Review: SEDUCTION IN DEATH

Seduction In Death by JD Robb
Book 13 of the In Death series
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Genre: SciFi murder mystery, police investigation, crime fiction
Format: paperback, (unabridged) audiobook

About Seduction In Death:

New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, continues her prolific string of hits with her latest installment in the In Death series of futuristic thrillers starring hard-boiled detective Eve Dallas and a quirky cast of characters, including Eve's husband, Roarke, who owns most of Manhattan and can be relied upon to bring all his considerable resources to bear to help his wife solve the case whether she wants him to or not, and Peabody, Eve's uptight assistant, who has an off-again, on-again thing going with the irreverent Officer McNab. This time Eve is on the trail of a serial killer--or maybe killers--who stalks young women looking for love in online poetry chat rooms. Once a romantic date has been arranged, the murderer sets the scene with roses, champagne, and candlelight, then serves his unsuspecting victims a lethal combination of date-rape drugs that takes them to the height of pleasure and too far beyond. But this killer is really clever, altering his look to become each victim's dream date. What a nightmare! Detective Dallas is on the case, chasing an anonymous psychopath with a twisted taste in romance. But Eve seems a little more fragile this time around, still plagued by the nightmare of childhood abuse. Is retirement from the business of crime solving in the near future for Detective Dallas? Robb has found a winning formula in the genre, so hopefully we'll see a lot more of peppery Eve Dallas. --Alison Trinkle

Source: Info in the About Seduction In Death was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1280353.Seduction_in_Death on 19/06/2012.

Review:

This is the first book in this series that Susan Ericksen did not make Peabody sound pinched-nosed. That was a bit of a surprise given that I already gotten used to hearing Peabody as pinched-nosed character. When I first encountered it, I didn't really like it that Peabody sounded pinched-nosed. But now that I'd gotten used to it after, what, ten books? I didn't like it that Peabody has changed voiced. I guess change doesn't sit well with me...

Previous books had the slightly predictable factor. In this book that predictability element has been taken out from the equation entirely by the simple expedient matter of the readers being informed exactly who the villain was from the get go. So the the story is not so much as finding out who murdered who but the "how" Eve managed to get 'em. I think this is my favouritest of the series thus far :)

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = N/A (11hours & 56minutes audiobook)
Plot = 4.5
Narrator = 4

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries