Echoes in Death (In Death, #44)

by J D Robb

[EBookObsessed]

Eve Dallas is one of my favorite characters. Even after 44 novels, I am still hooked. These characters feel like old friends and the investigations are always intriguing and sometime even disturbing. I can’t wait to read more.

Since there is always someone dying in these novels and some more than others are quite twisted, I can never say how excited I am about the next story without feeling a little twisted myself. But as much as the stories are captivating, it is the main characters themselves and the evolution of the relationships which keep me coming back time and time again.

We have seen over the last 44 books the emotional growth of Eve Dallas and the growing relationship between Eve and Roarke. This is somewhat reflected in the fact that recently they have redesigned their bedroom into a mutually reflective space as well as Eve’s home office into a more functional space that adds extra workstations for when Roarke assists or she and Peabody are working from the house. Eve’s home office used to be an exact copy of her old apartment and this change reflected the changes in Eve from the loner she was to the team player she is, whether with a task force put together for her cases or just herself and Roarke.

Echoes in Death was suppose to indicate an echo of Eve’s violent past and the pain suffered at the hands of her father, but I didn’t feel that imagery here as much as I have in prior books. I didn’t feel this case and the violence against the wife’s was anymore reflective of Eve’s past than we have seen before.

Eve and Roarke are dragged into a series of home robberies because one of the victims literally collapses in the street in front of their car. They get her to the hospital and after IDing her, they go back to her house and find her husband’s body. A search of like crimes eventually brings up a few other home invasions with similar circumstances which gives Eve a start on her investigation. The do indicate that three is the magic number for a pattern to be found in the crimes which is why most of her investigations will have at least three victims or attacks.

These couples were attacked and robbed in their homes. The husband was tied up and beaten and the wives were violently raped and beaten. Each case became increasingly violent until the attacker finally kills with the last victims and that increased his desire to kill his next victims.

Maybe I have just read enough J.D. Robb books or thrillers in general, but I thought that in this book, Eve wasn’t focusing where she should and while elimination of all possible suspects is necessary, I thought the obvious choice was being ignored. The case was interesting but the investigation seemed a bit pointless in that Eve appeared to be chasing her tail with all of this investigation and nothing seemed to be standing out…until it simply did at the end. It was like she was investigating the correct suspect in her head the whole time and not letting anyone else know. I just kept wondering why this one stood out for me more than for her. The investigation itself was lackluster and not exciting.

In a series that now contains 44 books, this will not stand out.

I am not done with Eve and Roarke and may never be. I will be waiting excitedly for the next book to come out this Fall.