RITA Reader Challenge Review

RITA Reader Challenge: Chaos in Death by JD Robb

B

Title: "Chaos in Death"
Author: JD Robb
Publication Info: Jove 2011
ISBN: 978-0515149982
Genre: Paranormal

The Unquiet This review was written by Phyllis. This story was nominated in the Best Romance Novella category.

The summary:     

Eve and Rourke return to investigate a series of murders connected to a brilliant young surgeon in Chaos in Death.

And here is Phyllis's review:

[It was] OK but brutal and repetitive. Three young ex-junkies [are] murdered horribly by some freak with a messed up face who danced around merrily.

It was so obviously part of the series. I haven't read the series – I tried a couple of the books, but I guess if you don't start at the very beginning and read every single one of them (and there are what? 40 or something?) they don't make much sense. Well, that's how I felt about this novella.

It was so obviously part of the series. I haven't read the series – I tried a couple of the books, but I guess if you don't start at the very beginning and read every single one of them (and there are what? 40 or something?) they don't make much sense. Well, that's how I felt about this novella.

Roarke showed up and took her out to dinner, but he was apparently there to let Eve describe the crime scene AGAIN and then have sex, so there was no development of the relationship. There were also constant references to whatever happened to her arm on her last case, but no explanation of how or why that was important to the current case – because it wasn't.

The mystery was pretty good, but really, the Rita isn't a mystery award, is it? And while all the other stories in the anthology involved ghosts and wishes and so on, this one was about a serum that made the guy do a Mr. Hyde and go crazy. So more sci-fi? And poorly explained sci-fi at that. Anyway, I do like Nora Roberts' work, (I really dug the smoke jumper book – THAT was awesome) but it doesn't mean she should be nominated for absolutely everything she writes.

I have read all the novella nominations and have OPINIONS. I Love the Earl (Linden), Resolution (Jones), and Unforgiven (Langan) are my top picks in the category. But the winner will probably be Angel's Wolf by Nalini Singh, which was great until they revealed the attempted murderer and then it was all WTF.


This book is available from Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo.

Comments are Closed

  1. FairyKat says:

    This is a great review—get Phyllis to review more please!

  2. sao says:

    After 40 some books, is there a facet of Eve and Roarke’s relationship that hasn’t been explored? I liked the first book and have read a few of the others, but I don’t find I need to read all the series. In the first few books, the relationship developed, but now relationship crises just seem manufactured.

    Like when I had just started dating my husband and his ex-girlfriend moved back to town.  Crisis! A year later, I wasn’t happy when we were pretty committed and he had a platonic dinner with her. Now, after 18 years of marriage, if he gets an e-mail from her, I can’t even manage a nanosecond of concern.  Recent Eve and Roarke crises seem like the equivalent of my getting all hot and bothered over my husband’s getting a hey-how-ya-doing e-mail from woman he dated 20 years ago. 

  3. Ejaygirl says:

    You would REALLY have to read the series in order to truly understand the complexity and progression of Eve and Roarke’s relationship. Each book in the series represents about a month of elapsed timeline. Your comparison to your own experience won’t make sense once you read through the first 20 books as more of the characters’ backgrounds are revealed and explored. Until you’ve read the books, I wouldn’t make general statements. Try it out…then let us know if it made a difference.

  4. Ejaygirl says:

    Let this review be a warning to anyone reading a book in the In Death series, be it a novella or a full-length novel….it’s best served up by reading in order.

Comments are closed.

↑ Back to Top