Origin in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: July 12, 2005 (Putnam)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #21
Rating: 9/10

When a famous reconstructive surgeon is murdered in his office in broad daylight by his lunch appointment, Eve Dallas is first on scene with Detective Peabody. She does the usual digging into the past, and lots of people are offended, because this Dr. Icove Sr. was the best dude ever and pretty much shat golden eggs that he gave away for the great good of humanity, blah blah, how dare you insinuate he ever did anything bad, blah blah. Of course, his son, the second Dr. Icove is murdered soon after, and it's revealed that the Icoves were involved in human cloning of the cruelest kind. They want to control every baby that's born, eliminating imperfections and flaws as they see fit, and make it so every pregnancy is conducted artificially in a lab.

I laugh sometimes and say that having kids should require a license, but the Icoves took that idea and ran with it. Where does Roberts come up with this stuff? Anyone can come up with human cloning, but this creepy idea of Quiet Birth, where all babies are created in labs, made to order, and all humans are sterilized is like something from a scifi movie.

The mystery really ruled this book, and I was more than happy to eat it all up.