Visions in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: January 25, 2005 (Berkley)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #19
Rating: 8/10

Now this is an improvement on villains, with a murderer shaped by childhood abuse from his mother. It seems a lot of fictional murderers' problems are blamed on the mother, sometimes well deserved. In Eve and Roarke's case, they haven't let their horrible childhoods make them into evil adults.

On one of the city's hottest nights, New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas is sent to Central Park-and into a hellish new investigation. The victim is found on the rocks, just above the still, dark water of the lake. Around her neck is a single red ribbon. Her hands are posed, as if in prayer. But it is the eyes-removed with such precision, as if done with the careful hands of a surgeon-that have Dallas most alarmed.

As more bodies turn up, each with the same defining scars, Eve is frantic for answers. Against her instincts, she accepts help from a psychic who offers one vision after another-each with shockingly accurate details of the murders. And when partner and friend Peabody is badly injured after escaping an attack, the stakes are raised. Are the eyes a symbol? A twisted religious ritual? A souvenir? With help from her husband, Roarke, Dallas must uncover the killer's motivation before another vision becomes another nightmare...

The psychic assisting on the case really annoyed me, because while in Eve's time, there are reputable "sensitives," I was still skeptical about her. Her visions weren't really helpful, and she was so whiny in a "I didn't ask for this to happen to me, why me, why me" way.

The twist at the end was pretty good, but wholly unnecessary if you were to get rid of the psychic all together. The book would've been fine without her side plot.