Rapture in Death

in Death: 4

ISBN: 0-425-15518-8 Order from: Amazon.com

A tense police thriller with an appealing, intelligent heroine, good on human emotion and interaction, but set in a fake-seeming world and with a rather overpowering romantic interest.

Reviewed by David on June 05, 1999

Genre: Mystery (Near Future, Romance, Police Procedural)

Synopsis: Sixty years in the future, many drugs have been legalized, prostitution has become a licensed profession, and androids help guard buildings and tend bars. Nevertheless, poverty, greed and jealousy remain. After ten years on the force, Lieutenant Eve Dalls has become one of the most effective homocide investigators in the New York police. Her combination of intelligence and compassion, dedication and passion for justice drive her to treat each case as the most important thing in her life.

Eve's honeymoon on a luxurious space station has been marred by a puzzling suicide of a young technician. After returning to work, two more suicides attract Eve's suspicion, In the absense of any evidence, Eve has a hard time findning links between the victims. However, her theories about someone indulging in illegal research on emotional control explode into a peril much closer to home than she expected.

Full Review: Eve is learning to be happy. After years of lonely but fulfilled life in persuit of justice, she is surrounded by friends and a passionate husband. However, as she relaxes, the nightmares of her painful past com more easily, and her new investigation wakes them into clarity. Eve's dedication will dig out the truth, but will it be fast enough to save her and her husband from a psychopathic killer?

As in other cases, the investigation is not straighforward, and Dallas takes a few wrong turns. The villains are not particularly believable, with scientific skills implausibly broad,

Nora Roberts, a well-known romance writer, has written this series of near-future police procedurals with a romantic bent. Her protagonist, Eve Dallas, has the combination of courage, intelligence and humor that make for a very appealing hero. A small set of supporting characters that make their continuous appearance in the books of this series flesh out her life and investigations.

The world of the near future is rather flawed for a science fiction reader. The tropes: annoying androids, space flight, cranky computers, are full of inconsistencies and seem to be more appropriate to sitcoms than to fiction. For instance, there is some confusion between orbital and interstellar flight, AI and glorified PCs. In general, the setting is used to add artificial glitter and remove the grit and constraints of a real city police investigation rather than to add narrative value.

This setting, artificial as it is, does allow for a more streamlined plot. While most of the characters are well portrayed, Roarke, the eccentric and slightly shady billionaire is improbably well-equipped as a romantic hero: movie-star handsome, rich, strong, able to design or crack any electronic system, excellent at unarmed combat and burglary, perceptive and possessed of remarkable indurance (in bed or out).

In summary, this is a fast-moving, entertaining novel with an appealing hero, offering a good emotional ride but little food for thought. The fans of Eve Dallas may also like Hamilton's Anita Blake.

Overall: 6; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 6; Style: 5.5; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;

ISBN: 0-425-15518-8 Order from: Amazon.com