Portrait in Death
by J. D. Robb
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Book Reviews of Portrait in Death
Book Review: A well-drawn portrait
Summary: 4 Stars
It is circa 2059 in Manhattan and NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas hurtles into her investigation of the death of Columbia University undergraduate Rachel Howard, morbidly immortalized on a portrait completed by an audacious killer who announces his deeds through the city's most popular Channel 75. Suspects from the bar Rachel frequents are singled out along with her dates, imaging professor and a temperamental artist Hastings at Portography who holds images of Rachel - and the second victim. Like an intense episode of CSI, J.D Robb swerves her 16th vehicle with a frenetic pace and futuristic crime procedurals with more depth in her central protagonists Eve and Roarke. Marital blues storm ahead as Roarke traces his blurred pasts and discovers his father had brutally murdered his tender Irish maid of a mom. Eve is caught between her job and insecurities towards marriage, inducing a fragility that sheds away her resilient, edgy mantle.
Portrait in Death blasted off with a bold and imaginative concept on a gripping obsession of immortality and light but its denouements and depth faltered with Robb's emphasis on the action and characters. It is thus strait-jacketed into a futuristic thriller.
And plenty of thrills it gives - with the occasional snappy humor between Eve and her assistant Peabody to relieve the thickening tension. J.D Robbs draws her portrait with an atmosphere of darkness - stark in its deranged killer to his disillusioned motives and a wild climax to rescue a teammate from the clutches of the killer. This is a lean hard pulsating machine strictly designed to thrill with chills.
Book Review: SO ..... DID I MISS SOMETHING? ...
Summary: 3 Stars
"Portrait in Death" is the first book I have read by this writer. I selected it and another one, "Witness in Death" because I love a good thriller/mystery that I just can't put down. However, "Portrait in Death" was a book that I had to force myself to pick up and finish.
The story line has great potential but could have been developed more. I found there was too much text devoted to Eve and Rourke's sexual romps and at times read like some cheesy teen love novel. And what does Rourke's discovery about his mother have to do with anything? Oh, one more question, I may have missed it, but why does Peabody address Lt. Eve Dallas as "Sir?"
As to the character, Eve Dallas. Well ... jeeze... what's with the "tough babe" image. The coarse language, overly agressive behaviors, and inability to separate her personal from her professional life. This character really seems to have an axe to grind and I am not sure why. She is not like any detective I have ever known. The old adage, "you get more bees with honey than with vinegar" certainly applies to this situation. The character Lt. Dallas is not at realistic to the law enforcement profession, be it in 2059 or present day. Perhaps the author should have researched this a bit more.
As mentioned previously, at the time I purchased this book I also selected another from this series. I will attempt to read that book with an open mind and hope to find it to be "one that I cannot put down." However, based on my first exposure to Nora Roberts writings, my expectations at this point are less than grand.
Book Review: This one is a joy!
Summary: 5 Stars
Eve Dallas is in Heaven. Sommerset, her personal nemesis, is taking a vacation, and she is looking forward to twenty one joyful days without the stuck up butler making her life miserable. All this comes crashing down when he trips over her cat and breaks his leg, followed closely by a call from news reporter friend, Nadine, with a murder report. Eve shortly finds herself embroiled in a new case, where some sick individual is killing the beautiful and the innocent, after artistically posing them and making photos, so as to capture their souls and absorb them into himself. To make the whole situation worse, she lacks her faithful husband, Roarke's assistance, since he is on a personal quest to learn the truth about his mother. Not only does this mean he won't be able to help her solve the case, but it leaves her alone to deal with Sommerset, who is even worse to handle when he is bedridden and forced to cope with a too chirpy and cheerful physical assistant. The case takes on an even grimer turn when a friend is the killer's latest target. Eve must race against time, or lose someone she cares about.
***** Enjoyable as ever, this book is perhaps the best yet in this thrilling series. Eve is sharp as ever, her tough mien a thin disguise for the soft heart she hides. However, Roarke takes on an even greater depth, showing readers facets of himself beyond the sexy rouge gazillionaire we have grown to love. The plot and futuristic world as well crafted as ever, and revisiting the old friends we have made over the course of previous books is also a joy. *****
Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.
Book Review: Simply the Best! I Think.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm having a hard time deciding whether Portrait in Death has taken the place of Vengeance at the top of my *in Death* list. I think I need to read then BOTH again before I make a final decision, and that will be no hardship at all.Portrait is a indescribably wonderful book, to say I loved it would be a dreadful understatement. I laughed, I cried, I felt every emotion whilst reading it. This was without a doubt Roarke's book, much as Vengeance had been. But we saw a slightly different Roarke in this one, and as more of his past unfolded I wonder how many of we readers kept dry eyed, this reader certainly didn't.
Reading this masterpiece, I had to contemplate on how much Eve's character has evolved emotionally since we first met her in Naked in Death, she always cared so deeply but now she's able to show it, and I love it that she can.
The parts with Eve and Summerset were hilarious as always, I just love the interaction between them. I was broken hearted when one of my favourite secondary characters had heartbreak of his own to bear. Admittedly I love to see interation between Peabody and McNab as well, and there was less of this in Portrait, but the storyline was so compelling that I didn't miss it at all.
As for the thriller side of the story, it was a tight, excellent scenario and I never guessed who the killer was. But this is only a secondary to me, it's the wonderfully rounded characters that make these books a joy to read, and Portrait was one of, if not, THE best of the bunch.
Thank you Nora for giving us more of your special magic.
Book Review: superb romantic police procedural
Summary: 5 Stars
The summer of 2059 in New York City is brutally hot but Eve Dallas, a lieutenant in the New York Police and Security Department, is ecstatically happy. Her butler Summerset is taking a three-week vacation, which is expected to feel like a bit of R&R to Eve. Her joy quickly dissipates when Roarke's friend and majordomo trips over the cat and breaks his leg and shatters his shoulder. Her day gets even worse when she's called out on a brutal homicide and the victim is an innocent angelic girl who does not have an enemy in the world.Eve's husband Roarke learns news about his family and is distracted enough to withdraw from his wife and friend. Much to Eve's surprise she misses her husband's help especially when a second victim is found and it is obviously the work of the same perpetrator. Just before a third homicide occurs, Roarke goes to Ireland to get some answers and Eve follows him. When they return, they work together to bring the killer to justice. However, before they can find him, he grabs one of their own.
J.D. Robb has written her usual superb romantic police procedural but PORTRAIT IN DEATH varies from the other works in the series in two important ways. Roarke is given news that devastates his usual high level of confidence making him vulnerable. Eve finally has the hang of being a wife and gives him the emotional support he needs though at the cost of the investigation. The who-done-it is exciting of course though the culprit is someone to be pitied (as long as the victims are not from your family).
Harriet Klausner