Midnight in Death
by J.D. Robb
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Book Reviews of Midnight in Death
Book Review: A reissue from a collection - worth reading if you missed it!
Summary: 4 Stars
The story was first presented in the "Silent Night" anthology and immediately follows the full-size novel "Holiday in Death". We begin with Eve Dallas being called to investigate a body in Times Square of a judge found very early Christmas morning. The body was dumped after the judge had been brutally tortured and slowly hung to death. A note is left with the body but is not really needed as Eve recognizes the work of Dave Palmer who she helped capture and put away 3 years ago. Dave Palmer is a psycho and has left a list of those he intends to kill with Eve at the bottom of the list. It also includes the assistant prosecuting attorney, his defense lawyer and the police's own, Dr. Mira, friend of Eve's. Roarke offers his help and Eve accepts to give her aide, Peabody, more time to recover from an attack (see "Holiday in Death"). As Eve and Roarke and Captain Feeney and others including eventually Peabody follow up clues, interview Palmer's parents and so on, Dave Palmer is anything but idle as he starts going methodically through his list to capture, torture and kill the people he holds responsible for his incarceration. Eve's race against the clock is exciting.
Yes this is a very SHORT story but I found it to be very detailed and well written in spite of the limitations. A good link between regular In Death novels and enjoyable as a stand alone.
Book Review: There is no time for any significant undercurrents or other distractors, the story moves very quickly
Summary: 3 Stars
This short story is chilling, as Lieutenant Eve Dallas is pursuing a serial killer. A few years ago, Dallas put brutal killer David Palmer behind bars. His M. O. was to capture people and slowly torture them to death in order to determine how much the human mind could endure. He carefully recorded all that was done, in his delusions, Palmer believes that he is being scientific. Somehow, he has managed to escape and now he is systematically killing the people involved in his capture, trial and imprisonment.
His first victim is the judge, but his real target is Dallas. She was the one who interviewed him and got inside his head in an attempt to learn his motivations for killing. At only 90 pages in length, the story starts moves and ends fast. While there is a climactic ending, it is short, with little dramatic buildup. The setting is several years in the future, but the hints of advanced technology are undeveloped, so they are incidental to the story.
If you are a murder mystery buff, you may not like this story due to the speed of development. Most people who love that genre prefer stories that build slowly and have a lot of significant undercurrents. This one moves so quickly that there is no time for that. Since I prefer the more slowly developing story, my ranking is only three stars.
Book Review: A Follow Up
Summary: 3 Stars
If you are new to the series, or are reading the series in order, the best time to read this book is immediately after Holiday in Death. The other reviews under this book complain about the re-issue because the rather short book had been published as part of an anthology. But the book is actually an continuation of Holiday in Death. If you have not read the anthology, pick it up. It continues the development of the relationship between Dallas and Roarke through their first holiday season. If you have read Holiday in Death and are unaware of the anthology, you will find yourself disappointed in how Dallas handled the rest of the holiday season which was started in that book. Midnight in Death picks up that thread very nicely and it finishes it out, including how Dallas finishes giving out her Christmas gifts. In terms of the ongoing character development Robb engages in with Dallas, this is very interesting. Dallas is not as socially inept as she believes herself to be and the reader really gets a glimpse of that in this short read. She may not be comfortable with it, but she can do it. The actual mystery may not be up to Robb's usual intricacies, but it serves as the "gluing agent" to finish up Holiday in Death. It's entertaining and works well.Book Review: Again a reply for reviewer Deb:
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to agree with Jill on her reply to Deb.
But I would like to add some suggestions and observations...
What helps is the inside sleeve of the JD Robb series list the
books of the IN DEATH series.
However, this book is listed under the compliation of
"Silent Night". So, new fans may not have been aware of this.
But if you look at when the book was written, that may have
shed some light that Midnight was not a new release.
(someone correct me if I am wrong on this point)
The first family Thanksgiving experience Roarke and Dallas have is in noted in the release of 'Origin In Death'.
Doubtful it will be expanded upon since they already dealt with
it.
Please note that the series started in 1995 so there are
quite a few books to catch up on if you are just starting out
now...
Honestly to truly appreciate the series you have to start at the
beginning with 'Naked'.
The newest one is out this week.. hope this helps.
A Nora/JD fan since 1984.
Book Review: Fun (but very short) Eve Dallas for the holidays...
Summary: 4 Stars
This 90-page novella (similar to the later "Interlude in Death") was published as a thin paperback to tide diehard Eve Dallas fans over the holidays at the close of 1998. In ten slim chapters, you don't get much back-story or character development, but the usual cast (Roarke, Peabody, et al) are all on deck to catch a murder discovered on Christmas morn, with the hope of a solution prior to the dawn of the new year. The plot gets going in a hurry as pinned to the dead body of Judge Wainger is a list of principals, including Dr. Mira and Lt. Dallas, responsible for sending murderer David Palmer to prison in an earlier story. Eve soon discovers Palmer's escaped prison and sets out to warn and protect others on the list of six intended victims, Eve herself the "coup de grace"." The hunt and chase are sustained until the very last page, giving us a typical hard-to-put-down outing by J.D. Robb - short, but sweet !