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A review by obsidian_blue
Concealed in Death by J.D. Robb
2.0
I have been reading JD Robb novels for more than a decade now. I fell in love with the characters from the first "In Death" novel and even though at times my love for the novels has waned a bit here and there I all in all thought these were always still a really good read. Until I came to "Concealed in Death".
The major issues with this novel is continutiy errors about a major part of Eve and Roarke's initial meet; a whole new backstory to Mavis which should have been alluded to in prior novels instead of dumped in this one, very few interactions with other characters that we have grown to love, same old same old with others, and Eve got on my nerves in this one (a lot).
As other reviewers have already said there was a major slipup regarding a button that Roarke always keeps on hand with him since it fell off the gray jacket she was wearing at a funeral when she met Roarke for the first time. I was a little surprised to see that error but figured hey mistakes happen.
Then we turn to Mavis. I really wish that Nora Robers had set up the revelations that readers will find out about Mavis. I am really annoyed it was kind of thrown at readers and as an aside that Dallas already knew this about her but she never told Roarke. I think it would have made for some interesting insight into Mavis all of these years instead of it being used to help Eve solve a case.
I was also annoyed at the lack of interaction between Eve, Baxter, Trueheart, Fenney, McNabb, etc. Instead we get a new character introduced to us who does seem interesting but all we get is Eve and her nasty (insert swear word) match with the person which caused me to start to dislike Eve... a lot. There was no need for the antagonism and I can already see in the next book that Eve will probably have to interact with this person a lot but knowing JD Robb this person will be a serial killer or something to justify Eve's immaturity. What about Louise and Charles? Where the heck was Feeney since he should have been called into help with a high profile murder like this with so many victims.
About the same old same old we have Nadine and Eve sparring (as usual) with Eve giving Nadine information like always. I don't need those scenes anymore. And now (mild spoilers follow) we have the promise of another movie being made about Eve which I don't look forward to at all (end of mild spoilers). I really didn't care for "Celebrity in Death" or any of the characters we met and the murder was just eh to me so I don't really want to go back into that world again. I hope if something materalizes it is off screen so to speak. We have Eve interacting with Dr. Mira and acting closed off then opening up. We have Eve being nasty to Summerset, etc., etc.
Speaking of Eve, I can honestly say there have been times where I disagreed with her or Roarke but always thought that deep down inside she didn't let petty nasty things get to her and seemed to always be about the law. This one she practically reverted to a teenager when not investigating the murders with regards to the new character. There were several other times when I was sick of her too. When we first find out about Mavis's past and the readers and even Eve can see that Mavis is shaken, Eve still tries to get down to just the facts man with Mavis. Roarke had to step in and stop her. Seriously. This is Eve's best friends, someone she loves like a sister and she is too far up her own butt with regards to her investigation to even think about Mavis right in that moment. I am sick of Eve doing this. Her job is important but it does not get to always be number one with others. I really wish some friends' of hers like Louise and Charles (remember them?), Mavis and Leonardo, someone just calls her out on it. It is not a sacrifice to hang out with your family and friends.
So to wrap it up I am annoyed I spent the money I did on this newest "In Death" when this was just a bad filler novel to me. If JD Robb wants to get back on track she actually needs to some growth with Eve. I was surprised in the last novel that Eve decided to go a different way in her career. What could have gave the "In Death" novels a nice shot in the arm would have been Eve having something new going on in her life instead of her just solving murders every other month (In Death timeline). Another reviewer made mention that it's time for Eve and Roarke to have a child so this series can end. If the next novel is as bad as this one than yes I will be happy to see this series end.
I would not recommend this novel.
The major issues with this novel is continutiy errors about a major part of Eve and Roarke's initial meet; a whole new backstory to Mavis which should have been alluded to in prior novels instead of dumped in this one, very few interactions with other characters that we have grown to love, same old same old with others, and Eve got on my nerves in this one (a lot).
As other reviewers have already said there was a major slipup regarding a button that Roarke always keeps on hand with him since it fell off the gray jacket she was wearing at a funeral when she met Roarke for the first time. I was a little surprised to see that error but figured hey mistakes happen.
Then we turn to Mavis. I really wish that Nora Robers had set up the revelations that readers will find out about Mavis. I am really annoyed it was kind of thrown at readers and as an aside that Dallas already knew this about her but she never told Roarke. I think it would have made for some interesting insight into Mavis all of these years instead of it being used to help Eve solve a case.
I was also annoyed at the lack of interaction between Eve, Baxter, Trueheart, Fenney, McNabb, etc. Instead we get a new character introduced to us who does seem interesting but all we get is Eve and her nasty (insert swear word) match with the person which caused me to start to dislike Eve... a lot. There was no need for the antagonism and I can already see in the next book that Eve will probably have to interact with this person a lot but knowing JD Robb this person will be a serial killer or something to justify Eve's immaturity. What about Louise and Charles? Where the heck was Feeney since he should have been called into help with a high profile murder like this with so many victims.
About the same old same old we have Nadine and Eve sparring (as usual) with Eve giving Nadine information like always. I don't need those scenes anymore. And now (mild spoilers follow) we have the promise of another movie being made about Eve which I don't look forward to at all (end of mild spoilers). I really didn't care for "Celebrity in Death" or any of the characters we met and the murder was just eh to me so I don't really want to go back into that world again. I hope if something materalizes it is off screen so to speak. We have Eve interacting with Dr. Mira and acting closed off then opening up. We have Eve being nasty to Summerset, etc., etc.
Speaking of Eve, I can honestly say there have been times where I disagreed with her or Roarke but always thought that deep down inside she didn't let petty nasty things get to her and seemed to always be about the law. This one she practically reverted to a teenager when not investigating the murders with regards to the new character. There were several other times when I was sick of her too. When we first find out about Mavis's past and the readers and even Eve can see that Mavis is shaken, Eve still tries to get down to just the facts man with Mavis. Roarke had to step in and stop her. Seriously. This is Eve's best friends, someone she loves like a sister and she is too far up her own butt with regards to her investigation to even think about Mavis right in that moment. I am sick of Eve doing this. Her job is important but it does not get to always be number one with others. I really wish some friends' of hers like Louise and Charles (remember them?), Mavis and Leonardo, someone just calls her out on it. It is not a sacrifice to hang out with your family and friends.
So to wrap it up I am annoyed I spent the money I did on this newest "In Death" when this was just a bad filler novel to me. If JD Robb wants to get back on track she actually needs to some growth with Eve. I was surprised in the last novel that Eve decided to go a different way in her career. What could have gave the "In Death" novels a nice shot in the arm would have been Eve having something new going on in her life instead of her just solving murders every other month (In Death timeline). Another reviewer made mention that it's time for Eve and Roarke to have a child so this series can end. If the next novel is as bad as this one than yes I will be happy to see this series end.
I would not recommend this novel.