I also agree about the whole “Eve’s childhood and getting over it”. Eventually she will have to come to terms with her childhood and vanquish the demon once and for all. But the theme play much too often and sometimes ruins the mystery and thrill of the book. I like that Roarke and Eve are married, and feel that their “team play” in this book was so-what forced too but I still want them to be a couple. They do make a good pair.

Now I want Robb to put more time and thought into what she does so well. I am finding this book plodding and boring. I enjoy the humor of Summerset, and sometimes would like him to take more part in some of the books. I find it endearing that he has a soft spot for Eve, that he hides well. I do adore the way Robb shows the tender feelings between Roarke and Eve. Robb “gets” how women want to be the One and Only. And I like the tech stuff.

Eve has such a fear of babies and little kids, I keep thinking there will come a time when she and Roarke will have a baby. I think it would be a hoot and a time for all of the characters to come even more alive. That will be the only thing that will “round out” and evolve Eve’s wonderful, sassy character. And Roarke will guide her into finding that gentleness and tenderness that is now only resolved for her man.

I did notice that Peabody is getting a little backbone. That’s nice. But something makes me think this book was either a little forced by Robb, or her publishers were pushing her. I’m still looking forward to the next in the series.

Eve, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Sommerset, Mavis, etc., RULE!!!

I liked how Ms Roberts handled the religion aspects of the book.

My favorite thing about Roarke and Eve has always been the small moments, the ordinariness in the midst of the craziness (a smart-ass comment or the buzz of perfect understanding between them), and I have had a harder time discerning those moments in recent books. Although I definitely remember Roarke using the word “shagging” before (did he use it in Divided, too?).

I just love those small moments and smart-ass comments. I’m always looking forward to those things everytime I read an In Death. And you are right Robin, Roarke has been using the “shagging” word since Divided in Death. He also used that in Born, Survivor, Creation and very recently in Strangers in Death. Usually when he is pissed with Eve and they have a fight.

I’d even say I buy into Eve’s continual nightmares and continual trauma from her childhood, as well as her relationship with Somerset. I actually adore their relationship because while they may not necessarily like each other, they respect each other and they both love the same man (albeit in a different way unless Somerset is keeping mum about something :). They both seem to get some enjoyment out of their bickering, as if it’s a contest to see who can get the last word in.

When I look at Eve’s and Roarke’s relationship realistically, it makes sense – the need for Eve to make Roarke prove himself to her time and again, the random bickering over what seems to be little things, and even Eve’s workahlism. But the reader in me wishes they’d speed things along a little faster and move on to the next phase of their relationship, whatever that may be (and by gods, no I don’t mean kids, because lordy… I think Galahad the cat would have more clue what to do with a baby then the rest of the household).

It’s an interesting balance authors have to find with their readers and their characters. The readers tend to expect things to move along faster, I think, because we’re in our own timeline, whereas authors sometimes move their characters along much more slowly because their in their world’s timeline. One author that stopped working for me was Janet Evanovich’s Plum series. Stephanie never seemed to change or develop as a character and I stopped reading at book 9. At the very least, the In Death books are only a touch behind where I want the characters to be!

Strickly from a writer’s pov–and I may have mentioned this before–it can be, well is, tricky knowing that I have to intro the characters, relationships, even the setting for any potential new readers while not bogging down in that and boring those familiar with the series.

I did it for ONE book, where I wrote a true sequel and went nuts with how to trickle in back story and character relationships. It’s more common in mystery than romance, I think, and harder to do in romance as well. Kudos, hats off, props, and all the rest for those authors (Nora Roberts being way up there on the list) who can sustain it over so many books.

It can be almost as tricky to move those characters and relationships along at a pace that satisfies readers in real time–but remains as true as possible to book-time.

It’s interesting and challenging creatively, but there’s no doubt some of the repetition necessary, or the pace, won’t hit all the notes for long-time readers.

As for Summerset and Eve, I think they’ve settled into a comfortable relationship based on mutual respect and even affection, although neither would admit it. Their sniping sounds more like my kids’ sniping at each other: habitual and with no real animosity behind it.

gotta go now: gotta go run to Borders for my copy of The Pagan Stone. Love ya, Nora!

I had the same issue with the dreams and everyone was having them – even Roarke. I think Eve has been dreaming these crime solving dreams for the last three or four books but I maybe it has been longer.

Are you talking about the dreams where she mixes her own personal history with elements of the case? Because I think she’s been having those for a long time (I keep thinking about Immortal, but I can’t find the book and don’t know why it’s popping into my head). I haven’t read Salvation yet, though I might be misunderstanding what you’re talking about here. Although I have to say that the disparities between the mystery and the relationship have been more noticeable to me in the past few books, so I wasn’t surprised to see that in your review.

IMO there’s a real tension in the way different readers respond to the Roarke-Eve dynamic and to Eve’s past, and — to me — it feels less like the relationship is moving at its own pace and more like the books are fluctuating between pushing Eve too fast toward healing (I am one of those who thinks it’s too early for her to be emotionally healthy, no matter how much Roarke is king of the universe and the perfect lover, lol) and slowing her down.

My favorite thing about Roarke and Eve has always been the small moments, the ordinariness in the midst of the craziness (a smart-ass comment or the buzz of perfect understanding between them), and I have had a harder time discerning those moments in recent books. Although I definitely remember Roarke using the word “shagging” before (did he use it in Divided, too?). Anyway, I think at this point in the series different readers will respond to different things in it. For me the mysteries have gotten a lot stronger but I often feel that the relationship rhythm of the series through Portrait just isn’t the same, although I’m sure some readers really like that. It’s made me a bit wistful for the ‘good old days’ of the series, though, lol.

This was my first try on an audiobook and all I can say is yikes! I think it may have killed whatever appreciation I may have on the book and audiobooks as a whole. The Roarke accent was weird. My friend’s Irish boyfriend doesn’t sound like that at all. I didn’t like the narrator’s take on Peabody either. I think I’ll stick to books in the future.

It took me a while to adjust to Erickson’s reading the series, too. And even now, there are things I really like about her reading and things I don’t. For example, Leonardo sounding like a bad Gorbachev imitation, Peabuddy’s character (intentional phonetic misspelling there), and Roarke’s Irish Spring accent are annoying as hell to me, but I like the way she reads Eve and Mira, and I find her voice pleasing when she’s not working the character dialogue (Mavis can be annoying, but maybe that’s in character, lol).

What I want to know is–how come (I have it from the library–I’m currently broker than usual–but I’m assuming it’s the same on all editions) Nora’s presence has almost entirely disappeared? No “Nora Roberts Writing As”, no photo on the back (which I don’t miss, it doesn’t look much like her), no mention of her name in the biography (though the fact that it’s a pseudonym is there). Were it not for Nora’s name on the copyright page, I’d start to wonder… (Okay, not really.

A few years ago I read an article in one of those money-focused magazines (Forbes, Fortune?) about the way Roberts’s publishing team created this very deliberate campaign to create mystery around who JD Robb was, building it until some strategic point in the series (less than 10 books in) where they made a big reveal, taking advantage of the readers who had picked up the series and gotten hooked without knowing it was Roberts as well as those who were already part of her readership. IIRC, they even had banners in the bookstores with stuff like “Who is JD Robb?” to build up the suspense and the attention. It sounds like perhaps they’re revisiting that sort of campaign to expand her readership beyond Romance again.

It will be interesting to see if it works again, now that people do know Roberts and Robb are the same. Although I must say that whenever I take my car to the dealership for service, it seems I see an older male customer reading one of the hardcover Robb books (with the back photo and Roberts name). I’m curious to know how much overlap there is between readers of King’s novels and the Robb books, though.

What I am worried about (I have said this before) is that Eve and Roarke’s relationship was so smooth in this one I am wondering if this is the calm before the storm and will there be a lot of angst and turmoil in Promises in Death. (Kind of like Innocent in Death-one of my favorites).

RE: Her relationship with Summerset being static I don’t believe that to be the case. The animosity is comfortable because no dedicated reader would believe that Eve would suddenly declare some sort of emotion for anyone. Their are subtle changes in how they both feel for each other and that is clear in each book.

Eve believes showing emotion is a weakness, so she has to work on it. That she is willing to work outside her comfort zone for Roarke is a clear indication that he is at the top of priority list even though she tries to make it look otherwise.

If Nora wrote a book where Eve was suddenly friendly, loving, romantic, etc etc it would end the series for me. When you consider the timeline of each book is only a matter of days or weeks, the entire series only a couple of years – her personal growth has been unfolding nicely.