Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb – a Review

Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), is the 36^th  book in the In Death series. With at least 10 novellas in this series, the number of times we get to spend time with our beloved couple, Eve and Roarke, and their friends is now in the high 40’s. Despite this high number, I never want this to end.  The In Death series is on my automatic buy, and I will drop whatever else I am reading to read the new book. On to Delusion in Death.

Description:
It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . .until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity—if not kill them outright.  But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror—or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne. . . .

Review:

Delusion in Death is another excellent book, and J.D. Robb once again gives us an exciting thriller.  Delusion in Death begins as the work day in New York City is ending, and people are either rushing home or stopping for a drink with friends to unwind.  As the story starts we are at a local bar, a nightly hangout for executives. We follow along as 4 friends sit at a table making plans for dinner.  Soon one of them gets a headache, and out of no where becomes violently nasty.  The next scene brings Lieutenant Eve Dallas to the bar, as she was called in to investigate a horrendous crime scene. 

Even Eve, who is always exposed to terrible crime scenes, and vicious murderers, finds herself fighting to maintain her calm composure seeing this mass destruction. We learn early on that within 12 minutes, 83 people were dead, having attacked each other like animals. The few survivors describe seeing hallucinations, of being attacked by monsters, animals, insects, and reacted in their own maddening rage of self defense.  The virus is a short acting virus, but unless they can escape, no one can survive.

Eve calls in her entire team to help with the bodies, and begin their investigations as to what caused this behavior, and to move quickly before it happens again.  Of course, as normal, Roarke arrives on the scene to help, and we find out that he owns the bar, which isn’t much of a surprise, as Roarke owns everything. 🙂  Working with Morris and Dickie, it doesn’t take Eve long to figure out that an airborne virus from a mixture of lethal drugs was used, causing massive deaths.  The immediate worry was if this was a terrorist attack, and the threat and fear of more to come. The scary part was this was the type of attack that can come with no warning, at anytime, anywhere, with massive deaths, if this was not confined within a small indoor area.  

What I really love about this series is how you find yourself totally immersed into the case with Eve, as you see and know everything she is thinking, and you follow the case as if you were along side her.  It was an exciting story, as Eve slowly, with the help of Roarke and her super team, begin to thread through all the details of the victims, and survivors to find the clues to unravel this mystery before another mass murder happens again.  We also get to learn more about the Urban wars, and possible terrifying scenarios that may have begun from those ugly war days. 

This story also brings back memories of some previous books, as they reference some of those cases.  Eve still has her nightmares, but now they were in-twined with her dead mother and father, and the victims of this mass murder.  Eve seems to finally have moved forward, and perhaps we can put those monsters to the hell they belong in.

What can I say about Roarke; how much he loves his cop, and how he ensures she takes care of herself, even if he has to push her to eat, and sleep.  Eve Dallas is my all time favorite female in the literary world.  She is a tough cop, with a horrendous childhood, and despite the odds, made herself into the best there is.  But she is also madly in love with the most perfect man Roarke (he is also my favorite male character), and together they help each other survive in a wild and dangerous world. 

The last half of the book is extremely exciting, more violence, as Eve and her team race against the clock to find those responsible. Along the way to the exciting climax, there are some twists and surprises.

Kudos to J.D. Robb (Nora), for keeping this series fresh, allowing us to share our love of Eve & Roarke, as well as the best secondary group of characters around.  It was great to be able to enjoy Peabody, Mira, Summerset (it was nice to see them civil to each other), Nadine, Baxter, Trueheart, McNab, Feeney, Morris and the rest of the gang.  I did think though that this book missed some of the humor between those secondary characters and Eve, though there was some.  Make no mistake, the In Death series is about murder, police, violence; but it is the love of Eve & Roarke, and the camaraderie between those wonderful secondary characters that makes this special.  Hopefully we see more of that in the next book, coming in February, 2013..Calculated in Death.

Reviewed by Barb