Review - Delusion in Death

Delusion in Death

In Death Bk 35
J.D. Robb

Published: 13 September, 2012
PIATKUS, Paperback Trade, 388 p.
ISBN: 978-0-749-95512-0

Available at all good book stores.

'What would cause someone to want so many people, surely many of them strangers, to slaughter each other?'

The scene that greets Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her team one terrible evening in New York is more shocking than any of them have ever witnessed. The usually comfortable downtown bar is strewn with bodies - office workers who have been sliced, bludgeoned or hacked to death with the nearest weapon available. It appears they all turned on each other in a desperate blinding rage.

As Eve and her husband Roarke - who owned the bar among his many properties - investigate the big- business workers of the city, they link the attacks back to the Urban Wars and the chemical warfare used all those years ago. With another slaughter imminent, Eve must turn to unexpected sources in order to stop a killer who is getting revenge by creating mass carnage...

Delusion in Death was certainly worth the wait.  There are only a handful of these books that don't rate 4 plus stars from me, but this isn't one of them.  Set very soon after Celebrity (and only weeks after Eve's confrontation with McQueen and Stella), Eve is thrust back into the headlines with the mass murder of 83 bar goers.
 

A lot of our favourites make an appearance in Delusion.  Dr. Mira and Summerset are always on hand, with Peabody of course working side by side with Eve.  Strangely though, Mavis only has a quick scene, and most of the other cops only rate a mention now and then - even Feeney and McNab seem to revolve around Eve's peripheral view as she races to find a killer and prevent more murders.

 

Be warned - this book has the highest body count to date (127) but apart from a few instances we are spared a lot of the gruesome blow-by-blow details that have come up in some of the previous books.  Having said that, the descriptions that are included can be quite graphic, so if you're really squeamish you might have to skim a few sentences.  This is a back to basics book.  It's about the crimes and the murdered people that Eve takes under her wing.  While there are some funny moments, this is a police procedural at heart.  So if you're expecting to go through the emotional wringer with Eve and Roarke again, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Robb has concentrated on the murders this time.

My only criticism, and it's a small one, is the adding of new(ish) character very late in the piece - you know who I mean if you've read Delusion.  They were only mentioned in passing a few times in the book, then BAM! new character out of the blue.  Thankfully it works, but it wasn't what I expected that's for sure.

 

For those of you who haven't picked up Delusion yet, I would highly recommend you get your butts down to your local library or bookshop. For you newbies, start with Naked in Death (Book 1) and read them in order. This is important as the world of Eve can get a bit complicated, and with references from previous books being regularly thrown around you'll get lost if you haven't read them.

 

So, in all I enjoyed Delusion in Death.  I devoured it in no time (about 4 hours) and while it wasn't as funny as Celebrity in Death, it was a great addition to the series.  Robb will have to come up with something big to top the last few books.  Alas, I keep waiting for Eve to get pregnant, but I suspect that will only happen in the final book :-P

Be sure to pre-order your copy of Calculated in Death - due 26 February, 2013.