Creation in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: November 6, 2007 (Putnam)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #25
Rating: 8/10

Have I run through almost the entire In Death series already? I think I should save Strangers in Death for a rainy day! As I'm behind in my reviews (I can't remember the last time I've been on time with them), I'm resorting to the publisher's summary.

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas keeps the streets of a near-future New York City safe in this extraordinary series. But even she makes mistakes, and is haunted by those she couldn't save-and the killers she couldn't capture. When the body of a young brunette is found in East River Park, artfully positioned and marked by signs of prolonged and painful torture, Eve is catapulted back to a case nine years earlier. The city was on edge from a killing spree that took the lives of four women in fifteen days, courtesy of a man the media tagged "The Groom"- because he put silver rings on the fingers of his victims.

When it turns out that the young brunette was employed by Eve's billionaire husband, Roarke, she brings him in on the case-a move that proves fitting when it becomes chillingly clear that the killer has made his attack personal. The victim was washed in products from a store Roarke owns, and laid out on a sheet his company manufactures.

With the Groom's monstrous return, Eve is determined to finish him once and for all. Familiar with his methods, Eve knows that he has already grabbed his next victim. Time is running out on another woman's life.

And chances are he's working up to the biggest challenge of his illustrious career-abducting a woman who will test his skills and who promises to give him days and days of pleasure before she dies: Eve.

This was standard Eve/Roarke fare. The emotional drama in this one comes from Feeney, who takes umbrage to Eve taking point on the investigation. With Eve's traumatic childhood, Feeney is really the only father she's ever known, and his anger at her in how she's doing her job (may as well insult her for her entire life, because that's what her job is) throw her off severely.

The villain was a little disappointing. I'm not sure if I've been desensitized to Eve's opponents by now. It always comes down to Mommy issues with murder mysteries like this, where the women are hurt and the bodies prepared like they were for the Groom. However, it's still a good entertaining read.