{"id":261,"date":"2004-03-20T16:04:34","date_gmt":"2004-03-20T21:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog-test\/?p=261"},"modified":"2004-03-20T16:04:34","modified_gmt":"2004-03-20T21:04:34","slug":"robb_jd_19_divi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/2004\/03\/robb_jd_19_divi\/","title":{"rendered":"Robb, J.D.: (18) Divided in Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> <\/a> <\/p>\n

One of the benefits of an ongoing series is that an author can build up an extended cast: for instant conflict, just put one of the cast in danger. Over the many “in Death” books, the friends and colleagues of Eve Dallas have been attacked by serial killers, charged with murder, and beaten up by her husband, Roarke. In the latest, Divided in Death<\/cite>, J.D. Robb<\/strong> turns to one of Roarke’s most trusted employees, his admin Caro (who finally gets a last name): her daughter is framed for a double murder.<\/p>\n

This is the first solo Robb book in hardcover [*], and perforce I checked it out of the library. (They’re guilty pleasures, not worthy of purchase in hardcover; besides, I was counting on these to help fill up the paperback shelves.) I speculate that the jump to hardcover affected the plot. On the personal level, it’s almost a reset in Eve and Roarke’s relationship, as they have their most serious conflict since they got married. I have become steadily more annoyed with Roarke as the series has progressed, and this book didn’t help that any. And on the mystery level, it has one of the more complicated plots that I can recall in these; which is not to say that it’s terribly interesting or plausible, because it isn’t. I really, really<\/em> wish someone would dissuade Robb from doing computer-based plots, because they are just laughably bad.<\/p>\n

Guilty, yes; pleasure, not so much. Too much angst—and just how long can Robb keep milking Eve’s tragic past, anyway? Sheesh.—and too many things running up against my willing suspension of disbelief. The next book looks to be a more traditional serial killer story, judging by the excerpt in the back of this book, and maybe that will be a return to form.<\/p>\n

[*] Remember When<\/cite><\/a> was co-written with Robb’s other persona, Nora Roberts (her real name).<\/p>\n

(But hey, these last few have been logged right after I finished the book in question. Except for half-a-dozen collections I’m partway through, and Sethra Lavode<\/cite>, which I will log when it’s released, I’m all caught up and can start making a dent in all the new releases I’ve been eagerly awaiting.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the benefits of an ongoing series is that an author can build up an extended cast: for instant conflict, just put one of the cast in danger. Over the many “in Death” books, the friends and colleagues of Eve Dallas have been attacked by serial killers, charged with murder, and beaten up by … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Robb, J.D.: (18) Divided in Death”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,89,6],"tags":[360],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-in-death","category-mystery","tag-robb-j-d"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelypips.org\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}