a lot more and the relationships get more complicated. Roarke stays mysterious and perfect for the first couple of books and then we get hints of his back story. Eve as well, but that’s broadly hinted at in book 1. Her full back story doesn’t get revealed until New York to Dallas, book 34, which was why the title was so different from the “In Death” theme. I’m also a raver about this series so I’m pretty confident that if you put your head down and start reading, you’ll fall in love too. For the most part, the reason I love this series so much is that the “series lag” really hasn’t hit yet (amazing after 36 books). There have been some that I went… meh that was ok (but never bad)… but for the most part, once I’m finished, I’m raving. The “mysteries” aren’t repetitive that I can tell and since the relationships are growing, there aren’t a lot of frustrating stops and starts.

    Ok… I’m done now… :)

  2. I love, love, love this series. Have read most of the books twice and now working my way through series on audiobook, listening in the car. The characters really grow on you. Like erin said, each book brings in more tidbits of back story. The murders are always interesting and watching Eves brain at work as she investigates and searches for the murderer is always intriguing. Some stories are better than others, but as a whole, this is one great series. Keep reading and you can’t go wrong.

  3. It’s funny, while I enjoyed this first book, I wasn’t hooked enough to commit to reading the series. It’s amazing how many books Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb continues to crank out! But now, seeing these other comments makes me wonder if I shouldn’t pick up the second book. We’ll see… Great review! :-)

  4. This is one of my favorite series! And I will echo everyone else by saying that the series gets better and better. My favorite thing about the book is that character growth that occurs as the series progresses. Enjoy!

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