Fantasy In Death: 30 (In Death, #30)

by J D Robb

Murder did that. Took lives, crushed others. But why? Money. Jealousy. Revenge. Secrets. Passion. Whatever the answers, the method had been bold and complex.

They were best friends, driven by a shared vision to rule the world of virtual reality games. Their newest invention, developed to transport the player into a fantastical virtual world, is about to be launched. But suddenly, Bart, the brains behind it all, is found brutally killed - defeated by his own game. Their close-knit group is torn apart. Who could have engineered such a devastating virtual death?

Even Eve Dallas, New York City's most cunning investigator, is thrown. But as she peels back layers of secrets, revenge and misplaced allegiances, she realises the depth of the killer's master plan. And she knows his game is far from over . . .

• ISBN10: 0748115943
• ISBN13: 9780748115945
• Publish Date: 21 January 2010
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

To read this review and more check out my blog Afterwords!

So, I suppose it's no surprise to anyone that I love this series, considering this is the 30th book in the series. Granted, I haven't read all the previous ones, but I have read... what, twenty? Clearly; I'm a fan.

But some mysteries hit me harder than others, and this is one of those cases.

I know exactly what caused my fierce reaction; the theme of friendship. You see, I am a very loyal friend, and I have friends who I would die for... and I know they would die for me. Dramatic, maybe, but also fundamentally true.

The friendship in this book reminded me of that. The friends reacted so strongly to Bart's death that I prayed none of them did it. I wanted Eve to be wrong, just this once. For the killer to be someone unrelated; not one of these friends that Bart loved, and trusted, and cherished. Not one of these friends that appeared so ravaged by his death.

Their pain broke my heart, but the notion that one of them actually did it crushed the pieces into dust.

So... yeah. FANTASY IN DEATH was such a hard, painful read for me. It made my stomach churn and my anxiety level rise. It took me longer to read because I was honestly scared to read who'd done it.

The only pleasant part of this novel was Eve, Roarke, and the wonderful supporting cast. I have no idea how Robb does it, but these people are still as compelling 30 books later as they were in the first one. And they are "people", not just characters on paper. They are as real as you and me. The only difference is that they are fictional. I know that sounds contrary but just.. just think about it. You know what I mean.

Anyways, how come this series hasn't been adapted for a tv series yet?? Some of the longest running shows are detective shows with romance undertones like Castle, The Mentalist, and Bones--this would be perfect for that.


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Original Unedited Thoughts
Sigh.

As a book, this is great. As always, Eve and Roarke and the gang are as compelling 30 books in as they were in the first. But this one also broke my heart into little pieces. I hate cases like this. Cases where the crime was done by someone you loved, and trusted, and cherished. Those kick me right in the gut. I didn't want it to be true! Yet.. it was. It sucked.

[Berls]

This was a fun one! As a video game fan, I really enjoyed the futuristic play with video games for one. But there was also the element of -- was this really a murder? I spent most the book wondering if Eve was going to find a culprit or a technological error. And I wondered how in the hell she'd figure it out. OF course she did and yeah, it was good!

[mitabird]

3.5 stars