Random in Death definitely follows the format of the In Death series. Eve is at her usual best, with the help of Peabody, Rourke, and her department. Even though I know that she will solve the crime, the books are always worth reading! ( )

Eve was hoping for a quiet weekend off to spend with her husband Roarke when a call comes in taking her to Club Rock It where Avenue A is performing as they do each year to remember where they all started. The club is open that night to teens who pack the place.

One of the teens is Jenna Harbough who is a 16-year-old aspiring songwriter and performer who is hoping to get a chance to slip lead singer Jake Kincaid a copy of her demo. She isn't expecting to feel a poke in her arm and to die just minutes later in Jake's arms.

It looks like Jenna died of a drug overdose and it soon becomes apparent that the drugs were injected in her without her knowledge or consent. Investigations into her life don't reveal anyone known to her who might want her dead. The only clues on scene are some threads of fiber on a window in the mens' room and some scuff marks on the wall below the window.

The next night 17-year-old Arlie Dillon is at an open-air battle of the bands when she feels what she things is a bee sting on her arm. She dies just a few minutes later despite attempts from her friends and the MTs to save her. It is the same poison mix as killed Jenna. And Eve has a serial killer who is picking his victims randomly to find and stop before he can kill again.

Kiki Hernandez is almost the third victim when she feels an injection while she's at the premier of the latest blockbuster. But layers on her arms and a massive bruise where the killer tries to inject his poison causes her to make a commotion and send the killer running.

This case is a definite police procedural. Eve and her team have to gather the tiny clues left behind and many eyewitness accounts from people who didn't really look at the killer before she can find him and stop him.

This was another excellent episode in the long-running Eve Dallas series. I like the way she works with her team including especially Peabody and Jenkinson in this episode. I also like how characters from earlier series - Charles and Louise, Nadine Furst and Jake Kincaid, and Jamie and Quilla make important appearances in this episode.

I love her relationship with Roarke. This time their conflict centers around him giving her some pocket money when she forgets to visit an ATM. It hurts her pride to accept and his pride when she tries to pay him back.

Fans of the series won't want to miss this episode. I loved it so much I read it twice with just a few hours in between readings. ( )

mystery/suspense fiction (sexy crime novel); 58th in series, works ok as standalone/intro to Eve Dallas series since no one really has any personality, but it helps if you already know that Summerset is the housekeeper and Galahad is the cat.

- A homicide detective solves a case with a serial killer who chooses victims seemingly at random in 2061 New York City.

I have not read any Nora Roberts or J.D. Robb yet, but I am always placing requests on these for various library patrons, so I figured it's time I picked up one of her books.
--I'm not a huge fan of the future world Roberts/Robb has created here, perhaps because the plot centers around teenage characters and the invented slang is terrible (either because it sounds exactly like an older-middle-aged lady wrote it, or because injecting that much slang into any text makes for bad reading). This pretty much follows the formula of following detective Dallas (currently a Lieutenant, a promotion earned through her relentless dedication to her work as well as her intuitive method of profiling suspects and solving murders) around as she investigates (and eventually closes in on the killer), punctuated with the couples-time she spends with her husband (independently wealthy Roarke who makes sure she eats, sleeps, and is sexually satisfied). It's somewhat predictable but sometimes that's what readers want. ( )

ARC uncorrected proof copy. Thank you St. Martin's Publishing group.
A crowded venue, a jostling in the crowd, and death is delivered. Targeted or random? Eve's relaxing weekend is ruined as she races to answer questions and capture a killer of random teenage girls. The perpetrator is escalating, the time cycle is shortening. And J. D. Robb delivers another "In Death" book to hold your attention to the very end. ( )

Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing Group for the ARC of this novel. As always the opinions in my review are all my own.

At the end of a relaxing weekend, Keats calls Eve about the death of a teenage girl, who died in Jake's arms at an Avenue A concert. Eve and her team quickly surmise that the killer is an adolescent who kills girls his own age using a needle, syringe, and a deadly cocktail of homemade drugs. Eve must work quickly because the perpetrator is rapidly escalating.

Random in Death is another solid entry in the In Death series. As with other recent "In Death" books, the reader is given a peek into the house being renovated by Mavis and Leonardo, but the focus is on the procedures, leading to the killer. While this story is well written and entertaining, it doesn't contain much emotional content other than with Jake and Nadine who are thrown into the middle of the case from the beginning. Overall, Random in Death is another enjoyable novel in the In Death series. ( )