Origin in Death

No long disertation on the plot lines... Awesome series, Awesome characters. They just keep getting better. (And although it's not really required, I would recommend that you read them in order... I ALOT more fun that way. Start with Naked In Death and just keep going...)

I LOVE the series.

Have read every book. I am disappointed that they started out in paperback and when it became popular they switched to Hardcover. Tacky in my opinion.

But anyhow.

I love EVE, Roarke and all of them. In my opinion this one is lame and boring. I actually felt that I eithe wanted to skip pages ( but you never can because right then and there you might miss something ) or just was very eager to read about anything the friends and buttler had to offer.

It was okay to find out about another piece of Eve's past. But she goes on and on and on... and yes it is important, and in every book it is mentioned, this time it was written in a very lame and boring style. Very sad.

The entire story had no umpf to it. It is as if Nora Roberts wrote it with half her brain already dreaming of her next vacation or she was bored with this as well and couldn't quite get it right. That happens.

Doesn't make it bad or the series bad. I LOVE it. But this one, what a drag it was. Blah.

I could tell from the beginnig who it was. Now we just had to wait and find out the details that usually EVe puzzles together.

It was as Eve was just tired. And the story just didn't move on.

No umpf and fire behind it. Just listing of situations, ideas and people's problems.

Boring.

I recommend this series to anyone interested, but of course hope you will start with the first one. To fully understand the relationship between all of them.

And why now do we have to be cross with Mira?

It not just sad but stupid as well. Doesn't fit.

Never got the point in the last book, why it ticked EVe off so much.

So her friend had a bit of a hard time accepting that this icone of hers wasn't all he seemed.

Not as if Eve never had her moments of meltdown.

Yes she always did her job right but so did Mira, she delivered in the end.

I love the relatinoship between Mira and Eve and really didn't need to read that they were not doing well together.

And the make up was, okay but not thrilling.

Okay.

Enjoy this book, I am sure it will thrill many but for me it was a boring book.

The "In Death" series are my favorite and look forward to the release of each one. This one was really good as we find out more about Dallas as a little girl. The ending was perdictable pretty quickly into the book, but a great read no matter what.

I hear that these are going to be made into a movie and casting will be huge. Who in the world can play sexy Roarke??

5 stars for the book, 1 star for the MP3 CD.

I purchased the unabridged CD not realizing it won't work in my car CD player. I buy the book to read and the CD so my husband can listen to it with me when we travel.

I think the listing should clearly state that the MP3 Unabridged CD won't work unless you have MP3 capabilities on your CD player. Also, an unabridged CD should be offered that is not MP3.

For those who follow this wonderful series, this one is one of those books which are pivotal. The events taking place in this book will be mentioned time and time again in future books and while those future books are not precisely based on this story, the most certainly are influenced by it. In many ways the events taking place in this book will change Eve’s life and increase her notoriety as to the general public.

This subject of the book is futuristic medicine. This subject which includes advanced plastic surgery but more importantly cloning. In features two three physicians, two of them father and son, who are at the top of their game and to all appearance are a boon to mankind. Lurking in the background though, we the reader find that these three are truly evil and diabolical. One has to be just a bit aware of the history; the history in Europe and indeed, the United States of past dalliances with efforts by some to create a super race and all the chilling ramifications of this practice.

Thrown into the mix here is angst dealing with a large gathering of Roark’s Irish family who all come to Eve’s home for a Thanksgiving family reunion. Eve’s interaction with the family, in particular with the young members is hilarious at times.

All the regulars are featured in this book and like all books in this series, characters are as important as plot and in many ways, more important than the plot.

This is an important book and to truly appreciate the books that follow it should be read. It is a great addition to this series; one of my favorite.

This was a library find.

Eve Dallas is caught off guard as she sets in her office when a woman from her past appears. It is none other than the wretched woman who Eve was forced to live with as a foster child shortly after her trauma with her father. This woman made Eve’s life a living hell. After Eve throws her out this woman approaches Roarke and tries to blackmail him for two million with the threat of releasing documents and stories of Eve’s past. Of course Roarke being Roarke you can imagine how that went over.

But the plot thickens in that this wretched woman is found beaten to death in her hotel room with only her son and his wife present in the next room.

In this novel we find more and more of the back story as to how Eve Dallas became Eve Dallas. The story is rather filled with twists and turns and although the reader may have suspicions as to the killer there is always a lingering doubt right up to the end. The back story to this one is Eve’s attempt at coping with Christmas and all the frantic Christmas stuff that goes along with it – as readers know, Eve does not do this sort of thing well.

The normal caste of characters is present in this story; some with greater roles and some with less but they are all there.

This was a fast read and a good read and adds much to the series.

This was a library find.

Santa was higher than a kite when he called out “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!” at the office party. As a matter of fact, he was 36 stories high when he went out the window, screaming “Ho! Ho! Ho!” right to the moment he landed on a pedestrian, killing them both graveyard dead. And one of his elves was very quick in giving up to Eve Dallas the name of the illegals supplier the man had used.

Eve decided to let Peabody take point on the case. Playing the illegals dealer like the proverbial fiddle, Peabody got him to actually incriminate himself – and identify a possibly corrupt cop. Pleased with the results of Peabody’s finesse, Eve leaves the observation room and heads back to her office. Her good feelings are destroyed within moments when she realizes who is sitting in her office waiting for her.

Trudy Lambert was the first foster care parent Eve had been assigned to back in Texas at the age of eight. Verbally sadistic rather than physically abusive like Eve’s father, raping her mind rather than her body, Trudy Lambert was the second living nightmare of Eve’s short life. Forced to clean the kitchen with a toothbrush and locked in a dark room repeatedly, it took a nine-year-old Eve six months and two attempts to escape Trudy successfully.

Now, seeing that nightmare in the flesh after all these years, Eve is decimated. Ordering Trudy out of Cop Central, she tries to flee the station herself but makes it no further than the restroom. Peabody finds her there, essentially incoherent and retching her guts up. When Eve leaves the station, refusing to explain or accept any help, Peabody calls Roarke.

After hearing the whole sordid tale from Eve shortly thereafter, Roarke knows exactly why Trudy has shown up. And sure enough, the next morning, she appears at Roarke’s main office, demanding two million dollars or she will tell Eve’s entire childhood history to Eve’s superiors and to the press.

Bad move on Trudy’s part. Very bad move. Roarke’s self-taught sophistication blends with his innate business acumen and the streetwise skills of his youth to present a “counter offer” to Trudy that only a pig-headed fool would refuse. Well, Trudy is a pig-headed fool, and two days later, Eve and Roarke find her murdered in her hotel room.

Now, Eve and Roarke must walk a fine line between being investigators and being prime suspects. But more importantly, Eve feels nothing when she looks at the body, no drive to speak for this particular dead, no drive to get justice, nothing at all. It is as if her cop instincts have dried up and she is just going through the motions.

Eve was only one of twelve children placed in Trudy’s care over the years. Surely she was not the only one terrorized and traumatized by the passive-aggressive psychopath. And perhaps she was not the first person Trudy had tried to blackmail, as the woman, with no real visible means of support, possessed some very fine jewelry, some quite expensive clothing and was groomed by products costing thousands.

In this 22nd entry in the In Death series, Robb pens gripping emotional upheaval and significant character growth for Eve. Whether it is Eve’s reaction at the first sight of Trudy, the uneasiness of giving and receiving Christmas gifts or the final confrontation with the killer in front of the mirror in the Interview Room, Robb puts Eve’s self-image and her professional self-concept on the line. Even with Roarke and her marriage providing a rock on which to balance, she still struggles to weather the storm, literally and figuratively. And Robb provides Roarke with a few moments of critical self-awareness also.

Thus Robb brings the year 2059 to a close.

In the prologue of this 21st entry in Robb’s In Death series, we witness an unnamed doctor administer a lethal injection to a five-year old girl. Watching, in silence, is the doctor’s teenage son. As we listen to the final thoughts of the child, we realize that she is being terminated, not to ease the final ravages of a fatal disease, but because she has failed some crucial test. She is simply not good enough, not close enough to perfection for the man she calls “father.”

By the end of the first chapter, a Nobel Prize-winning reconstructive surgeon, with an extremely lucrative sideline in cosmetic surgery, is dead. Wilfred B. Icove, Sr. is found in his office, stabbed in the aorta with a scalpel. The killer appears to be a beautiful woman who entered the office 30 minutes before TOD and left 5 minutes after. The name in the appointment book is an alias, easily debunked, and she has made no effort to avoid being seen, face or body, on the security discs. Clearly calm and focused in every security shot, from the moment she enters the building to the time she exits, the killer appears to have executed a perfect professional hit.

Eve Dallas and Peabody are already at Icove’s Center investigating another death when Icove’s body is discovered. They are there to question a well-known celebrity who has just undergone reconstructive surgery by Icove’s son. Attacked by her ex-lover, the celebrity had been beaten to a pulp and facially mutilated, but she didn’t go down without a fight and the ex-lover is now dead. Suitably convinced that the killing was in self-defense, Eve and Peabody are on their way out of the Center when Icove Senior’s body is discovered.

As she studies the crime scene and views the security discs, Eve recognizes a personal element behind the professional aspects of the hit. Her suspicions are validated when a routine search of Icove Senior’s home turns up a set of 50-plus treatment summaries, pass-worded and encoded, pertaining to females no older than their early twenties. These summaries contain no names, only identifying numbers, as if the patients are part of some clinical trial. But the treatments go far beyond reconstruction or cosmetic enhancements into far-reaching tests of intelligence, physical ability and psychological bearing. As Eve reads these summaries, she finds that each ends with one of two phrases: “placement successful” or “terminated.”

While running Icove Senior’s financials, Roarke discovers a primary interest in an exclusive, up-scale boarding school for girls. Adding this information to the treatment summaries, Eve suspects that Icove Senior had a sideline to his surgery practice – a designer human trafficking operation. When Icove Junior stonewalls her investigation into this area, Eve is forced to seek additional search warrants. But due to the deceased’s reputation, social standing and Nobel Prize, the DA is reluctant to brook public wrath and is slow to issue the warrants.

By the time Eve can get the warrants approved and served, Icove Junior has been dead for an hour, stabbed in the aorta with a scalpel. The phrase “like father, like son” now has three interpretations: both were doctors in the same specialty, both were murdered in identical fashion and it seems the son was not only aware of his father’s little hobby but was an active participant in it.

At this point, Robb gives the story line a hard left twist. In her investigation of the human trafficking angle, Eve discovers that Icove’s partner in the school is also his partner in a world-famous research lab and is a celebrated Nobel Prize winner in his own right. A renowned geneticist, the partner won his Prize for genome re-sequencing to prevent birth defects.

Connecting the dots, Eve realizes that reconstructive surgery added to cosmetic enhancements added to genome re-sequencing added to private exclusive schooling equals designer babies plus designer adults. Unfortunately, Eve misses one dot in the genome picture. And she doesn’t discover that dot, or its ramifications, until she is faced with the very real evidence that one person can be conclusively proven to be in two different places at the same time – face, fingerprints and DNA all identical.

For the first time, Robb puts Eve in the position of deciding which victim to stand for – the one who is murdered or the one who felt that murder was their only choice. Robb has Eve face the shades of gray that always seem to surface around questions of social, medical and moral issues that clash with current legal boundaries. And even though she has Eve facing these issues in the year 2059, Robb is clearly referencing these issues back to the concepts brought out by Darwin, Hitler and the KKK more than a century in the past. But the worst part, as you read, is that the plan hatched by the doctors is logically and chillingly realistic and legally attainable – in our present.

However rough the morality of the storyline, Robb still intersperses the tension and the psychological trauma with humor. The verbal interactions between Eve and Peabody are snappy and first-rate. And since the story begins about a week before Thanksgiving, the whole concept of family and friends is taken to a new level when Roarke invites his newly found Irish relatives to New York for the holiday. Eve’s reactions to the children who descend upon her the day before Thanksgiving are absolutely hilarious.

There are also the usual scenes with Mavis, Trina and Dr. Louise. But time is passing and Eve is maturing, which make these interludes actually more entertaining. What is not usual in this entry is that Dr. Mira makes a series of professional mistakes when she allows personal opinions to affect her profile. It is almost jaw-dropping to watch Mira come apart professionally to the point that Eve has to throw her out of a crime scene.

Roarke’s role in the investigation is more intermittent than usual, at least until the critical scenes at the end. But his actions are no less important in this entry as Robb puts his focus on the blood relatives who were completely unknown to him only a few months ago. And his verbal interactions with Eve are priceless.

Robb uses this entry to explore age-old legal and moral dilemmas associated with the origin and creation of life and family. However, she also uses those concepts to advance the discussions that Eve and Roarke have in each novel concerning choice, responsibility and nature vs. nurture. For Eve, the shades of gray between the law and justice are becoming more chromatically distinct with every case. And the nightmares are changing.

A much lauded doctor is murdered and Eve gets the case. She uncovers more than murder and knows the doctor should not be lauded.

This was good. Eve has to deal with family. Roarke's family is coming from Ireland to partake of an American Thanksgiving dinner. Neither knows what to do but they will figure it out along with murder. There were several times I laughed out loud as Eve and Roarke try to navigate family and friends as family. I like how Eve is learning to handle her "family" so she doesn't hurt their feelings. I also like that she is learning to fight and forgive within that "family."

This is a good series that deals not only with the police work but the softening of Eve as she protects the city she cares about and the people she loves.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Memory in Death is the 22nd installment of Nora Roberts's futuristic In Death series written under her pseudo name, J.D. Robb.

This installment has Roarke and Eve preparing to celebrate their second Christmas together. But an unexpected visitor leaves Eve facing down her past; a former foster mother comes to call trying to blackmail Eve and Roarke into giving her money. But Roarke takes pleasure in sending her packing even though he'd rather do something more damaging, but knows his cop would not approve. So imagine Eve's shock when she finds the woman dead in her hotel room when she goes to confront her.

Eve may have despised the woman, but she's hers now and she will stop at nothing to find her killer and make sure justice is served.

I was really excited to read this book, I figured with `memory' being in the title that it was bound to deal with some of the demons in Eve's past and I always find the books that deal with her past to be riveting and emotional. And, then I read the blurb and it confirmed my suspicions and got me even more excited!

The story started out great with Eve seeing her horrid foster mother and then that evil woman going to try to shake some leaves off Roarke's money tree. And, it was even more entertaining to see Roarke being so protective of his wife and taking care of business. But unfortunately the momentum died off halfway through the book and it just never quite lived up to my expectations or the beginning of the book.

*BEWARE the next paragraph reveals the killer*

I felt it was too obvious who the killer was and it was annoying that everybody appeared to think she was innocent. Everything Zana said just seemed too fake and her supposed abduction didn't seem believable for even a second. I think maybe if the killer didn't scream out at me that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more.

This review and more at openbooksociety dot com

I never put spoilers in my reviews.
Good job on the proofreading, Penguin.
J D Robb (Nora Roberts) is one of the few authors I reread. Everything about the "in death" novels is quality writing and defies genre labeling.
From the relationship between Dallas and Rourke, the mystery/thriller storyline, an extremely strong female role model, the secondary characters, the setting, well, everything, you just can't wait for the next one. Robb shows that a woman can be strong and capable despite soul crippling events in her life. I have a mantra, "just step over it and move on." Eve Dallas personifies this. It doesn't mean you never think of it or that you forget but life goes on.
Dallas "stands for the dead," they are hers, no matter who or what they were in life and grieves for their lost futures. To her it's almost a sacred trust and she is uncompromising in her pursuit of justice for those in her care.
I think even most men would like these books, if for no reason than to see how women would like to be treated.
Read, enjoy, repeat.

I never put spoilers in my reviews.
J D Robb (Nora Roberts) is one of the few authors I reread. Everything about the "in death" novels is quality writing and defies genre labeling.
From the relationship between Dallas and Rourke, the mystery/thriller storyline, an extremely strong female role model, the secondary characters, the setting, well, everything, you just can't wait for the next one. Robb shows that a woman can be strong and capable despite soul crippling events in her life. I have a mantra, "just step over it and move on." Eve Dallas personifies this. It doesn't mean you never think of it or that you forget but life goes on.
Dallas "stands for the dead," they are hers, no matter who or what they were in life and grieves for their lost futures. To her it's almost a sacred trust and she is uncompromising in her pursuit of justice for those in her care.
I think even most men would like these books, if for no reason than to see how women would like to be treated.
Read, enjoy, repeat.

This time we find the determined Lt Dallas chasing an extremely intelligent killer of not one, but two renowned doctors, but could it be that the killer is actually saving lives? If you like a good crime drama and a bit of the futuristic, then this book is for you. In fact, the entire series is for you. This particular book brings into it a bit more reality as it addresses human gene manipulation and cloning which are very prominent discussions in today's world, so perhaps this series isn't as futuristic as it first seems. As always the author brings us well developed characters, plot lines, humor and just a bit of sexiness to twist into the murderous story line. As always, I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

While Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb) seems to be paling a bit in her romance novel genre, the In Death series is getting better and better with each subsequent book.

Origin in Death starts with a bang: The ugly, possibly professional murder of a Nobel Prize winning doctor and scientist, Dr. Icove, he of the famed Icove Center, plastic surgery hub for the rich and famous. Before the blood is even dry, so to speak, Icove's son, who co-runs the tony clinic, is murdered as well, in the same way.

It's up to Eve, cop extraordinaire, to get to the bottom of the murders and figure out what's behind the "too perfect" profiles of the two Icoves and their clinic. What she finds is beyond human imagination, even in the year 2059, where this novel takes place.

Along the way, Eve's husband Roarke painfully tries to plan a Thanksgiving dinner/reunion for his recently discovered huge Irish family; Mavis, near the end of her pregnancy, reminds a horrified Eve and Roarke that they are to be birth coaches, and Peabody and McNabb continue to cohabit in bliss. There are some really funny moments in this book, and the mystery and eventual solution are "prime," as McNabb would say. A winner!

Where do we really come from? What really makes us who we are? Is it what our parents tell us what to do? Is it the environment that makes us who we are? Or is it just DNA? Does our DNA make us think? Make us do things that other people won't do?

What if you had the opportunity to become God, and clone yourself over and over again and become the perfect human being there can ever be? What would you do?

Eve Dallas has a tough case. A very prominant doctor is dead. A doctor that is loved, liked, cherished and has a very clean record. Very very clean. To others, there would be nothing wrong on the doctor, he is no criminal. Not according to Dallas's gut. She senses something on this doctor and when someone else dies her suppisions come true. But what will Dallas do in order to get justice for the criminals and for the wicked?

24-36 hours, that's how long it's taken me to read each Books 2- 24. Each book hold the attention from beginning to end . How can anyone write so many compelling, totally developed books with the same main characters ? There is growth of the characters, yet the peak into their histories allow to read the book out of order ( but you will go back and read them in order ).

No one has thought to make a series of made for TV movies ???

This story was a little boring for me but I finished extremely fast. The bad guy for me was obvious and Eve had a gut feeling about it since the beginning, but I loved the christmas setting and to see her better in exchanging gifts. Roarke as always went overboard, but Eve learned to pick the right things for the people she considers family, even the cat got a present!

The mystery was closer to Eve because some woman decided to show up and blackmail Roarke, the problem was the woman died during her stay and of course Eve had to investigate to put peace in her mind mostly. I loved Roarke taking her side and even some scenes with Bobby, the victims son, because they have a past together. The woman was a foster parent of Eve after she was found in Texas, but she was not a great mom and Eve suffered a lot. I liked the ending and thought it was actually fitting, but could do better with those suspects.

For the past couple of decades Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, quietly has been creating one of the most consistently intriguing series of police procedural fiction. Collectively these novels are known as the "Death" series due to the appearance of that word in each title. The series itself --- which centers on New York City police lieutenant Eve Dallas in the mid-21st century --- straddles and blurs the genres of mystery, speculative fiction, and romantic suspense. Robb does this exceptionally well, adding a statistic here and a romantic interlude there, just so you know where you are and why. But the focus is mystery and suspense. She is not the first to do something like this --- Isaac Asimov wrote futuristic detective stories and Larry Niven's Gil Hamilton stories are unforgettable --- but Robb's work stands with these stalwarts, as opposed to within their respective long and deep shadows.

ORIGIN IN DEATH is Robb's latest work and arguably her best to date. It begins with the murders of Dr. Wilfred B. Icove, Sr. and Jr., an oft-lauded father and son who are known as pioneers in the fields of cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Both men are found murdered --- one in his office, one at home --- in identical fashion. Dallas intuits that the "why" of these killings is at least as important as the "how" given that the older gentleman was known as "Dr. Perfect" and had a record that was spotlessly clean.

Dallas does what she does best, kicking over rocks both literal and figurative to see what comes crawling out. She is ably assisted by her friend Peabody and the seemingly immutable Roarke, her doting husband. A self-made billionaire, Roarke is a genius combination of Midas and James Bond, a Santa Claus with a seemingly bottomless sack of technological goodies who has enough connections to appear to be literally anywhere and to ascertain anything.

Dallas's tenaciousness and Roarke's resources eventually uncover not only the motive but also the perpetrator behind the deaths of the Icoves --- and in so doing find a quiet horror that puts Dallas in an ethical dilemma for which there is no easy solution.

Robb's ability to merge mystery and speculation is displayed at its finest here. Those who are unfamiliar with the series and who might be otherwise intimidated by a protagonist who has been the subject of multiple novels need not worry. Robb offers just enough to bring new readers up to speed and drops just enough references to encourage a look at her backlist. ORIGIN IN DEATH, however, is a marvelous place to start.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I quite enjoyed this. One reason being that for a change Roarke is allowed to show his nasty side...to Trudy...who turns into the victim of murder a few pages later. The more boring In Death books are all those where Roarke is turned into some kind of opinionless crutch for his wife. Which is most of them nowadays. Also. Eve shows her selfish side and then has to apologise to her husband. I enjoyed that too.

Towards the end of the book, the perp, Marnie calls Eve a hypocrite. I agree with her. Eve says that she would have prefered that sadistic foster mom, Trudy, should have been tried for her child abuse crimes and then put in a cage for many many years. But who would have the guts to see that justice was done? Not Eve. She had shut Trudy out of her mind and turned into a pathetic quivering coward the first time she saw her in her adult life. Yet Marnie, another abused foster kid had the balls to hand out vengeance and then had to suffer Eve at her sermonising, insufferably moralising worst. The case of Trudy's death should have been left unsolved and quietly closed.

In any case. This is a prime example of a crime some police forces categorise as 'no humans involved.' That is, one felon committing a crime upon another felon. Why a fairly decent human being such as Eve feels any personal attachment to Trudy is beyond my understanding.

Despite all that. Like I said I enjoyed this novel. Mainly because there are lots of scenes between Roarke and Eve. One relationship that continues to ring false however, is the one between Eve and Summerset. There really is no need for Eve to be so constantly abusive to Sommerset, who is essentially a well-loved servant. Sometimes it seems that she's bullying him. Seeing how she's married to his employer. By now all the readers realise that if it came to a choice between Summerset and Eve, Roarke would choose his wife every time.

We continue to be amazed at the quantity and pace at which these "In Death" mystery thrillers continue to emerge from the mind of Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb. And unlike many series that start to get dull and stale after six or seven entries, if anything, Robb's stories are getting better, deserving the switch to hardback that occurred about six books ago. As usual, "Origin" features NYPD Homicide Lt. Eve Dallas and her sidekicks on the force, especially partner Detective Peabody, set in a slightly futuristic time frame in the year 2059, with a few sci-fi touches to add interest. The plot burns hot almost right away as the police team catches the homicide of a world renowned reconstructive surgeon, Wilfred Icove, right in his massive and glamorous headquarters facility. The body peacefully reposes with no ill effects other than a scalpel buried in his heart! When a mysterious woman shows up on the security disk, the chase is on! But then soon after, the famous doc's son, himself an icon in the business, gets offed in identical fashion! As the world spins shocked, Eve and company start to get bad vibes about just exactly what is going on at the company and the close ties it enjoys to a fancy girl's academy for very high achievers. Some cryptic notes of Icove (Sr.) lead Dallas to believe he might be experimenting with the young women's genes in addition to providing their good looks!

The plot burns brightly all the way to an incredible conclusion, making for a really enjoying and entertaining read. Robb worms in some good humor as her husband Roarke is planning a big Thanksgiving dinner party for all his (somewhat newfound) relatives from Ireland -- some funny scenes as that unfolds takes the hard edge off the central theme without being a silly diversion. We also were pleased to see less rehash of Eve and Roarke's troubled childhoods, although some readers may need that background to put their feelings into some perspective.

We agree with the many others who feel "Origin" is a great addition to the set, and that Robb's stories, even as fast as they appear, are top notch fun!

This was a tough story for Eve. She had to discover the killer of some hotshot doctor, but at the same time Roarke decided to invite his family for Thanksgiving. I love Roarke and during this book was the first time for me to see him a little nervous, he was scared and way to obsessed with the holidays, but he still helped Eve during those most difficult moments.

I loved the story, super different and a total match with the timing of this book. Since this series take place in the near future and almost everything is man-made. I had a pretty clear idea of the person responsible and that Eve would be on her side. She always consider people who suffered like her the victim, and tries to help most of the time. I loved her little trouble with Mira, makes things between them more family like for me. And Roarke family was hilarious.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department is taking a statement in the posh Icove Center, an upscale plastic surgery clinic, when a body is found. Wilfred B. Icove Sr., founder of the Icove Center and all-around saint, has been stabbed through the heart with a scalpel. Eve knows the why will lead her to who, so she looks deeply into some strange data found in Dr. Icove's apartment and discovers an amazing and chilling secret. I can say no more without giving away the suspense that gripped me through most of the book.

I have been an Eve Dallas fan practically since she strode onto the page for the first time, and I have loved every one of the books. Each and every one transports me to New York in 2058 or 2059, and I feel like I know Eve (who I want to be), Roarke, Peabody, Feeney, Mavis, Dr. Mira...everybody down to the nameless New York residents on the street who get pithy one-liners here and there. But, it's been a long time since I've picked up such a page-turner. The first couple of chapters hadn't quite got me yet, but once around that first corner, the book grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I plowed through it, very nearly sneaking it out to read during lulls at work. It's that good.

If you've never read a J.D. Robb book, any one is good, but I would recommend starting at the beginning with "Naked In Death" and work your way through. There's a storyline that's been slowly developing among the recurring characters that's fun to follow, and there is no dead time between books. Each one picks up right where the last one left off, maybe a week later. Each also has a different tone; while in one Eve might track a vicious serial killer, in another she'll solve a single crime of passion. Each and every one is a gem, and this one in particular was awesome.

Nora, you rock.

A friend of mine loaned me her copy of Nora Roberts' (writing as J. D. Robb) latest Eve Dallas sci-fi crime novel, Origin In Death. I keep expecting that I'll see some downward turn in the quality of this series due to the longevity and rate in which they are published. And with each new installment, I keep being happily disappointed. Again, Nora writes an excellent story...

Dallas is called into a murder case when she happens to be on site when a prominent plastic surgeon is murdered... scalpel through the heart, and no solid leads or clues. The surgeon appears to be a true selfless saint, but Dallas thinks the background is *too* clean to be real. When the man's son (also a surgeon) is murdered in the same fashion, it becomes obvious that a person with an agenda is at work, and it might be related to some "less than legal" work that both were engaged in. The wife of the son is looking like a potential suspect, but she's got an airtight alibi. How can a person be in two places at one time? With what the doctors were up to, it's possible...

There have been some novels in the In Death series that have served to advance the characters and/or relationships between them. This one really doesn't do anything along that line. It's just a solid murder crime mystery, set in 2050, and delivered up with the normal hard-edged dialogue you come to expect from Robb/Roberts. It amazes me that after 24 novels in this series, I'm still as excited for a new one as much as I was when I first discovered Eve Dallas. I certainly hope that Nora Roberts continues to crank these out at the same high quality we've come to expect, as this is one of those "gotta read" series whenever a new one hits the stands...

I absolutely love the "...IN DEATH" series, and MEMORY IN DEATH was no exception. It's nearly Christmas 2059 in New York, and Eve and Roarke are planning another large holiday party. As Eve deals with her job with the police department, she suddenly gets a blast from her past.

Trudy Lombard, who served as Eve's foster mother for six months right after she was found bloody and alone in Dallas, Texas, has come to her office--supposedly to catch up on old times. When Eve panics and throws her out, Trudy makes her true motives known when she visits Roarke at his office, and demands two million dollars to keep quiet about Eve's troubled past. Roarke refuses, threatens Trudy into leaving them alone, and advises her that her best course of action would be to return, quietly, to Texas.

That, of course, isn't the end of Trudy Lombard. When Eve decides to face Trudy one last time, to insist that she'll get no monetary gain from either her or her husband, they find Trudy dead in her hotel room--and her distraught son, Bobby, and his wife, Zana, are both horrified and heartbroken.

Eve sets out to find out who killed her former foster mother, while battling with the horrendous memories that surface from Trudy's sudden reappearance into her life. As she struggles to balance her home life with Roarke with the death of a woman who only added to her pain and misery all those years ago, Eve is once again faced with her past, and forced to overcome it.

MEMORY IN DEATH is another winner in J.D. Robb's series. You don't want to miss the heartbreak, persistence, and tenacity of this latest thriller!

This is a series that I NEVER get tired of reading...over...and over again. There is nothing like a full novel written by Nora Roberts to make for an entertainingly scrumptious story that pulls you in and makes you feel homesick in between installments. And, when that installment comes out and you finally have a chance to read it, your back at home with life, death, intrigue and love.

You gotta love Roberts. She makes the best characters and stories.

Also, let me say that Susan Erickson's right on, talented and engrossing professional narration of Roberts' books is like icing on the cake. If you love the book, try it again with the audio enhancements...truly entertaining!

Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody are at the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery to investigate one killing-a vid star has been beaten and killed her attacker in self-defense-when the retired founder, Wilfred B. Icove Senior, is killed. Icove is widely admired, loved by all who know him, has no possible enemies. Clearly, no one had a motive to kill him, and the woman who did the actual deed, his lunchtime appointment, apparently doesn't exist.

But, since someone obviously did, Dallas starts digging into his work and his past, to the great annoyance of his son, Wilfred B. Icove Junior. Everywhere she looks, she finds more evidence of his wonderfulness. Icove Senior's medical relief working during the Urban Wars helped many people and made him beloved. Both Somerset and Mira are admirers, and Somerset, who knew him during the Urban Wars, is deeply pained by the fact that Dallas is investigating Icove in order to find his killer. It's a painful and awkward investigation-and it gets worse when there's another killing, this time of Icove Junior, and evidence begins to accumulate of research interests the Icoves definitely never advertised.

Kazuo Ishiguro reassured a presumably nervous literary world that his new novel, Never Let Me Go, was not science fiction because it's not about human cloning, but rather about the social consequences of human cloning. Roberts, like many a scruffy genre writer before her, demonstrates that she has probably devoted more serious thought to that subject in five minutes while brushing her teeth than the distinguished Mr. Ishiguro has in his whole life-and she's more fun to read, too.

Recommended.

'Memory in Death' was my introduction to the 'in death' series, and it took me a few pages to get my bearings, but after that I settled in for quite an enjoyable ride. While I found the identity of the killer to be relatively easy to figure out, I also found it didn't matter that I'd figured it out. The real mystery wasn't so much 'whodunnit' as 'howdunnit.' How was the murder carried out? How was it covered up? And how could it be proven?

'Memory in Death' is very much a character-driven story. Rather than being filled with action scenes or gore, this story focused on the people. Most of the details came out through dialogue rather than action, and the characters are interesting enough that I enjoyed that.

One of my first thoughts when I started reading Memory in Death was "wow, is this over-the-top." That was quickly followed however, by, "and it's perfect!" Roberts/Robb gleefully indulges in everything that makes over-the-top detective novels and mysteries fun, and infuses it with a dollop of romance for good measure. It seems clear that she's writing for the fun of it and thoroughly enjoying what she's doing, and as a result her books are equally enjoyable to read. The characters are fun, wacky, and larger-than-life; the mysteries are suitably labyrinthine; the setting is just futuristic enough to allow her to shape her world to her whim without making it alien to the reader.

The story begins with a child, who seems to be used as a human gunea pig. Said child, is eventually killed by "father" aka Dr. Wilfred Icove Sr. because she failed the intelligence tests she was being given.

Fast forward to the present when a woman stabs Dr. Icove Sr. through the heart with a scalpel. Shortly after that, his son Dr. Icove Jr. is murdered in exactly the same way.

As Eve Dallas begins to dig into why someone would wish to kill the saintly doctors Icove, her husband, Roarke suggests that perhaps they were a modern day version of Dr. Frankenstein. The more Eve digs, the more she realizes her husband is right, but its far worse than either could imagine.

The minor problems is once again being subjected another of Eve's dead daddy dreams. Having read all the In Death novels, for me, the dead daddy dreams have gotten really old. The other problem is Dr. Mira and her once again proclaiming, "Eve, I'm your mother!" All the other characters work so well together, but Mira just has never worked or fit in with the other characters. And the psuedo mother/daughter relationship just doesn't work or fit in with the tough as nails Eve character.

As I said, the story is so good even those nuisances don't detract from it. It's definitely a must-read for those intrigued with the whole issue of cloning human beings.

"Origin of Death" with the Icove case becomes the catalyst for the action in this new novel. Eve and Roarke had a lot of television "vid" coverage locally and nationally because of that case involving genetics and murder. It is now a Friday, a few days before Christmas and Eve has caught a scene where a party Santa has jumped out a high rise and landed on a pedestrian killing him as well. Eve makes her partner Peabody the "primary" on the case and she does well on scene.

When Lt. Dallas walks back into her office at Central she finds a middle aged lady that she doesn't at first recognize - she buried the memory of this woman - Trudy Lombard, former foster mother who was anything BUT a nurturing type. Darkness and cold baths flash Eve back and cause her to throw Trudy out as Trudy makes sly insinuations. Eve forewarns Roarke at home and sure enough the next day, Trudy goes to him to try to blackmail him for two million dollars for her to keep quiet about Eve's past. Of course, Roarke will have no part of that and puts the "fear of God" into Trudy who rushes away - still plotting and planning.

Eve and Roarke spend some time together Saturday preparing for a Christmas party that night for over 200 hundred people. Eve even gets into the swing of things helping supervising the decorating of the ballroom and finding she can handle a more "domestic" type of task.

Eve and Roarke decide on Sunday to go visit Trudy at her hotel and explain that they will not give in to her blackmail and so that Eve can confront her with confidence. They find Trudy's son Bobby's wife banging on the hotel door. They have a maid open it and Trudy is found dead!! While Eve and Roarke are not suspects as they were surrounded by people at their party, a host of other possible suspects including other former foster children are soon added to the list. Eve has sentimental feelings for Trudy's son Bobby as he used to sneak her food but she does not let that get in the way of her investigation.

As Eve deals with her memories and finding Trudy's killer, she and Roarke also share happy times at Christmas and she grows closer to Dr. Mira and her family as well. A wonderful story and actually a welcome break from the previously more gory "Origin in Death".

After Eve Dallas killed her father, she was taken into foster care. The first person who took her in was Trudy Lombard. Trudy Lombard, who showed her love by locking Eve in closets, who showed her care by making Eve take cold showers, and showed how good of a mother she was by not letting Eve eat, and telling her every thing that had happened to her was her fault.

Now, several years later, Eve is recovering from dealing with clones, when Trudy Lombard returns. Eve knows that Trudy isn't here for sentimental reasons, and is quickly proven corect. Trudy trys to blackmail her, and Roarke for $2 million. As is expected, they both tell her to go F#%@ her self.

Shortly affter, Trudy turns up dead, and Eve is a suspect. But she isn't the only one. As it turns out, Trudy gave many other childrne her special brand of care, and Eve soon relises shes going to have to take down some one who went through exactly what she did.

This is the most personal in Death novel. J.D. Robb did a great job of creating Lombard, and all of the kids she destroid. This is one of the best in Death novels (a few other good ones are Origin, Loyalty, Innocent, and Conspiracy in Death, all though you should read them all).

This was an interesting story blending Eve's past when she was a foster child, blackmail, Christmas celebration, and Eve's work troubles.

What I considered interesting was the revelation of Eve's past as a foster child and how CPS failed to help a child in trouble and placed the child with Trudy, who was more of a professional money-collector than professional-mom for foster children.
However, fitting to Christmas spirit, everything turns out well for Eve and Roarke, for Peabody and McNabb and all the other important and less important characters in this book. Also, it shows that even if you have had a horrible childhood and have bad memories, you can still turn out to be a good citizen and have a great life when you're grown up.

While investigating another case, police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner, Detective Peabody, are summoned to the site of a murder. A Nobel-prize winning scientist and reconstructive surgeon has been killed by a medical scalpel through his heart. The crime has earmarks of a professional kill, but to Eve, it seems personal as well. Why not take him out on the street, where security was lighter? Why a scalpel? But the victim seems such a saint that Even can't think of any reason anyone would want to kill him. A second death only muddies the water. Eve can only conclude that appearances are deceiving, and that the doctor was doing something a lot less perfect than anyone knows.

As Eve and her husband Roach investigate, they are also preparing for a 'family' Thanksgiving celebration. Since neither Roach nor Eve had families (or rather, Eve had a father who abused her and Roach lost his family), the time is one of stress. Feelings about family, though, come to play an important role in getting to the truth. At the same time, the facts that Eve finally begins to discover make the abuse she suffered as a child seem like small-scale stuff.

Author Nora Roberts, writing as J. D. Robb, uses her futuristic police series to probe into ethical questions that already trouble modern science and medicine. What role should cloning have in the reproductive process? What physical traits should be selected for, and which eliminated? To what extent is it appropriate to cure a defect or disease after birth, but forbid the same cure before birth? I thought Roberts blinked when she had a chance to really address the fundamental issues, but she still deserves credit for bringing them to the readers' attention in a popular fiction format.

Roberts' romance readers will enjoy seeing the relationship between Eve and Roach continue to evolve, as well as the banter between Eve and Peabody (now largely recovered from injuries she sustained in an earlier book in the series). In the second half of the book, Roberts turns up the action, with plenty of danger and a morally complex killer. Fans of this enjoyable series will definitely want to get their hands on ORIGIN IN DEATH.

Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, treats us to another installment in her Death series, a scant six months after ORIGIN IN DEATH. This series is properly considered to be "futuristic suspense" --- the books take place in the mid-21st century --- but such a classification ignores the strong elements of mystery, police procedure, and romance that inform each of the titles. Readers familiar with the series have witnessed the evolution of Eve Dallas, a believably difficult NYPD Homicide Detective who's married to the mysterious, charming and wealthy Roarke.

Eve's past, always a shadowy presence in her life, comes back to haunt her when Trudy Lombard, her former foster mother, abruptly appears in her office. This has a dramatic and profoundly detrimental effect upon Eve due to the physical and emotional abuse Trudy heaped upon Eve while she was in her care. Trudy's intent is soon made clear. Attracted to Eve by Roarke's numerous and apparently bottomless pockets, she threatens to blackmail him and Eve with revelations about events that took place during Eve's childhood --- events that, it turns out, were engineered by Trudy. Roarke, who suffers neither fools nor thieves, quickly sends her packing. A few days later, however, Trudy is found brutally murdered in her hotel room.

Robb wisely avoids the classic plot vehicle of having either Eve or Roarke appear to be responsible for her death and then having to work to clear themselves. Rather, the focus is on the locked door (with open window) mystery that is the heart of the book. Eve does not lack for plausible suspects, given that she was far from the only foster child who Trudy abused or who would have ample simmering motive for revenge as adults. There is also, of course, Trudy's son and daughter-in-law, who were staying in the same hotel just a few doors away from her, and the mysterious, shadowy figure who was Trudy's partner in crime.

Veteran fans of the mystery genre --- even those without the resources of a Roarke in their life --- may well discern the culprit's identity ahead of Eve. Whether that is the case for you or not, however, the enjoyment of the novel is derived in large part from watching Eve, with invaluable assistance from Roarke, ferret out the clues and put them all together. What makes MEMORY IN DEATH unique from its predecessors is Eve's intimate though painfully acquired knowledge of Trudy's personality and motivation, a key factor in solving this particular crime.

Fans of the science fiction genre who rarely venture into the mystery section of their bookstore should enjoy MEMORY IN DEATH due to the futuristic setting of the novel specifically and the Eve Dallas series in general. The speculative touches that Robb furnishes are just heavy enough to make the series special and just light enough that we in 2006 can almost see them coming. And given the quality invested in MEMORY IN DEATH, this long-running series should continue to have a bright future indeed.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

When two top names in the world of reconstructive surgery are murdered, Eve doesn't need to go too far to look for suspects. Someone who wasn't happy with their last body make over, their last new face? Not understanding what drives people to change themselves either minimally or dramatically Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD immediately feels that the beautiful suspect caught on tape leaving the office from the scene of the first murder must be one unhappy client. Where did she come from? The family of Dr Icove, Jnr, are a picture perfect little unit backed by the beautiful face and maternal resolve of the too perfect Mrs Icove. Who stands to gain the most from the murder of two such influential, universally adored doctors?

As always suspecting that there's dirt behind a spotless facade, Even uses all her resources, including her billionaire husband, to look deeper in what appears on the surface to be a very successful company both morally and financially. Much good has been done by the two doctors, particularly Dr Icove Snr who was a Nobel Prize winner for his good works with victims of war. A long history makes a very long time-line to delve into and Eve doesn't care a whit that her investigation of the victims upsets the family and respectful public. With little to go on other than a short video of an unidentified woman, Eve has to work back from the finished product, the victim, in order to figure what brought about his death.

All the usual gang appears here, which is quite an array to keep up on if you haven't been following this irresistible series. Author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb has excelled all the way through in creating memorable, quirky characters that you either learn to love or accept anyway for their more detestable attributes. If you've kept up the reads until this latest novel the world of New York, 2059, is as familiar to you in visage or ideal as the modern day city is. The workings of life in the future (which is a doing a 2001 in this series - as in we are getting so close to the date in which the series is set, and yet it's difficult to believe that technology will keep up with futuristic imagination) is seamlessly described using now familiar terms for every day technology in the house and office.

Roberts has tackled an issue that is very topical today and given it a possible future day spin in what scientific invention may lead to in the micro world of gene selection and experimentation. More tightly plotted than its series predecessors of late it has been good to largely leave behind the personal angst of the prickly Eve and her gorgeous Roarke in order to take in some well written suspense.

"Origin in Death" is the 24th novel (including short story inclusions) in the Eve Dallas series.

I just want to say that this story is above and beyond the last two - Survivor & Origin. I enjoy all of the "In-Death" books but some are definitely better than others. "Memory" takes place in the year 2059 and it is about a week prior to Eve & Roarke's second Christmas together. Eve is totally caught off guard when one Trudy Lombard, Eve's foster care mother from when she was 9 years old, just shows up in her office at Cop Central. Needless to say, Trudy was one nasty foster care parent and Eve's memories of her are more like nightmares. Trudy tries to blackmail Eve into wangling $2,000,000 out of her husband under the pretext that she owes Trudy for taking care of her when she was a child (of course Trudy's idea of care was starvation and cold baths). When Eve throws her out of her office, she goes to Roarke. That little meeting in Roarke's office is really quite amusing. The story takes off from there as Trudy ends up dead in her hotel room and the rest is a who, why and how "done it," leaving our favorite Lieutenant with more to accomplish during the holiday season than just shopping. The supporting characters are all here, Peabody, not much on McNab, however, they are off to Scotland for the holidays and Peabody is a little anxious about meeting McNab's family for the first time. Of course, Mira and Feeney are highlighted as well as Baxter and Truehart. We see Eve's character developing nicely. When Christmas finally does roll around, Eve doesn't even baulk at the elaborate gifts Roarke bestows upon her (a total change from her attitude in "Glory in Death"). Eve herself is quite the thoughtful gift-giver. As always, there is a lot of action and comedy and you can't help but laugh at Eve's way of looking at the world. Thank you Nora for another great "In-Death" book. I saw where some of your books will be made into movies for Lifetime TV. They need to make a movie based on one of the "In Death" books; it would surely be a winner.

JD Robb shifts gears again, giving us a slow-paced whodunit with a different set of bad memories on Eve Dallas' mind. On the heels of wrapping up a Santa splattered on the sidewalk, an unpleasant memory walks into Eve's office. Trudy Lombard had been Eve's foster mother for six months following Eve's escape from her sadistic father. Trudy Lombard had delivered her own forms of torture, and Eve boots her from her office.

Eve's husband Roarke is utterly unsurprised when Ms. Lombard visits him to try to shake him down for $2 million. He flicks her off and throws one hell of a holiday party, and he and Eve get a shock when they find Lombard murdered in her hotel room. Lombard had come to New York with her son Bobby and his wife Zana, who had a room down the hall. Eve gets them moved to one of Roarke's hotels while she and her partner Peabody run through what few clues they have, figuring out who murdered a thoroughly hateful woman.

Eve is plagued with strange new dreams as she dredges up new memories from her past that are only slightly less nightmarish than the usual fare. Sprinkled in between is plenty of quality time with Roarke and some holiday gift giving.

While not the gripping page-turner the last Robb novel was, I happen to enjoy an author who can mix it up, and this was definitely different fare. I also liked the touch of Eve dealing with her foster care memories rather than yet again reliving the nightmare she suffered at her father's hands. Eve gets the added jolt of a sense of family as she connects with other victims of Trudy Lombard, whose beginnings were as joyless as hers. While I had the killer pegged right off, the information isn't held back terribly long, and the story spends time delving into Eve's psyche in a more detached and accepting way than before.

A quiet, almost ambling read, this is nonetheless another gem in the JD Robb collection.

I finished this 23rd book in the In Death series (not counting novellas) night before last. I keep thinking, as I open each one, "this one has to be bad, she can't keep this up this long." And each time I'm wrong. And I'm wrong again.

Memory in Death is another excellent entry in the Eve Dallas saga. The spectre of her childhood rears its ugly head in the form of an abusive foster mother who shows up to try and shake her and Roarke down. This fails of course, but the woman ends up dead and a trail of other foster children who endured much the same as Eve fill the suspect list.

As always, the foundation of the book is the relationship between Eve and Roarke. And I don't mean in romance novel fashion because these books have a romance element but they aren't really romance. But in earlier books, Eve's struggle to get past the nightmare of her youth was more prevalent and played a bigger part. This time, her childhood played a big part but it did not plague her as it did before. Because Eve has moved on.

A series this long with the same central characters must have them grow or it gets stagnant. I'm quite pleased to see Eve becoming a better person and not one hobbled by her past anymore.

The same cast of characters Roberts/Robb has introduced in the previous books - McNabb and Peabody, Sommerset, Feeney, Trueheart and Nadine are all back but in an interesting enough configuration that it stays fresh.

I'll still be anxiously awaiting the next installment in July (and wondering if in fact, Nora Roberts is a cylon for her amazing productivity)

I read Memory in Death over the weekend and enjoyed it very much. The investigation aspect of the book focused on just one killing this time, which seemed like a refreshing (and more realistic) change from some of the other books, which often have Eve chasing after a serial killer. So she wasn't up to her kneecaps in blood in this one. I also felt that the relationship between Eve and Roarke had a more substantial presence in this book. There's always some glimpse of their personal lives, and Roarke is always a key player in a new In Death book, but often his role is that of "Consultant, Civilian" and he's aiding in her investigation. While there was some of that in this book as well, we also got to see a lot more of their private lives. The cast of secondary characters is not as heavily featured as in past books, which is probably how and why we're able to have a more substantial visit with Eve and Roarke as a couple. (And it was nice to be a fly on the wall during their Christmas celebration, which was quite calm and homey and sweet.) I found myself missing some of the Usual Suspects a bit -- I would have enjoyed having more scenes with Peabody and McNab and Feeney and Commander Whitney and all the rest (although we got some time with Baxter and Trueheart, and that's always a good thing). My one real complaint about the "crime investigation" was that I didn't buy into the idea that Trudy's son seemed so oblivious to her real character. But I'm a fan of the series and was delighted enough with the rest of the book that I was able to get beyond that quibble.

I am amazed that this series is still going strong after so many entrees. What a testament to Ms. Robb's creativity. And this one is truly one of the best. I can't give away too much but I have to say that I was so afraid during the middle of the book that hardass Eve would make the wrong decision about how the case should end up. But she didn't and I find it so great that she could do the right thing for all involved. The book really makes you do a lot of thinking about the ethics involved in being the "best you can be."

I did have a few moments of cringe in how badly Eve treated Mira. I didn't think Mira deserved that kind of disrespect but that's our Eve. Rough Edges R Us. I do expect the love of Roarke, Peabody, Mira, Nadine and crew, woops, forgot the wonderful Mavis! to eventually soften Eve up and allow her to be more giving and loving to those who love her, I guess it wouldn't be realistic if it happened too quickly. Afterall, she and Roarke have only been married for a little over a year. And at least she is now telling Roarke freely that she loves him and missed him while he was gone. This is a big deal for our cop!

But it wouldn't kill her to relax and enjoy a good massage, facial, and girly night once in a while. She has to keep up with the gorgeous Roarke. Enough with the whinging about female upkeep! And Mavis is STILL pregant! This pregnancy is running soap opera length!

Origin in Death is a mixture of police procedure/friendship/romance/sci-fi. Very captivating and creative. As always in Ms. Robb's writing, this story is populated by a colorful cast of characters who are easy to love.

Personally, this isn't one of my favorites although I've read it three times and have enjoyed it each time. It's a good story, but didn't grab me as the others have.

If you haven't read the 'in Death' series, you're denying yourself hours of entertainment and pleasure. Take the advice I was given, though, and read them in order so you meet the main cast members as they come into play and develop into first-rate characters. This series is additive!

Thank you Ms. Robb!

Shelley Dawn, author of Dark Nights and Sweet, Sweet Jessie

Origin in Death is another will written mystery in the series. There are the usual interesting will developed characters with new good and bad ones. The story line is intense with a race to the conclusion. I would recommend this novel in the series to anyone who enjoys will written mysteries. Enjoy reading

Lieutenant Eve Dallas does not, as we all know, want to remember her childhood. She is already plagued with memories of her father, and his demise at her hands. So imagine her surprise when her foster mother, Trudy Lombard shows up, full of fake motherly love, just to see how she is doing.

Trudy, who is visiting New York days before Christmas(with a son and daughter-in-law in tow), claims that she has traveled from Texas because she saw Eve on the news talking about the Icove case. Of course it is obvious from the start that Trudy is only back to try to blackmail Eve or her insanely rich husband, Roarke. Would Roarke pay to hide what Trudy knows from being released to the media? If anyone knows Roarke from the series they already know the answer, and it is not because Roarke believes "his cop" is not worth $2 million dollars! For him, she is worth that and a lot more. So the adventure and discovery into the truth occurs hours later when after meeting with and being threatened by Roarke, Trudy shows up dead.

The usual characters from the series appear and dazzle us as usual. Mavis (who is in her last stages of pregnancy), Summerset (who decides that they will call it quits for the holidays), Peabody & McNabb, Feeney, Nadine,Trueheart, Baxter, Commander Whitney, and a couple others (including the cat, Galahad). And we also find Eve struggling with the Christmas spirit, and Roarke's generosity. And although you won't be surprised who the killer is, you will love finding out about Eve's as a child and coming to understand her a little more. .

The year 2059. The story...reknown plastic surgeon killed by a single stab wound in the heart. Eve Dallas, on the scene with her trusted sidekick Peabody are determined to get to the bottom of who killed the doctor with the cleanest reputation of the planet. When his son, another plastic surgeon turns up dead, Eve is determined to get to the heart of the mystery before any more deaths. Eventually, a story that appears to be clear cut, turns in a complicated story involving ethics and morality as related to medicine. What would we do if we could? That is what is most relevant to the story....like today, the vision of the future is of a society who desires perfection no matter the cost. Of course Eve, flawed and human as the next does not understand and never will why humans aren't satisfied. And of course, like Roarke (the gazillionare of Eve's dreams) Eve realizes that part of what makes her what she is are her imperfections.

I really do not know how Nora Roberts does it because each book in this series is better than the last. I love all the characters and how they are always evolving. This one is about a father and son plastic surgeon who are murdered in the same style by a professional. Eve is on the hunt looking at these squeaky clean doctors trying to find a flaw, any flaw in their lifestyles. Eventually one is found and the level of corruption and sheer madness is crazy. I won't go into it, don't want to ruin it for the rest of you. I love how each story line affects Eve so much and how she identifies with the victims and sometimes the killers. On the personal front, Mavis is ready to pop and she wants Eve and Roarke to be her birthing coaches!!! Hilarious. It is also Thanksgiving and Roarke invites the whole family clan that he just discovered existed from Ireland. This terrifies her and Roarke to such an extreme that is it heartwarming. Every In Death book elicits a few tears from me by the end, a mark of a very good book.

Out of all the books in series so far, this has been the most terrifying to me. And there have been some ugly and horrible murders in other books. But this story creates a deeply human horror in me that will stay in my head a while I think. And even with that, it was probably one of my favorites in the series.

When many series go off the rails after so many installments, this one just keeps going and getting better and better.

This book has a prologue which is very scary and mysterious. At first the reader is unsure of the connection to the main plot but it will soon become apparent what nefarious activities are at the core of the subplot.

Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody, partners, are investigating a celebrity murder case in which the murderer is a famous vid star who was severely beaten before she was able to kill her attacker. They get a short interview with her at the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery as she will need massive surgery especially on her face to repair the destruction. She confesses and it looks like a clear case of self-defense - case closed. However, before they can leave the center's founder, Wilfred B. Icove, Senior, is discovered with a scalpel jabbed straight into his heart. His son,Wilfred Jr., also a surgeon at the center, is overcome with grief as is Wilfred Jr.'s wife, Avril, their two children and everyone at the center and around the country. The senior Wilfred was known for his charity work, donations, work during the "Urban Wars" and other philanthropic acts.

The security tapes show a beautiful woman as his last appointment. She gave her name as Dolores Nocho-Alverez but this turns out to be a fake identity. There follows much investigation by EDD - our favorites Feeney and McNab - as well as Roarke and Peabody and even Nadine Furst supplying valuable research. But all they can get is some hints of affiliation with research labs and a college, Brookhollow Academy. Eve knows something more is beneath the surface of "Dr. Perfect" as she doesn't buy it that anyone human is that perfect. Eve gets a warrant to look at Wilfred Jr.'s home and computers and as she and her people from NYSPD get to the residence, they discover that the son has been killed the same way! No tapes or vids or who or how. The wife is in the Hamptons and well alibied. The mystery has deepened but now coincidences and slowly more and more clues are beginning to lead Eve, Roarke, and the rest of her staff on a journey of intrigue, lies, deceptions and the most outrageous of crimes.

To lighten up this very dark and tough story is some family and comic relief, Roark has invited his newly discovered relatives, Aunt Sinead and brood, to have Thanksgiving dinner and stay for a few days at their home. Eve is happy for him but she is not used to family or kids or babies so how she copes with them and they with her makes for some laughs. I hope Ms. Roberts will give us the Thanksgiving dinner scene in the next book as I really want to know how that comes off with all those friends that Eve has also invited.

The conclusion to the story was very satisfying and felt like the right thing had been done and justice served!

Nora Roberts, aka JD Robb had me riveted to the latest installment in the LT. Eve Dallas series. Thought it's not terribly difficult to figure out the who in whodunit, it's the why and how. Roberts leaves clues for avid readers who may or may not pick up on them and weaves a tale that will keep readers on edge.

A former foster mother of Eve's is murdered in this installment. And Eve is the primary on the investigation. With minimal help from Roarke - unusual compared to the past few in the series - Eve wraps up the case in her usual cool, cop-like fashion.

I love how Roberts has developed the relationship with Eve and her husband, Roarke and hope that in the next few books they have a baby. A pregnant Eve and expectant Roarke would give this series an added zing. And likely push the herione to pursue Captain status, a desk job she isn't quite yet ready for.

For those who have not kept up, you can read these out of order. Roberts is deft with sentences that clue you in on the past cases that have tied the relationships of Eve and Roarke and their friends and coworkers throughout the series.

Does the sex in these bother anyone? Not the fact that there is sex, I am no prude. But that it is soooo fake?
It is bad tomance novel sex... The girl (Eve Dallas) always gets off 2, 3 or 4 times...
Anyone here in or ever been in a relationship? I have been in a few, and dont get me wrong, I am fairly experienced in the intimate arts, and sure... I have had time when I might get a girl off 2 or 3 times in a single round. But not EVERY TIME... Gimme a break, I know JD Robb, aka Nora Roberts cut her teeth as a romance novelist, and continues to be pretty much the best selling romance writer in the known universe, but I was hoping that with how good she managed to get the mystery element in her JD Robb stories, she might some day spin a slightly more realistic picture in her sex. Maybe the girl never gets there, maybe the guy never gets there, I think any of us with any serious amount of experience has had both of those things happen... Sometimes in the same night, sometimes a t different times. I know that doesnt paint a fantasy picture of sex, but arent these supposed to be mysteries, not romance novels?

I still like the series, but 20+ books into it, I have decided the sex is irritating.

Well.... As for the book itself, I thought it was pretty good, the whole clone concept was pretty topical. It seems to be more and more current in the news, so I can see her picking that... Shoot, even in Spiderman the movie, they made the spider that bit the scrawny kid a genetically engineered spider, instead og the more traditional radioactive spider...
It is a thought provoking topic... I always hate though, when they say cloning is a way to immortality. If I had a clone, or a dozen clones, and I died, I would still be dead. There may be copies of me, but they wouldnt have my consciousness, or my experiences. In that respect I think they would seem more like variable age twins, than a carbon copy. Now if you could grow old, and have your memories, and consciousness placed into a young "blank" of yourself, then you have a chance at semi-immortality - barring accident so severe that you couldnt be placed into a fresh blank of yourself... But then, that is a whole different series of books there ;-Þ

Any reader of thrillers, mysteries, and police procedural will thoroughly enjoy the twists & turns and hold-your-breath action in this 21st book of the In Death series. Sci-fi fans will also enjoy the technology and well-painted world in the mid 2050s! The electric pairing of the 2 main characters, the female hardboiled Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Irish multibillionaire Roarke will make you chuckle and is the main reason that this series is so popular!!

Memory of Death is another will written mystery in the Death Series. The usual characters are interesting and will developed. The story line is linked to Eva past. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys will written mysteries. Enjoy reading

This next very welcome offering in J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts' "In Death" series takes place at Christmas, and Eve has actually begun to enjoy the holiday, a big change from times past! The discomfort she feels at buying gifts (which nevertheless she does) and enjoying the lavish decorations with which Roarke decorates their house forms a welcome backdrop to the latest murder at hand:

A woman (Trudy) who once served as a foster mother for the young, abused Eve surfaces in New York to blackmail Eve and Roarke. Trudy was worse than the wicked stepmother of every fairy tale, and Eve has a near breakdown just seeing her in person again. Before Eve and Roarke even have time to appropriately combat the blackmail threat, Trudy is found murdered in her hotel room.

The body is found by Trudy's sweet, winsome, nauseatingly submissive daughter-in-law, Zana, who is married to Trudy's only son and only biological child, Bobby. Eve remembers Bobby as a child who snuck food to her when she was locked without food into her bedroom, and that compassion complicates the case.

It's not hard for the reader to figure out who the murderer is, but that's not really the point. The real point is how Eve is going to gather enough evidence to make the accusation stick--and how she is going to battle her own demons while doing so. Because there is a huge part of Eve that is darn glad to see Trudy dead--and yet she must bury that feeling and fight for justice as she does in every other case.

I loved this book. I love them all, but this was, unlike some of the more serious stories, lots of fun. Question for the next book in the series: How are squeamish Roarke and Eve going to serve as birth buddies for Mavis? You have to know the series to know just how funny that is. Nevertheless, it's easy to read "Memory in Death" as a stand-alone, even if you have not read any of the others.

She looks like a stranger, but she introduces herself to Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas as her mother. Eve's memories have been suppressed, but she remembers that horrible period when social services parked her with this abusive and cruel woman. Eve rejects her, but Trudy Lombard is not content--and visits Eve's husband, billionaire Roark, with a blackmail threat. Either Roark pays Trudy or Trudy will release all of the files of Eve's childhood.

Hours later, Trudy is dead and Eve is the officer on the scene. She intends to find the killer, but how can she summon the moral energy to really care about who killed a woman who was nothing but a cruel blackmailer?

Author Nora Roberts (writing as J. D. Robb) continues her Eve Dallas futuristic mystery series with an emotionally rich adventure. Eve continues to struggle to fit in, to create healthy relationships with the people of her life. In the Christmas season, Eve's social skill limitations come particularly into focus. Having a woman appear out of the horrible days of her past makes all of her fears come alive. Eve's sidekick, Detective Peabody, is going through similar doubts as her boyfriend insists that she accompany him to meet his family in Scotland--all while Peabody is unable to lose that stuborn five pounds of excess weight.

If you're new to this series, you're in for a treat. Roberts/Robb combines just enough mystery with emotional richness to spin an engaging story. Troubled Eve, spunky Peabody, perfect Roark, and the Eve's usual lot of supportive friends and fellow cops all keep up the reader interest. Eve's emotional engagement with the mystery helps us care about more than simply finding who-dunnit.

I have always loved the Eve Dallas books and this is no exception. The writing is fresh and the characters always just come to life on the page. That is one of the reasons why the Eve Dallas books never fail to disappoint, characters never come off as predictable or boring, even though we know them from prior books, their very distinct personalities are always shown through words and actions; they are far from just flat characters, thrown into the book.

This is a very intricate murder mystery book, one that will keep you guessing until the end.

Absolutely thrilling read from start to end. This was an interesting take on what I like to call "the Frankenstein syndrome". Several doctors wanting to make a "perfect" human being, only to be killed by their creations. There were just enough side steps in the book to keep it from getting tedious once you knew who the killer was and this book showed another example of why trying to clone humans is an extremely dangerous enterprise and should, ethically, never be done.

Dr. Wilifred Icove, A famous reconstructive surgeon is murdered cooly and efficiently - a scalpel to the heart - right in his office.

Soon after, the surgeon's son, WIll Jr., is also murdered in the exact same manner. Was it the beautiful woman seen leaving the good Dr.'s premises right before his death? Was Will junior's wife involved?

Through police procedure Eve and her trusty band of sidekicks (Peabody, McNabb, Feeney, Baxter, et. al) begin to delve into the background of the two doctors and find more than they bargain for.

I was severely disappointed in the last Eve Dalls book. I felt that Nora Roberts had drawn from a well that she had visited many times. Not so this book. If you're familiar with the series, you'll recognize another one of her favorite themes, the God-complected doctor. But this one is nicely different from her others.

The book begins like many of the others: a murder happens, Eve investigates and calls in her team, and begins to throw around theories. ABout half way through, this book takes off and doesn't look back. The story is tightly plotted and the mystery unravels with some great suspense and exciting revelations. The core of the story is really quite creepy (but in a shivery good way) and the ending just downright popcorn chomping exciting!

Outside of the mystery, a secondary plot is Roarke and Eve are planning Thanksgiving dinner. Roarke's Irish relatives come to visit and they've invited the whole gang (including Charles the LC and Crack, the owner of the Down and Dirty). My one regret about the whole story is that we don't get to see that dinner happen.

Excellent.

As usual, Nora has done it again. "Origin in Death" is a captivating and stimulating story regarding the subject of cloning. Eve's latest assignment is to track down the root of this evil and end the craziness. The usual supporting cast is there to help her along the way and some very interesting moments come about when Roarke decides to invite his family from Ireland for Thanksgiving dinner. Also, Eve's "moment" with Dr. Mira and their little altercation during the "hunt" was played out very well. Dr. Mira is a stand-up person and knows how to handle the brashness that Eve dishes out to everyone. Mira knows how to stand up to Eve and at the same time let Eve know how much she cares for her. The simulated mother-daughter relationship is definitely something I would like to see developed further throughout the series.
I have now completed the series and look forward to the next book. I highly recommend "Origin in Death" to all mystery/murder/sci-fi fans.

This was a good addition to the series, with a riveting ending. The romance wasn't the focus as much as the mystery this time, with a chilling plot (way too believable with the advances in cloning technology). There was less focus on secondary characters (except where Mira and Eve went head-to-head a couple of times), and a little more focus on family issues and Eve's continuing struggle with her past and how it effects her job. Roarke, as usual, was an integral part of the investigation. As another reviewer mentioned, I wish we could've been a part of the family dinner that Roarke was stressing about throughout the book. If that was included, it would've probably earned another star from me. :) Overall, a good read - worth the time!

In the year 2059, Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department walks into her office and finds a nightmare sitting on her chair. The child Eve was given to Trudy for fostering, but the powers that be had no idea that she was an abusive predator who took a broken child and tortured her. Eve escaped by running away and spent time in Juvie, a safer place

The adult Eve throws Trudy out of her office; the next day Trudy goes to Eve's billionaire husband Roarke to blackmail him in exchange for her silence on his wife's past. He kicks her out of his office and tells her what he will to do to her if she bothers Eve again. Roarke and Eve go to Trudy's room to confront her and tell her they will not give in to blackmail but by the time they reach her, she is dead, the victim of murder. Eve manages to be the primary on the case in order to get justice for Trudy who many like Roarke believe doesn't deserve it and but the cop can put the worst of her childhood to rest.

Trudy is evil, a woman who will go to any lengths to get what she wants. She likes to hurt people, especially those she fostered and then blackmailed when they were old enough to pay her. Eve is a strong woman who pushes her vulnerabilities aside in order to conduct the investigation to the best of her ability. J.D. Robb once again writes a fantastic and exciting futuristic police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

As important as this book is in the series, I just didn’t like it. It just left me empty. I didn’t care about any of the characters, specifically the victims. The story seemed implausible and just weird. And the drama at the end was ridiculous.

Origin in Death, the twenty-first book in the In Death series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts), finds Lt. Eve Dallas and Det. Delia Peabody in charge of the murder investigation of Dr. Wilfred B. Icove, a famous reconstructive surgeon and humanitarian. It seems the victim knew his killer and met with her alone in his office. However, there's no trace of this woman in the system even though they have a clear picture.

This book expands on the characters as it delves into the murder mystery. This future world is fleshed out a bit more. We learn a bit about the urban wars, cloning, and schooling for children, medicine, and families. With each book the world becomes richer and more a future possible with present day technology taken to the next level. The police are hampered by the same rules, regulations, publicity, and budget cuts as they are in our present. Once more Eve and Delia are forced to make some decisions that will forever affect them as police officers and humans.

Once again the central mystery is multi-layered and difficult to solve but once you finish the book and go through it again all the clues are there to be seen. This series is definitely a mystery series with romance. It's well written and clever. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to spend with family and friends. So this year, Roarke has invited his Irish relatives to visit Eve and him in New York. Now, as Eve and Roarke prepare for the holiday, nervously anticipating his clan's impending arrival, they can't help wondering what he may have gotten them into -- and whether they have enough time to escape the familial madness. But crime doesn't take a holiday. While conducting a post-operative interview with a music celebrity at the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive Surgery, its founder, and one of the most renowned doctors on or off planet, Wilfred B. Icove, is found dead in his office, a scalpel piercing his heart. Video shows a woman leaving the scene, but a check on his final appointment reveals she was using a false identity. While Eve and her partner Peabody work the case, the new head of the Center, Dr. Will Icove Jr., meets with an identical fate in his own home. Nothing about the murders makes sense, including the motive. According to everyone they've interviewed, the Icove's were practically saints; however, Eve doesn't trust saints, and the deeper she digs, the less she likes the victims. Regardless, Eve stands for the dead. But sometimes it's not the dead who need a champion.

Far from losing steam, J.D. Robb (AKA Nora Roberts), has written one of the best In Death books to date, in ORIGIN IN DEATH. Gripping suspense, combined with equal measures of wicked wisecracks and heartbreaking emotional intensity, will have readers foregoing sleep in order to finish the book in one sitting. Roarke faces the prospect of his relatives' visit with the kind of savoir-faire Eve usually displays when Trina shows up for one of her "tune-ups." In other words, he panics, then they panic together. Having experienced my share of family reunions, I understood their trepidation, which made their situation even funnier. After all, better them than me. In addition to Roarke's Irish relations, we also get a chance to revisit other In Death regulars such as Feeney, McNab, Dr. Mira, Commander Whitney, Nadine, Baxter, Mavis and yes, the scary -- and sneaky -- Trina. While ORIGIN IN DEATH offers plenty of opportunity for smirks and laughter, it also has a deeply serious side that dares to wade into sensitive waters.

If you haven't read the latest In Death offering, do yourself a favor and buy ORIGIN IN DEATH, a gritty, powerful, thought-provoking read.

Again, another wonderful "in Death" by Nora. It's Christmastime and Eve is trying to deal with Santa jumping from the 34thfloor of a building yelling "HO HO HO"! Drugs, of course.

There's a lot more Roarke in this book than last. A plus for me! Nora writes him with flair. I enjoyed this book, seeing another terrible aspect of Eve's past played out again to disrupt her life. But....I thought Eve's heart wasnt really into the solution of this crime. And what I know of the court system, the culprit will manage to do a lot less than 25 to life.

Also, I think Nora is morphing into Eve with her backcover picture. It describes Eve perfectly. Nice duds, Nora. Time Square????

I will keep reading the "in Death" series as long as Nora keeps writing them. My collection is growing from paperbacks to the well worth it hardcovers. Looking forward to the next.

I am a big Eve Dallas & Company fan. I liked this book better than SURVIVOR IN DEATH. This one has Eve back in the saddle of wanting to do A-Kicking anyone who gets in her way, especially if they want to touch her new coat.

Knowing her background, I can understand why she wants to save the Icove Clones to the best of her ability. And doesn't care who gets in her way to save the girls.

I read Gypsy Reader comments about, and I take exception to what she said about Eve not supporting Roarke in having family for Thanksgiving. If anyone who has read the series from the beginning will know that both Eve and Roarke have not had much to do with family. They both have had to learn to have people in their lives.

Roarke being more tactful and socialable and has had an easier time with people. Eve on the other hand has had a harder time, but she's learning.

I think Gypsy Reader is unfair in saying that Eve isn't supporting Roarke and the Thanksgiving Feast he's planning, I think she does, but with a murder to solve it's not #1 on her lists of priorities.

I also don't think that Eve is as self-absorbed as many people think she is. She just has a harder time warming up to people than Roarke. Even with her attitude she does have a lot of people who like and love her.

J D Robb is one of those authors whose books I buy without a second thought. I don't regret the puchase of Origin in Death.

Eve solves another crime in furturstic New York. She brings along her husband Roarke, her partner, the loveable Peabody, and the rest of the gang that we know and love from the other In Death books. Since I have read all of Robb's previous novels, I found this one very easy to follow. If you have not read any of Robb's prior novels, I would not start with this one, as some of the plot asks you to suspend a lot of your beliefs, and you might think that all of Robb's novels are the same way.

Two popular doctors are murdered, and it is up to Eve to find out why. The victims are both wealthy and well-known, which adds pressure to solve the case quickly. Eve enlists the help of her husband, the wealthy and perfect Roarke, and her partner, the comical Peabody, to solve the crime. Feeney and the ED department also get involved, as do Dr. Mira. It is a refreshing change to see Dr. Mira, usually neutral and professional, actually have a bias towards one of the victims.

This book is well-written, and builds on the other novels very well. I would not recommend it as a stand alone book, as the plot and the resolution are sort of "out there" and you may get a bad impression of Robb as a result.

While Eve Dallas and her partner Peabody are interviewing a witness at the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery, the body of Dr. Wilfred B. Icove, Sr. is discovered. Due to the way Icove was murdered, Eve suspects a professional hit by the last person to come in contact with Dr. Icove, a mysterious young woman. As Eve investigates, she begins to suspect that there is something off about Dr. Icove's practice, and when his son is found murdered in the same manner as the father, Eve delves deeper into the doctors' pasts. What she discovers not only sickens but shocks Eve, who, with the help of her husband, Roarke, intends to put a stop to a secretive illegal, immoral, and unethical scientific experiment that involves cloning.

J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts has written an engaging thriller here about a subject that is presently being debated among the scientific community and which, due to DNA advancements, may very well come to pass. Eve's edgy manner of dealing with people, balanced by Roarke's understanding and love and Peabody's perky demeanor, continue to bring freshness to a well-grounded series.

I'm so glad that J. D. Robb (also known as Nora Roberts) is a prolific writer, as it means that I normally don't have long to wait between episodes of the In Death series. In her latest, Memory In Death, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is confronted with one of her more emotionally trying cases to date... the murder of her foster mother.

Christmas 2059 is rolling around, and Dallas is trying to clean up a scene where a Santa flew out a window hyped up on drugs. Just another day at the office until she gets back to the station, only to find a woman waiting for her there. This lady claims that she's Eve's foster mother, a person that Eve hated with a passion. She gets tossed out, and Eve starts dealing with the emotional turmoil of reliving her past (which is gruesome). The reason for the woman's visit becomes clear, however, when she shows up at Roarke's office and attempts to blackmail him and Dallas to the tune of $2 million to not turn over files pertaining to her abusive childhood. Roarke also throws her out, and promises to kill her with his bare hands if she doesn't leave New York immediately. Problem is, someone beats him to it, and she's found murdered in her hotel. Eve ends up first on the scene, and really should dismiss herself from the case. But she feels it's her duty to stand up for the victim, regardless of how she feels about the person. There's no clear clues as to who might have done her in, but Eve's gut says that her son and daughter-in-law, vacationing with the lady, are somehow tied in...

As I've stated on just about every other In Death review, I really love this series. I started this book on a Saturday morning, and it was done by Saturday night. I won't even think about the things I *should* have gotten done that day that remained unfinished. This storyline fills out more of Eve's childhood, from the point where she killed her abusive father until she left foster care. It's been alluded to in the past, but never fleshed out in this detail. And even though the original meeting threw her for a loop, I got the feeling that confronting this ghost from her past might also help her deal with the nightmares of her father. Just a guess... As always, well written and an extremely enjoyable read.

And when's the next one coming out???

This is another peak at Eve's past, adding another victim of Trudy's. Robb is skilled at twisting a story so that it's extremely difficult to put her books down. She shows Eve's kind and generous side with the hardness of Lt. Dallas. Can't wait for the next book.

Eve Dallas is a tough cop.

Everyone knows it, everyone says it.

Nothing can shake Dallas.

Except maybe someone from the past. Like that someone who can shake even Dallas AND Roarke.

A blast from the past puts Dallas in one hell of a handbasket and she doesn't even know how to get through it. To make matters worse now there is a death, and a death that wouldn't shake Dallas, but makes her think of her job and her life. Why is she doing this? And for who?

Robin Cook would be so proud. This was an excellent addition to J. D. Robb's series. How Nora does this series every 6 months is just amazing. The premise of cloning is current and chilling. It could happen! Ugh

All the enduring characters are present with a new ADA Cher Reo, thrown in for good measure. Eve, this time thankfully, goes easy on Summerset. And dont we all await the entry into the story of the fabulous Roarke!!!

A sweet touch was Thanksgiving preparation and the arrival of Roarke's family. Eve'e reaction was hilarious and how typically the Irish relatives absorbed and blended her insecurity. That's family!!!!!

I am a big fan of this series. I applaud Nora's imagination and am impressed with the procedural. Waiting for the next!

Eve discovers the grisly truth about a man revered in the medical world. More than genetic manipulation, the Icove's - both father and son - have been cloning women for years. Women who have been trained and nurtured to belong to the men they are sold to. Now those women want payback and they have killed the father and the son in order to halt the process.

This book covers a gamut of emotions for all parties involved along with Roarke's nervousness over his family coming to New York for Thanksgiving.

In "Memory in Death," Lieutenant Eve Dallas is confronted with her cruel and sadistic former foster mother, who is seeking to extort a large sum of money from the ever-protective Roarke. She then is murdered, and Eve takes it upon herself to solve the case.

This mystery is much less layered and technical than her previous installment and contained several things that I really liked and one or two that I really, really didn't.

What I liked: seeing Eve's vulnerable side, avoiding the cliche of having either her or Roarke be suspects in Trudy's murder, her own mixed feelings about solving the case, Peabody's growth as a character and as a person, Eve's encounters with her foster-brother.

What I didn't: how obvious it was who murdered Trudy, the "female villain" stereotypes Ms. Robb invokes - women are bitchy, conniving, etc, only reinforced with the reappearance of a female villain from another book. Also, just for a change, might we have a book in this series that pushes some else's buttons, who isn't Eve? What about Roarke? Or Whitney? Feeney? Baxter? Don't any of these guys have unpleasant family secrets or past crime-solving activities that might get them in trouble? (Okay, we've had one with Feeney, but still). It just would be nice to see Eve NOT have to confront yet another demon from her past for a book or two.

I really enjoyed this book. Eve and Roarke seem to moving beyond their usual hang ups, or at least to recognize them faster. It's refreshing to see them getting more in sync with each other. The surrounding plots are also moving along at a satisfying pace and I also liked that JDR didn't force characters into the story just to let us know how they're doing. I found this new information on Eve's past to be well integrated. I especially appreciated that no one close to Eve was even suspected of being implicated in the crime. The plot doesn't beat my favorite "Loyalty in Death", and may have been more mind games than action driven, but it was well crafted and satisfying. My favourite part, though, was another glimpse into Eve's past, through her last Christmas Present to Roarke. I won't ruin the pleasure of reading about it within the context of the book, but I liked the image that was created. It doesn't always have to be about abuse and torture with her. After my disappointing experience with "Survivor in Death" I was happy to see a more human, more approachable private Eve, complement her hard-hitting, unbeatably tough, cop from the tips of her hair to the soles of her no-nonesense boots personna.

I have read every J.D. Robb book up to this point and have really enjoyed getting to know the cast of characters, etc.

I tried to read this book twice and finally forced myself to get through it. The book itself is well written, but the topic of clones and the amount of time devoted to discovering just what the Icove's were up to and the big reveal kind of fell flat when I figured out from the prologue that clones were what we were dealing with.

I just wasn't impressed, although the ending rocked in typical Robb fashion that had me speeding towards the final pages with a fervor that I wished had been present throughout the whole book.

In my opinion one crappy book out of so many is really good, I'll definately read the rest of the books as they come out. I just don't get into Clones.

Memory in Death definitely stands out among the In Death books. We get more of a background look into Dallas's life in the foster care system, instead of the glimpses of the past with her father. This time Trudy Lombard is in town and looking for Eve. She was Eve's foster mother for less than a year before Eve ran away. Trudy physically and emotionally abused Eve along with all the other foster children that were in her care. Eve refuses to spend time with Trudy who is trying to extort money from Roarke. Eve of course finds Trudy dead and she must find her killer even though she despises the victim. The only possible suspects are the son and the daughter-in-law. Very good mystery have to say I guessed the killer early on though. The book also focuses on Christmas and the people in Eve's life. It's fun to watch Eve grow with each book and become more human. The next book is Born in Death which I am assuming is when Mavis's baby is born, I can't wait for that one.

WARNING: Many reviews and in my opinion even the bookjacket itself contain significant spoilers. Fortunately, I did not read these until after I had completed the story. Since I believe that such knowledge would have detracted from my enjoyment, this review contains NO SPOILERS.

"Death smiled at her, and kissed her gently on the check. He had nice eyes...The father was always nice, just like he was now, when he sat beside her, holding her hand." Immediately upon reading these sentences in the brief prologue of J.D. Robb's newest entry in the --- IN DEATH series, the reader senses that this book may contain one of the most unnerving storylines in the series. Not in the sense of terrifying or weird, but in the sense of creepiness as Eve Dallas and her associates are forced to confront basic philosophical questions concerning the meaning and order of life itself.

This book remains true to the series storyline, which is centered on NY Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and combines the standard police procedural format with the futuristic crime solving methodology available to a detective operating in the year 2059. As is standard, Eve's police partner Peabody and her new cohab McNabb; Feeney from the EDD (Electronic Detectives Division); the police psychologist Dr. Mira; Eve's husband Roarke; Summerset, Roarke's savior and now personal assistant and Eve's nemesis; and the usual varied assortment of droids all have significant roles to play in the story. Of course, there are the moments when some aspect of the case invariably cause Eve's tortured past to intrude upon the present. And concomitantly, as readers have come to expect there are also the interludes where Roarke's passion affords her the comfort, escape and refuge she needs to overcome her emotional turmoil.

The previous book in the series, SURVIVOR IN DEATH (review 3/30/2005), was a relatively standard straightforward thriller and police procedural which caused Eve tremendous personal distress and cast her in a relatively unsympathetic light with regard to the treatment of young NIxie Swisher and her relations with Roarke and Summerset. However, it did not raise any profound ethical issues or cause her confront significant moral dilemmas. In contrast, this story uses the case which is unexpectedly thrust upon Eve and Peabody both to force Eve to confront moral and ethical questions which are made more difficult due to Eve's personal background and also to thrust upon her the recognition that there is sometimes no good solution - rather all that an individual can accomplish is to try to right as many wrongs as possible, avoid further tragedy, and protect the innocent to the extent possible. The result of this case is to humanize Eve in a manner which provides hope for the future despite the incredibly tragic nature of the case, in contrast to the personal despair which resulted from the SURVIVOR installment of the series.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above it is impossible to discuss this story in any detail without providing spoilers. The story begins with Eve and Peabody investigating a celebrity murder committed by Lee-Lee Ten, popular vid star. She had stabbed the "hunk of the year" Bryhern Speegal and the bloody scene and method of death bring back to Eve the scene of her father's death amid the "rivers of blood" that resulted from his numerous knife wounds. Lee-Lee is recuperating from Bryhern's severe beating at the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive Surgery; after examining the scene and questioning the Lee-Lee, Eve and Peabody decide it is clearly a case of self-defense and prepare to return to police HQ and close the case. However, they are summoned to the office of the Center's founder by his son and namesake, to find Dr. Icove, Sr. dead of a single scapel wound to his heart. His friends and colleagues, the Center's staff, and the community at large are devastated given Icove's reputation as a selfless individual so devoted to his work and family that in fact he is known as "Dr. Perfect". However, Eve knows that appearances can be deceiving, including the security video of his last known appointment and apparent murderer. Additional violence soon occurs, and before long evidence is uncovered which involves Eve in one of the most psychologically stressful cases of her career. in addition, she realizes that she may be in a race against time to avoid disastrous consequences for many other potential victims.

I enjoyed this book much more than the previous volume, but cannot compare it with the earlier volumes which I have not yet had time to read. The humor was excellent and interspersed judiciously to lessen the tension and lighten what is essentially a very depressing although thought-provoking story. I especially liked the philosophical overlay and how it interacted with Eve's background story. In addition, this is certainly a book which works well as a standalone story, although it might take a new reader a liitle while to pick up on some of the future technology. Nevertheless, there are three reasons why I reduced my rating from a full five stars. First, even on its terms and understanding that the setting in the future allows for further scientific advances, the plot details stretched my credulity. Second, while the details are extremely clever and make for a good story, it is relatively inconceivable that this complicated a conspiracy could have remained secret for so long. Third, this is simply an interesting twist on a basic plot device that has already been well explored by other authors because of the interesting moral questions involved. Two such earlier novels which I enjoyed were THE THIRD TWIN by Ken Follett and THE GENESIS CODE by John Case.

In summary, ORIGIN IN DEATH is well worth your time if you are a reader inclined to take the time to read a detective story which is much more a look into the deepest recesses of the human psyche than a standard police procedural. Just remember, to enjoy this book you will have to read it thoroughly; if you choose to just flip through the pages rapidly to follow the plot, you will miss the essence of this story and should instead read SURVIVOR IN DEATH instead.

Tucker Andersen

I have read every book in this series at least twice. (Some three times or more). I started collecting the books as they showed up in Walmart then I got hooked on the series. I have every book, even the novellas. Anytime you have a series, it allows you to get to know the characters better with each book. As many times as I've read them, I always find something new and I am never bored.

I have read every book in this series at least twice. (Some three times or more). I started collecting the books as they showed up in Walmart then I got hooked on the series. I have every book, even the novellas. Anytime you have a series, it allows you to get to know the characters better with each book. As many times as I've read them, I always find something new and I am never bored.

I wasn't sure I would like Origin in Death because its a bit Science Fiction and I'm very picky when it comes to that catagory. I enjoyed the storyline very well. The murder of the father who was greatly admired by the wonderful Dr. Mira. Then the son followed by the learning or realization of cloning and the school. The questions that were raised about cloning. It was nice seeing Louise and Charles again. I liked that Morris now has another woman flirting with him. Delia was as good as always.

But as I contiune to enjoy the series I'm become less fond our favorite Detective Dallas. I'm sure I'm probably in the minority but all of the things that I liked about her in the beginning of the series I now find irrating and very unlikable. I used to like Eve with her loud mouth but lately its been getting irrating berating people around her. First, demanding she go into a murder scene in another state and was ticked off because a cop was preventing her from doing so. I'm sorry but when did New Hampshire become a jurdiction of New York City? I don't care if its 2059, 2006 or 3501 a detective can't go barging into a crime scene in another state. Then she went onto the argument with Dr. Mira being completely disrespectful and right down nasty. In the last two books Eve and only Eve is allowed to have the right opinion or right way. She can not even enterain or believe that someone else could have a different opinion. I was glad to see Dr. Mira not apologize for the argument. She is the first person in a long time not to have to apologize to Eve for having a different opinion. I also would like to see her to stop being the only priority in her marriage. I'd like to see her stop taking Roarke for granted and start thinking about him. We had a part where Roarke was talking about his family and especially his aunt to Louise. A converation he should of been having with Eve. She should of been there talking to her husband about how he felt about having his family visiting for Thanksgiving, his guilt that he still fills responsible for his mother's death. I realize Eve has issues but so does Roarke and with all the help he's been with her nightmares and problems, Roarke deserves the same from her. I would of liked Eve to of reflected on the comment Roarke made that he wouldn't know if cheese and fruit on a tray is wifely thing considering Eve's never done it, and realize how little she gives to Roarke and start allready. Eve never asks him about his trips or his work. She still doesn't know what businesses her husband owns in the beginning of the series this was cute now it just comes of as self-absorbed. Hopefully in the next book or two we can see an improvement on Eve. I also disliked her comment about how no man is that perfect, to which Delia pointed out her own father was a great man. I was pleased to hear that, Delia's the only main charactor to actually be raised by good parents and I've always liked her bring that up to Eve. But did NR have to put in that Delia's father had been arrested a few times? Sure it was only minor but that wasn't necessary and it proved Eve's point that no father can be completely clean. Not all fathers or men who have clean record are hiding something. My own father happens to be among these.

This is an extremely enjoyable story, whether read as a standalone futuristic police procedural, a psychological study of the impact of psychological and physical abuse upon young girls, or the latest entry in J.D. Robb's very successful ... IN DEATH series featuring Lt. Eve Dallas. However, I would guess that those readers who are already devotees of the series and familiar with the background of many of the recurring characters will appreciate more fully the further development of the many familiar relationships which occur during the course of this Christmas season. Of course, Eve's husband Roarke plays a central role in this story; as usual her partner Peabody (whose Christmas celebration with McNab is potentially a source of great tension) and Feeney also both play significant roles during the course of this story, as do both Captain Whitney, and Dr.Mira as well (complemented this time by a crucial role played by her husband Dennis ).

Despite the approach of Christmas and the festive appearance of NYC in December of 2059, "death was not taking a holiday ... Santa Claus was dead. And a couple of his elves weren't looking so good." Thus opens MEMORY IN DEATH, with Eve surveying the horrific scene where Santa Claus was splattered on the sidewalk after a swan dive from the thirty-sixth floor of an office tower during a Christmas party. Surrounded by a crowd composed of both horrified tourists the thrill seekers attracted to such macabre events, Eve was attempting to elicit some background information about the tragedy which had not only killed Santa but also the hapless victim who happened to be at the point of impact in the center of Times Square. While this is an interesting case, its solution is relatively straightforward and is a function of the type of investigation described in any standard police procedural. It is in fact only the appetizer for the main course which is to follow.

When Eve and Peabody return to the Station and interrogate their primary suspect, Eve agrees to allow Peabody to write up the report and do the case follow-up. She is thinking about Christmas, an event which is a source of both very confusing emotions for her as well as a great deal of tentativeness with regard to the tradition of gift giving and receiving and the festive partying with friends and relatives. As she enters her office, she is suddenly confronted by a Mrs. Lombard, an apparent stranger who attempts to embrace her and when rebuffed shocks her by exclaiming "why honey, Don't you know me? I'm your mama." The woman breathlessly informs Eve that she heard about her on TV during the incredible national publicity which her last case generated (ORIGIN IN DEATH), and she has come to NYC to catch up with the events in her since the time when she (Trudy) had taken Eve into her home as a foster child. Her son Bobby and his new wife Zana are all there to enjoy the holidays, and want to have dinner with Eve. Eve's emotions are immediately in turmoil as childhood memories flood back and overwhelm her, and she angrily warns Trudy Lombard that she is no longer a helpless child and she better get out or Eve will put her "in a cage".

Of course, Eve arrives home an emotional wreck and when she eventually recounts the story to Roarke, he reassures her that she has overcome her past and can handle this incident; he also immediately understands that Trudy will attempt to shake them down in some way to keep Eve's past out of public view. Trudy's confrontation with Roarke the next day quickly changes the dynamics of the situation, but just as she has underestimated Roarke, they underestimate her tenacity as well. Suddenly the situation changes dramatically when Eve decides to confront Trudy and discovers Trudy's dead and battered body in her hotel room. While Eve can feel absolutely no remorse for Trudy, she is determined to prove her professionalism by assuming the role of primary investigator on the case.

From this point forward in the story, Eve's celebration of Christmas and gradual understanding of the way the human bonds of friendship are strengthened and deepened by such celebration are totally intertwined with the way in which the case draws her back into repressed memories of her past. She is forced to bring to the surface long buried recollections of many details of her horrific childhood (which she has overcome); the litany of psychological abuse inflicted by Trudy is truly horrendous and very effectively fills in further gaps in Eve's childhood both for Roarke and long time readers of this series. She also remembers the small occasional acts of kindnesses by Bobby during her life in that house of horrors, and now can feel the gratitude that her couldn't fully appreciate at the time. The search for suspects soon leads Eve to contact other foster children "cared for" by Trudy, and the full extent of the horror which this manipulative witch inflicted on many children leads Eve to conclude that in all likelihood her death was the result of vengeance occasioned by Trudy's attempt to blackmail other victims who didn't have the resolve or the means to resist her.

As the investigation reaches its conclusion and Eve gradually focuses in on the murderer, the outcome is destined to exact a further psychological toll upon her. Fortunately, the depressing elements of the murder investigation are offset by the many positive aspects of this Christmas season for Eve. In some ways, it appears that this is the case which may finally force Eve to fully confront her past and thus allow her to emotionally move beyond it. The major unanswered question is how she will react to the upcoming childbirth by Mavis Freestone of the first child for she and Leonardo (of course they make an appearance here), since she and Roarke have promised to participate during the birth.

I strongly recommend this book for all fans of police procedurals, especially those who appreciate a significant injection of character development. Since I became hooked on this series by reading SURVIVOR IN DEATH, I have chosen to read all the new releases while also starting at the beginning in order to better understand the backstory and the references to Eve's previous cases. As I mentioned earlier, I certainly highly recommend this book as a standalone story if you have neither the time nor inclination to read what has become a quite extensive stories. However, I would strongly recommend that readers who like such series with a futuristic element read at least the first three novels of the ... IN DEATH series in the order written (NAKED..., GLORY..., IMMORTAL...) for two reasons (even though I do not rate them as highly as the later entries). First, as the best method of becoming gradually exposed to the elements in Eve's background which have formed her personality in the extremely effective manner which the author has devised; the evolution of the tone of the series and Eve's personality is both interesting and profound. Second, the extensive cast of continuing characters is an integral element in the enjoyment of the series, and there is too great an amount of material for the reader of just a single story to fully appreciate the context.

I will close with two final observations concerning this story. First, perhaps I have simply read a sufficient number of stories in this series so that the futuristic elements seem less noticeable than previously, but it seemed to me that in many ways with only a few minor modifications this story could have been set in the present and that the futuristic elements were basically only minor embellishments. Second, it struck me as somewhat out of character that there was no reference to any concern on Eve's part that this case and the concomitant investigation of Trudy's role in Eve's past had the potential to publicly reveal her deepest secrets and thus traumatize her once again as well as permanently change her relationship with her associates.

Tucker Andersen

Even though this wasn't her best, I still truly enjoyed it. All have been wonderful. I am completely hooked on the unabridged audio cd's of this series. The narrator is sensational. After the first 3 I was completely invested in all the characters. Their voices become familiar to you and you feel like you know them. I can't even drive without hearing their voices. I have listened to about 20 of them and I dread when there will be no more. If you are thinking about audiobooks, this is the series to start with. You will not be disappointed.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Origin in Death is the 21st installment of Nora Roberts's In Death series written under the pen name of J.D. Robb and this one really amps up the sci-fi quotient and brings to the light a hot button topic; cloning.

The highly acclaimed Dr. Wilfred B. Icove, Sr has been murdered in his office at his center for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. His murderer was nothing if not efficient as she went in, got through all his security, stabbed the doctor neatly in the heart with a scalpel and waltzed right out. They caught her on camera and the ID she had used to get through security was fake.

Then, while investigating Icove's son, Dr. Will, he turns up dead as well. This time in his own home, but with the same neat wound to the heart with a scalpel.

Eve knows that everything is not what it seems and that the good doctors must have been involved in something that was less than legal. But she never in a million years expects what she uncovers; human cloning and gene manipulation; designer babies. This book reminded me a lot of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series where Victor was trying to create a superior race.

The Icoves were trying to create the perfect human race and had even started planning to get natural conception outlawed since it's flawed and they expected to get legislation passed to mandate sterilization.

Eve puts it altogether and figures out that some of the Icoves "projects" came back to take them out to keep them from doing to others what has been done to them. But when one of the murderers turns out to be three perfect clones of each other all claiming to be one, things get a little sticky.

I actually found the storyline of this book to be fascinating and it really kept my interest throughout the entire novel. But with all that said, the book wasn't a favorite of mine. It seems when the sci-fi themes rear their ugly heads in this series, no matter how fascinating the concept, I can never feel more than a likeness for the book; greatness is just beyond my reach.

Eve is really involved in this case so you don't get as much of the romance between Roarke and her that I love so much in this series. The book is also lacking the sarcasm between Eve and just about everyone. Maybe with those things in the story, it would have raised my level of enjoyment.

With Thanksgiving nearing we did get to see Roarke getting unnerved planning his first ever family get-together, which was sweet, but not really that exciting or entertaining.

I really like this series and I enjoy seeing things that you can totally see happening in the very distant future if certain people are left to run rampant. This book highlights my very fears with science's advancement in cloning and explores some ethical and moral questions about it; let's just hope they never make it to human cloning in real life!!

This review and more at openbooksociety dot com

Eve Dallas and her partner Delia Peabody have been thrown into the center of a case that may make them question how far a doctor, with a God complex, will go to achieve his dreams. The story starts with the murder of Dr. Wilfred B. Icove, a prominent plastic surgeon in New York City. The murder is strange because he was stabbed in the heart with a scalpel and there was very little blood. The only clue they have about who committed the crime is video surveillance that captures a young woman leaving the building after an appointment. When they realize that all of her information has been forged they start to dig deeper into Icove and his son Icove Jr., also a partner in the practice. Icove Jr. is married to a beautiful woman and has two wonderful children, what seems like the perfect life. In the middle of the investigation Icove Jr is murdered the same way that his father was. As the plot thickens they begin to think that what looks too good to be true usually is. All of this comes about during the Thanksgiving holiday when Eve's husband, Roarke is planning a huge feast with his newly found family. This series always aims to please and J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) is an excellent writer in whatever genre she chooses. If you are looking for intrigue, mystery and a little romance mixed in this is definitely the book for you.

This book was better than the last. It is more Sci-Fi than the others but I liked that aspect of it. I had wished that we saw Thanksgiving Dinner and who came to it. I felt cheated in that area.

I liked how the investigation moved. I liked that Eve was back to herself as well as the other members of the gang.

The only issue that I have with this book, and is now more of an industry problem, is that I don't think that this book was Harcover material. It was a bit over priced.

Book #24 in the In Death Series.

In this book we have the death of Dr. Icove. Eve suspects a professional due to the efficient way he was killed. Security disks show his last appointment of the day a beautiful woman entering and leaving his office. As Eve thinks his record is too clean she suspect his son another Dr., knows more than he is saying... But then he ends up dead in the same precise manner. This is a tale of Doctors playing God. Eve butts heads with Mira in this book and it is a little annoying. But other than that this book is excellent and the plot so different.

Memory in Death is the latest in the in Death series written by J.D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts. This latest novel is set at Christmas, just a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the Icove case of Origin in Death, and the two novels are very strongly connected. For, the concomitant publicity wrought by the resolution of the Icove case is the primary cause for the action of the new novel.

In brief, Trudy Lombard who was once Eve Dallas's foster mother, an abusive and sadistic woman, catches the news about the Icove case which features the primary Eve Dallas, married to the fabulously wealthy Roarke. Resolved to be repaid for having housed Dallas for a few months, Lombard comes to New York City with intent to blackmail Dallas and Roarke so she will be silent about Dallas's traumatic childhood. Though Dallas is badly shaken and spun into the black well of her traumatic childhood memories, she rejects Lombard, as does Roarke whom the woman later approaches. The action of the novel commences when Dallas and Roarke set out to Lombard's hotel to face her down together and discover her murdered with her body showing signs of a severe beating.

Fans of J.D. Robb are doomed to disappointment if they come to Memory in Death expecting the tension and bloody trails that are the hallmark of previous novels or even the philosophical musings that are the subtext of Origin in Death. Instead, Memory in Death mirrors the slowing down of business activity-even cop business-that occurs as Christmas nears; thus, it pays homage to the Christmas season in spite of its unorthodox opening with the death of a party Santa.

Though restraining the central characters to the investigation of one murder, Robb retains the sense of the diurnal occurrence of murder by having other investigative officers report in to Dallas on the progress of their cases. This is something that she has seldom done even though readers sometimes hear about the case-load of a regular like Baxter. Thus, Robb slows down the pace, reduces the frantic urgency, and so sets the stage for what Christmas is about: loved ones, family, and friends.

In a sense, the novel is a Christmas home-coming for the regulars, almost all of whom are present at the party, and who are like family to Eve Dallas and Roarke. The party itself, like Dallas's later conversation with Peabody when she calls from Scotland, is given too short shrift, and this undercuts in some slight way to holiday celebration.

One of the benefits of the slow pace of Memory in Death is that it allows for the development of relationships, such as that between Dallas and Charlotte Mira. The Miras are shown, through Charlotte's conversation with Eve, to be a warts and all less than perfect couple. The result is that Dallas, who struggles periodically with roles and the interpersonal aspect of marriage, is reassured that perfection is unlikely. Mira continues to teach Dallas about marriage, family, and friendship.

If Feeney is Dallas's surrogate father, Charlotte Mira is her surrogate mother and friend who cares enough to plead for them to remain friends. Dallas's lack of ease with personal relationships outside of her marriage and the work situation, even her hardness, is highlighted by Mira's plea. In the mushy grounds of disagreement, love, anger, and exchange that is friendship, Dallas is often lost. Happily for her sake, Charlotte Mira helps her find her way back. Dallas's discomfort is also shown in the abrupt way she dismisses Peabody who calls from her Scotland visit with McNab's relatives. Moreover, some of the sticks-in-the-craw dirt comes out in a fight between Eve and Roarke which makes them an even more realistic couple because Dallas vents her envy that Roarke's family situation turned out so well for him. The dust up between the two and its resolution reminds that envy and anger can bubble up against even those we love.

At the heart of the novel is the rich irony that Trudy Lombard, who, in life, had psychologically abused her female foster charges, in death is the subject of an equally psychological murder investigation. Call it a consequence of the Christmas slow down or what you will, it is undeniable that Memory in Death is not action-driven but more focused on the detailing of the deductive reasoning process that is so crucial to the resolution of criminal cases.

The characters of Bobby Lombard and his wife Zana make the novel work on several different levels. For one, Bobby is the vehicle through whom Dallas realizes that not all of her childhood memories are horrific. Though Bobby Lombard did nothing openly to stem his mother's abuse of her foster girls, he compensated by sneaking Eve food when Trudy punished her by withholding food. In looking backwards, Dallas's experience with the neighbor's boy's airskate foreshadows the tough-minded woman who is unafraid of taking physical shots in the performance of her duties. In remembering him, Eve recalls that what prompted her flight from Trudy Lombard's house was her failure to stand up for the boy, who had been kind to her, when Trudy Lombard falsely accused him of vandalism. For another, Bobby is also cause of Dallas's realizing that true love is not blind to the faults of the beloved. The ability to see the strengths and weaknesses, even the pettiness of the beloved is critical to the formation of a strong bond between a couple. Through Zana come some of the detours that add some measure of suspense, even drama, to this slow paced novel. The philosophical issue at the core of the novel is raised through the Lombard family; through them Robb forces her readers to question whether it is ever possible to say that one knows a person. Certainly, Bobby knows neither his mother nor his wife. This then raises the concomitant issue, if we cannot and do not know whom we love, then can we really love them?

Though there are head feints to prevent the resolution of the crime, none is strong enough to counteract what Dallas's gut tells her about the identity of the murderer. Nevertheless, she cannot go on gut alone but must still build the case so that it leads to a sustainable arrest, must still has to follow the evidentiary trail and employ deductive reasoning to close the case.

Through Dallas's insistence on standing for Trudy Lombard who abused the young Eve Dallas, Robb reveals the strength of character of both the protagonist and her husband Roarke. Even though Dallas despises Trudy and has no real enthusiasm for the case, she still pursues the investigation to its conclusion. This integrity in the face of provocation-the memories of abuse which would argue against Dallas pursuing Lombard's killer or rejoicing in her death-is reflected in Roarke who, though he would kill those who have harmed/would harm his wife, will not engage in action that would destroy Dallas and their relationship. This, integrity of character, then, points to their suitability for one another.

Nevertheless, in the end, Dallas is almost despairing, which mood Robb builds through a judicious depiction of character, use of language and context. Other in Death novels have ended on a cheerier note; this one forces it. In the end, though, Robb has the wisdom to let her readers breathe, to relax a little after the high strung tension and ethical horror she depicts in Origin in Death.

Great reading. Make sure and buy it.

In the previous book, Survivor in Death, I was a bit displeased pleased with Dallas as a character. My perception of her was that she was being really childish and being a bit "small" as it where.

I'm very pleased to report that the author has turn out a superb novel this go round and it is a interesting and twisted read, sure to keep one interested. The story is interesting and has a timely message that definitely makes one think. Our favorite charters at there're best, I think and I'm sure you'll be pleased.

I found the villain(s)/victim(s) to be wonderfully portrayed and I felt Dallas while being her charming self, definitely showed signs of growth in character unlike the previous book. I personally found the "gift" scene to be a heartfelt moment.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book and definitely look forward to the next!

Full of fast-moving action as one can expect in the J. D. Robb series of books. It was sort of a relief with this one to not have our main characters threatened with bodily harm in the last chapter. It was also a bit easier to anticipate who the "bad guy" was going to be.

I finished reading Origin in Death and I am thankful that it was better than the wreck that was Survivor in Death. As other readers have mentioned, this book is the most sci-fi of all the ID books. I cannot say that I loved the content of the murder mystery but J.D. Robb is definitely back on her game. I was so engrossed in the plot to find out who killed both Dr. Icoves and why that I finished the book in one day. Origin definitely had the witty banter between Peabody and Eve that we've come to expect. Throw in visits from Louise, Charles, Trina, a very pregnant Mavis, and Roarke's relatives, and you got yourself an all around good book. My only complaint is that the murders and Eve's cop work took too much away from the development of Roarke's relatives coming to visit from Ireland. I would have loved to see what happened at Thanksgiving dinner. I cannot wait for Memory in Death. That looks to be a good one!

unless you're a hard core fan. The problem with this book is that as of now a lot of the earlier story arcs that made the series compelling have been completed. Eve and Roarke got together and are usually blissfully happy, Eve and Sommerset don't get along but no longer have that major tension, Peabody has made detective, Peabody and McNab are together, Roarke has resolved his family issues, Mavis has become more of a side show than an interesting character, and even Crack has outlived his usefulness.... Basically, all the side tales that made the series interesting are no longer there, so the books have to stand on the mystery and this one just doesn't have it. As another reviewer stated, Eve doesn't care about this one, so its hard for the reader to care.

I love this series. The heroine is Lt. Eve Dallas in the New York police department, about 50 years in the future. It started with Naked in Death, where Dallas meets this mysterious billionaire, Roarke. He is a suspect in a murder. They fall in love. The series follows their relationship. And there is an excellent murder mystery. Each book reminds me of an onion, you peel back a layer learning more about Eve & Roarke. Eve has also developed a relationship with Peabody, her partner. Each book in the series is a visit with old friends. I hate it when they end & eagerly look forward to their next adventure.

I've been expecting a story like this one for a long time.

The Good:
Loved Eve's growth as a wife and a friend.
Loved Peabody & McNab's crisis & how Eve ended up helping.

The Bad:
I knew whodunit nearly from the moment they were introduced--guess Eve's gut instinct came through on the page.

The Verdict:
Solid story, and a good addition to the series.

I have really enjoyed the "In Death" series 'til now. BUT this one, well...The plot was sheer science fiction and I found it somewhat entertaining -- which is what it is supposed to be but...I really disliked Eve Dallas here. I found her hard, rude, self-willed -- not a tough cop (with a heart underneath all that toughness) -- which is how I have seen her, up to now... Here she is a real a**hole, a creep, a nasty piece of work ..."a little Hitler." Couldn't quite swallow Roarke loving her in this one. All her supposed heroine-ism in this one doesn't, can't, make up or compensate for her meanness and harshness. When she is sooooo nasty to Mira I almost quit on the whole thing. But I managed to put up with her through to the end. She never redeemed herself in my estimation. The most interesting, sympathetic, admirable and truly heroic characters were the "clones."

I liked this book. But I liked it more for the character developement than the murder mystery. I liked hearing about another chapter of Eve's past (although would it kill Ms. Robb to give Eve ONE happy memory in her childhood? It wouldn't make Eve any less cynical if she just had one shining moment), but the murder mystery was just dull. So painfully obvious who the killer was.

I found the same problem with the last book. The killer's identity is getting more obvious with every book. The character development made up for the lack of surprise at revelation of the killer's identity.

I'm still looking forward to the next book, I just hope the murder mystery has more "oomph" to it.

This book just didn't do it for me. I gave it four stars merely because I love all the characters. I have reread the series twice, and have enjoyed how Ms. Roberts has allowed the characters to grow through each story. The last couple of "In Death," books have left something to be desired in the growth of character department. The characters are staying pretty stagnant, but the story lines are growing. Would have loved to see a little bit of both. I don't like sci-fi, but this was okay. The cloning story line was a little Robin Cookish as one reviewer described, but it worked.

A little sensitivity training for Eve would be welcome. Maybe she needs to confront her demons by sitting in Dr. Mira's chair? I can't help but think she needs counseling if only to help her deal with the nightmares. Though I feel for Eve and her horrible childhood, she now has a man who adores her, wonderful friends, a job she loves, and a cat. This should begin to help her heal, though never completely. Her childhood is too much of who she is, and to write it away would be to disengage her from that aspect of her character that makes her so interesting.

It goes without saying that more Roarke would be very nice. I truly love the way he describes his feelings for Eve in this book and comforts her when she is sad. Doesn't he ever want her to reciprocate?

Peabody, Ian, Nadine, and Trina are still a hoot. Very little Ian "on" Peabody interaction in this one, missed it. Some of the other characters like Baxter and Feeney were in too short of supply. The Dr. Mira and Eve contretemps was interesting and seemed to be going somewhere but faded. Thank goodness Trina was there to make everyone glow and smell good. Her futuristic "spa" treatments are hilarious.

All in all, not a bad book. I don't believe I will ever give up on this series, I enjoy the characters too much. I do hope the next is heavier on character growth. This series is reading at it's best.

p.s. If anyone is cloned, it should be Roarke and then we all could have one!

This is one of my favourite books in the series. Eve has some major issuea of her past to work through but Roarke is there. What I loved about this book is how much more of the personal life of Eve and Roarke that we see. Eve shows more confidence in being open with Roarke which is indicative of her character evolvement. Really,really recommend this book!

And yet another brilliant book emerges; I've read the entire series, each book at least once and I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed.

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars is because of Eve's 'unwifelyness' (boy would she object to that word). Considering all the personal and emotional growth she was supposed to have been doing, Eve showed a surprising lack of interest concerning Roarke's insecurities about dealing with his family. Yes, she was in the middle of a case that demanded a lot of think-time, but in one or two instances, she definitely could have given his problem some attention especially since his time for her knows no bounds.

Other than that, great story line cleverly developed, nice ending, good humour; I love the the Trina scenes as I always do and the interaction with Irish bunch was enjoyable (could have been more of that, but oh well).

Interesting read, looking forward to the rest.

I loved how this story touched on Eve's past. I also love how protective Rourke can be. I love Lt. Eve Dallas, she is a kick ass cop who don't take s*** from no one, not even her previous foster family.

I've enjoyed the entire Eve Dallas series but by the time I got to "Survivor in Death", I had the formula down pat and had the plot pretty much figured by page 100. I am ecstatic to say that "Origin" kept me guessing and turning the pages as fast as I could read. This latest installment in the Eve Dallas/Roarke saga is a real keeper! I can't wait to see what Ms. Roberts aka J.D. Robb comes up with in the next installment, "Memory in Death."

Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb) is sooo... reliable. Not predictable by any means but you can always rely on her for an enjoyable read. The 'In Death' books always manage a couple of surprises no matter how many or how long running the series has been. This particular story is no exception. It's not so much the actual mystery of who did the murder (you do start to suspect the killer before the end)but the real appeal is following Eve and her cast of supporting characters as they solve the crime. The process they go through and the personal interaction of the characters as they proceed is as fascinating in this book as it was in the first 'In Death' book. Roberts manages to reveal something more about her characters (like Eve's experiences with foster care as a child in this case) with each book while still holding back enough to have you waiting for the next book to learn more. The relationships and personalities are the real treasure in these books and Roberts does a great job of pulling them into a good story for our reading enjoyment. I buy the hard copies as soon as they are released now because I simply can't wait for the paperback release. I think it is obvious there is alot of life left in this cast of characters. Thanks again Nora!

I have been a fan of the 'In Death' series from nearly the beginning. One of the consistent strengths of the series is the level of detail we have of the characters - their relationships, their history (together and separate), their personal motivations. Another strength is often the complexity of the "murder mystery" aspect of each novel. This was an adequate entry into the series, but I don't feel that it did much to move things forward with regards to character development - except for giving more detail about Eve after she went into foster care, obviously.

This was a change of pace for the "In Death" series because there was only a single murder victim. There was also very little threat posed for Eve, Roarke, Peabody, or any close friends. So, because of that, the way the story was told had to be different.

But, it would have been a far better story if the killer hadn't been so glaringly obvious from the start. Normally, I can 'guess' the killer from the mid-point of the book, but this time the only challenge was determining how the killer and the victim were connected (and even that was laid out pretty early, too).

Memory in Death is still worth a read because of the new aspects of Eve's history that are learned and because it gives another opportunity to see Eve settle into her marriage to Roarke. But, I personally would recommend borrowing it from the library or waiting for the paperback (which is my SOP now that the books are hardback new releases).

J D Robb aka Nora Roberts has written a fascinating novel, another in the Eve and Roarke saga. Cloning and plastic surgery with murder and the lives of children who are used/abused for cloning experimentation.

The ability to create perfect human beings and to be able to control there growth and life achievements/successes through institutionalised rearing-a dangerous prescient to the future.

Frightening plot when you consider that the human race is moving toward this idea of society already.

This novel really forces you to face a future that we may yet be apart of if Science has its way. Eve's homicide brings all this to the forefront and she, Roarke and her team must deal with Dr Death and his experimental human clones and cloning laboratory. How to do this and protect the innocent, many of which are infant human clones and children?

An amazing novel! J D Robb has written another masterpiece.

this is another wonderful read as the story of dallas and roarke continues .sprinkle in the supporting cast of great chars and you have a murder to solve while figuring out who eve dallas is. the series rocks.

JD Robb's plots are good, bad guys are "hateable" and in this one, loved seeing Roarke's fangs come out! Secondary characters are well developed and believable, and there's always a nice bit of humor to be had.

I just love the way J D Robb keeps developing her characters--stripping layers to allow us to view the inner person but at the same time realistically growing and developing the characters. Eve, Roark (he's contemplating building a playground for the children--I can't wait to see how he convinces Eve to HAVE children), Peabody and even Dr Myra have come a long way. This story is extremely well done. It addresses and exposes the ramifications of cloning and is quite thought provoking. I gave it four stars only because I thought the ending could have been smoother and a little more personable. I wanted to know if I guessed correctly about who came to dinner.

I'd like to say, I wasn't surprised by the identity of the villian, but actually I was. I enjoyed the book- I liked learning more about favorite characters. No new surprises or shocks- sort of like watching your favorite show on tv - you know the regular characters will make an appearance and won't get killed. The story was tight and interesting- don't miss this one. (Although make sure you get it on sale)

when a woman shows up in her office, claiming to be her mother...her foster mother. Trudy Lombard claims she only wants to touch base with her foster-daughter, but Eve suspects she's looking for more...for money. Death enters the picture, and Eve is left scrambling to open old memories she'd rather forget.

A great addition to the "In Death" series. I love discovering more about Eve and Roarke's pasts.

J.D. Robb In Death Series is just plain Sweet and I mean that in a great way. Roarke, Dallas, Mavis, Peabody and all the other characters in the In Death Series was back, and I just loved it. This Series just get's better and better this one was one of the best yet. I would have liked to have seen Mavis a little more, and I hope to see more of one of the characters come back in a good way(hint), but all in all it is an outstanding series and way Dallas is growing with the series it great. This is a must read series for all those romance fans that love a couple that is opposites but is one togather I just love this series keep up the good work J.D. Robb. A fan that got hooked from the first story.

I am a big fan of Ms. Robert's In Death Series. I felt that this was a great story the delved into some of Eve's past. However, the problem I had with this book, and it's not stated in the description, is that the BARGAIN BOOK is NOT a full size book. It's actually a book club edition. For someone like me who likes to collect the series in Hardcover, hard to do when most were only published in paperback I know, not metioning that this was a smaller version of the original was a suprise.

I will continue to buy this series but I'm staying away from hardcover BARGAIN BOOKS.

This is the 21st book of the In Death series. Maybe I've become a little jaded on the storylines, but I thought this book was about 140 pages too long. I found the first half of the book incredibly draggy. It seemed to take Eve and her team an extremely long time to figure out what was going on. I lot of "How could anyone be this perfect?" and "I just don't believe anyone is this perfect." and a lot of reinterviews. I was getting very frustrated in the lack of progression. I had it figured out after the prologue (and I'm sure most other readers did as well). Why give away the big surprise at the beginning when you know the characters won't be able to figure it out for awhile. Although it seemed that Eve took even longer than normal.

The second half of the book picked up. Of course once Eve knew what was going on, she could do more interesting things. I have to admit I was very dissapointed when we didn't get more interaction with Roarke's family. I had been looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner from the moment it was mentioned early in the book, and then...we only get a couple of pages. That would have been great character development for Eve and Roarke but instead we got a few pages and that's it.

Maybe it's time to let Eve and Roarke go off into the sunset. Or maybe Ms. Robb/Roberts needs to find another angle for a murder mystery. The ones over the last few books are getting a little dull.

As always, enjoyed the latest offering from J.D. Robb. It inspired me to go back to the beginning and reread her first book in the series. It's like visiting old friends, if your friends are involved in bloody violence during your visits.

I was very much looking forward to "Memory in Death" by J.D. Robb, but after finishing it I could have waited for the paperback. Eve and Peabody are in the middle of investigating the death of a santa who fell thirty-seven stories when Trudy Lombard, Eve's first foster mother show up. It quickly becomes clear that Trudy looking for money. So when Roarke and Eve go to tell Trudy to get out of town they find her dead. So beings the investigation into Trudy's to see who else she backmailed and who wanted her dead.

This just wasn't one of Ms.Robbs best book. The ending was just to neat and the characters were not that interesting this time around. I am hoping that "Born in Death" will be better.

Norah Roberts writes as J.D. Robb in MEMORY IN DEATH with veteran narrator Susan Ericksen providing a strong reading which brings tension and high drama to the story of cop Eve Dallas, who faces the specter of a difficult childhood when Trudy comes back to haunt her life. Trudy's subsequent murder involves Eve in more than bad childhood recollections.

This book deals with much of the hidden, hinted at childhood of Eve Dallas. It is a tale of pain and growth and of memories for the good Lieutenant.

Roarke and Eve's relationship has its ups, downs and rocky patches and yet its almost as interesting as the mystery. I found the mystery to be a wee bit on the weak side. A little predictable... But not bad at all on the whole.

An enjoyable read.

Maybe I'm not your typical Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb fan where I can be satisfied with a just the romantic aspect of this series. I found this one boring. The murder mystery aspect of it was really lackluster. Maybe I couldn't get into it because Eve Dallas herself couldn't get into it. Maybe that was Nora's intention, I don't know. But this one just didn't stand up for me. If I want just sentimentality, I'd read Nora's regular stuff. When I read an "In Death" book, I want more. I want some sizzle. This one just doesn't have it. Not the worst book of the series by any means, but not the best, either. As Randy Jackson might say, "It was just OK for me."

Kudos to the author,for never disappointing her readers for this character, Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke! Their adventures, in the future as a police detective & spouse, are always filled with suspense. Even knowing Eve will "always speak for her victims", the story lines are never dull. The saucy life she lives with her husband and friends, is full of entertainment. Worth getting involved with these stories about Eve! She will pull at your heart & soul!

Another great Eve and Roarke story from J.D. Robb. Fans of Robb's In Death series will not be disappointed with this latest installment. Eve's reaction to Peabody and McNab is still as funny now as when the relationship first began. The deep emotion felt between Eve and Roarke brought tears to my eyes in this story. J.D. Robb fans will love this one!

I've enjoyed this series for years and this new edition is no exception. I've never read one yet that was dull; the "snappy repartee" between characters and the ongoing love story between Roarke and Dallas keep it exciting and entertaining. The only thing that would be better is a TV series, or at least a movie! I'd love to see these books "brought to life."

An absolute dog. If I hadn't been stuck at the creek on a float with no other book no way I'd have read this unlikely, clumsily written piece of detective fiction. It's set in some future time, as witness occasional odd descriptions of electronic devices and costumes. The descriptions aren't descriptive. It's as if they're thrown in to remind us how clever Robb is to pick a future time. It operates with a heavy dose of heavy-handed feminism, and a heroine who glories in her independence yet ends up using her rich husband's resources every time she turns around. There was not one single character about whom I cared a tap. I did sympathize with the villain momentarily. Bad enough I read the thing - now I'm writing about it. Ugh.

Because this book deals with Eve's past, it's less of a suspenseful police procedural than some of Robb's books. But all the classic trademarks of her writing are still here; excellent dialogue, great characters and interaction between them, well-done sense of place and, lest we forget, hot passion. Personally, I prefer cases where Eve's past is less involved, but that certainly doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading the series. These are definitely books I read as soon as I receive them.

I freely admit I love this series. There are wonderful relationships, humor, great dialogue, a well-done sense of time and place, a bit of passion and excellent suspense. I also feel her books are becoming less romantic suspense and more mystery. It's still there, but this had shades of Robin Cook or Tess Gerritsen. For me, it was a very good read.

I enjoyed this book as I do all of J.D. Robb's books. In fact I have given them all 5 stars. However in this book I miss the interaction between Eve and her work mates and friends. Too much wallowing in her own problems and not enough good old fashion police work. There was only the one murder of Eve's foster mother and I really didn't care much about it. Also there were not enough suspects. I figured out "who done it" because there was no one else!!! Still it was Eve and Rourke so I will read it again as I do all J.D's books.

It seem like an easy call for Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody, check out the story of Vid star who beaten up by her boyfriend and is being treated at the Icove Center. But on their way out they get the call, Doctor Perfect aka Wilfred Icove Sr. has been killed. What starts out as simple murder quickly gets out of hand, including the murder of Dr. Wilfred Icove Jr. and in the end the truth will shock everyone including Eve Dallas.

This is another great book by J.D.Robb, it starts out with a bang and never let the reader go. "Origin in Death" should not be missed.

since there are so many reviews. Still, I wanted to say that this is one of my favorites for this great series. I enjoy having a look at Eve and Roark moving to seeing themselves as family and part of a family. I liked the story. Only one word to Nora. Please find another way to to describe Roark without mention of poets or fallen angels. I will be waiting though for the next installment.

This has been a wonderful series. I love all the characters, Eve, Roake, Peabody, McNabb, Mavis etc.... I can't wait for the next book to see what is going to happen. I recommend reading all of "the in death (series)" you will not be disappointed.

J D Robb (Nora Roberts) delivers another great story in this ongoing series, Nora please continue the great work. You are one of the most amazing authors I have ever read and listening to your audio books are even better.

I have usually enjoyed this series since the first title was released. As time goes on, I find myself waiting longer to read these books. They just aren't a "must read" any more.

Like: The humor! No one does this aspect as well.

The mystery, when it is actually a mystery.

Her friends - what an amazing assortment of characters.

Dislike: The whining. Its more than time for Eve to face up to her past - or not. just do it one way or the other. Other people (in real life) with much less going for them (supportive spouse & friends, job, respect and so on) have managed to face thier pasts in a healthier way than Eve. I do tire of reading about the horrific abuse in every book. Isn't it time for Roarke to use his influence and find her parents? We all know the man she killed wasn't really her father, right? She has to be a much-missed child from good parents.

The sex. Perhaps some people read Robb for the sex scenes but they bore me. I find they bring the series down rather than elevating it. These scenes I skip and its easy to do since, once they start, they invariably take up the rest of the chapter. Why not leave these scenes to the heavy-breathing historical type stuff she writes?

Love Roarke but dislike that we have to always hear what a bad boy he was. This book kind of moved away from that. Kind of.

Overall, its just time for the main characters to grow up and stop sniveling. There are people out there in the world with ever so much less than either one of them have who managed to overcome. Why not make these characters like that?

Oh, and what is with the "stand for"? Someone is always standing for someone. Its written in such a way I just know that no one would ever really talk like that. And its said much too often. She has used that phrase in other books as well (& other series). Perhaps she does know people who speak like that, but I have yet to meet one. Sometimes her characters come across as almost comic when she places words in their mouths that just aren't thiers.

All that said, I honestly do enjoy Robb, but for the mystery and the humor and the relationships. The cop work is usually good, but its been missing. Basically, I could do without all the sex (some romance is lovely) and truly appreciate a good detective story written by a talented woman.

I can't wait to read each book in her series and this one does not disappoint. I did enjoy it more than the last because it wasn't as dark. I like the interaction with Eve's friends & can't wait to see what happens with Mavis and her pregnancy. The only problem with finishing a J.D. Robb book is that you are left impatiently waiting for the next one.

A bit tedious, this was not one of the better In Death series. I will continue reading the series. Would like to have more interaction between Eve and Roarke and between them and their friends. I enjoy that as a good weave into the murder mystery.

I have read and reread all of the In Death books and Origin in Death and Survivor in Death have brought back the best of the mysteries. Origin in Death also cut back on some of Eve's vulgarity that was present in Survivor in Death and was rampant in the few novels before. The vulgarity isn't necessary and I am glad to see it was cut back - some is natural...too much makes you wonder why a guy like Roarke would want Eve - especially since he rarely swears. Now if I could just find a Roarke for me - In Death continues to make women everywhere wish for Roarke. Great job - keep them coming faster!!

...turns into something far more troubling for Eve and her team. In addition to being a heck of a mystery, the book touches on troubling moral debates, making it gripping and thought-provoking!

As always, Robb rocks!

Don't get me wrong--I started out a HUGE "In-Death" fan. But it seems Nora has lost the edge with this series. Most of the orginal side plots have been worked out--and the loss of Eve's more neurotic behaviors tied to those was what I found enjoyable. It seems like I keep buying these books just to get a few more fragments into Eve's/Roarke's histories--and those are meted out stigily every 3rd book or so. I knew right after the murder "whodunnit" and then read 200 pgs of fairly lackluster situations before getting my gold star. Perhaps I have just grown out of the place where I identified with this series, but I can still joyfully reread many of the earlier books.

This series just keeps getting better and better. In this installemnt we find Eve investigating the murder of someone from her past.

Watching Robb reveal the layers of Eve and Roarke, two of my all time favorite fictional characters gets better with each book. Readers will be pleased with this installment and anxious for the next one to arrive. Another winner in a fabulous series.

The concept of this story is very spooky. Let's all pray it never comes to pass. I will not detail the story so as not to ruin it for others. Could not put it down. I have the entire "In Death" series and have re-read them all. My husband says time to get rid of them... I don't think so... I enjoy them too much even the third time through. Thanks Nora - you are the best!

Nora Roberts books are always filled with mystery and romance. Any book of hers are extremely hard to put down. I have to read over a book twice because I go through it so fast just to see what happens at the end. The suspense in all J. D. Robb's novels are well worth reading and entertaining.

A very disappointing read-laborious, predictable, no interesting plot or characterization. The supporting characters that make Eve such an interesting person and the books such fascinating reads were missing--for a book set during Christmas, this lack was even more apparent. I am a huge fan of this series, and this book was the first that felt like a huge waste of my money. I will wait for the paperback version of the next In Death offering.

I have fallen in love with J.D. Robb. However, her books start having a telltale plot line, and if it weren't for Dallas, or her hunky husband Roarke. I probably would stop reading. I'm very interested in the setting that Robb has published, but the stories started to run together. This book blows that sterotype away. Just when I thought I would get tired of reading Robb's "In Death" series, she brings out this thriller. The antagonist is unlike any other villian Robb has thought of before. That's what makes this book good.

I absolutely love reading J.D. Robb's books. I have read the very first book she has written all the way through to Memory in Death. I just can't get enough. The characters are wonderful and all people you can relate to. There is always a Mavis, Eve and a Peabody that one knows. But the thrilling part is that they take you right to the scene of the crime and you're part of the team throughout the story. The plots are always great and leaves you grasping for more and what's going to happen next. The only thing that I regret is that J.D. Robb just doesn't write fast enough. I definitely need more than one book a year.

As a mystery Memory was not her greatest book. I read these books less for the mystery plot but more for the character developement and interactions. I think when you read a "series" involving the same characters they become as important as or more important than the actual plot. Eve Dallas has come a long way since Naked in Death. The books are a bit repetitive about her past abuse, etc. but show her evolving personally - she is developing more insight into her interactions and feeling for people around her. A softer side of Eve Dallas showed in this book.

I love the In Death series and have read every one of the books. This is by far the most disappointing one. But still it is not a bad read. I read through it and didn't put it down but was a bit frustrated in the middle when the story didn't go anywhere. And the finger prints found at the end and the killer's confession were just too convenient. And I agree with the other reviewers here, it is too easy to guess who the killer is.

I appreciate her thinking, her getting inside of her victims head and bringing them back to life so she can bring some measure of peace. I would like to believe there are real cops out there just like Dallas.

I loved the first 90% of this book, but felt the last 10% got dragged down in sci-fi nonsense. Also, after talking about the Thanksgiving dinner for most of the book, I felt cheated that it wasn't written about. A better ending would have been an epilogue with everyone gathered around the Thanksgiving table, enjoying the special relationship that they share with Eve and Roarke.

For those of us who are died hard fans of JD Robb; this is right up our alley! It is fast paced, humorous, relies more on plot than sensationalism than some of the previous books in her series. It also interacts more with Roark and that can never be a bad thing. Cannot wait for the next one!

Eve Dallas is a cop in the future, chasing drug dealers, killer and being a badge heavy bitch in general. Her foster mother shows up and tries to get money out of Eve's rich husband and ends up dead.I hated this book, the characters are all unlikeable and the story drags.

I love SF and mysteries and am not averse to a little romance in my fiction, so I thought this near-future police series was made for me! I picked up a CD recording (whose narrator is excellent, by the way) and prepared to enjoy myself.

Instead I found an implausible story with so many unbelievable details that I was astonished the book was published as written, cardboard characters, and sex scenes so hackneyed my husband and I both wondered who over the age of 13 would be turned on by them! The writing is overdone and repetitious. I finished the book only because we listened to most of it during "dead" time in the car.

SPOILER: One of the worst of the unbelievable elements involves the basic premise: A "mad" doctor who is raining a group of female clones. Many of these clones have been sent off into society from the same girls' school without anyone discovering the plot. In one case 3 clones share a single identity and are the "wife" to one of the main conspirators. They take turns "playing the role" and spend the rest of the time overseas. This has succeeded over many years, apparently without their CHILDREN even noticing that Mommy may look a little different (Not even a clone will look IDENTICAL after adulthood!!)or doesn't remember some small but memorable detail from a period when one of the others was "on duty".

If you like SF and mysteries, I would recommend the Retrieval Artist series by K K Rusch as a much better alternative. The first book is The Disappeared.

As always, J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts gives a solid performance in Origin in Death. The only negative thoughts I have on the book are that many of the events are clearly over the top with multiple clones and underground explosions. Usually the In Death books reflect the gritty reality of 2059. Origin in Death was much more Star Trek than Star Wars (the early years). Otherwise, a solid writing effort from Roberts!

This has to be the best Eve Dallas book to date!!!! Ms. Robb not only gets 5 stars for creativity, but for scientific accuracy. What could have been a completely far fetched story was made chillingly believable by Ms. Robb's skill. I also appreciated her ability to explain complex medical and scientific information in a way that was easy to understand. A must read!

J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) did it again. Another page turner. Every page every chapter was more intriguing and exciting. Cannot wait for the next book. I will not give details of the book because you need to experience the excitement of this book.

I'm a big fan of Lieutenant Eve Dallas, I have every book she wrote both in english and in french. I'm hardly ever disapointed by Nora Roberts and this book delivers on every level. I especially liked the part where we get to meet Roarke's family. It was a bit short, but ok. I can't wait for the next Eve Dallas.

J.D. Robb's futuristic series starring Eve Dallas, edgy investigator, gets better with each outing. This one brings back all my favorite characters - foremost Peabody - with a riveting mystery involving DNA and cloning and all things related that linger on the horizon. I absorbed every page and, as always, eagerly await the next one.

I'm a huge fan of J.D. Robb and the In Death series, and have read each and every one - some more than once. This one packs a lot of action into the read, which I like. There's more of a futuristic element than I've seen to date, and, of course, all those great characters hovering around Eve Dallas.

Always an exciting read, Dallas and Roarke and company deal with her foster mother's blackmail attempt succinctly and adeptly while keeping the reader fascinated. The back cover picture of Ms. Roberts is really great, appropriate and adds to the flavor of the book.

J.D. Robb never fails to entertain. This book doesn't disappoint. I love the futuristic settings and the characters, Eve, Peabody, Roarke, etc. are well defined and come alive. Origin in Death, set in the reconstructive and cosmetic surgery industry, is innovative, surprising and most of all, entertaining.

I can't wait to read each book in her series and this one does not disappoint. I did enjoy it more than the last because it wasn't as dark. I like the interaction with Eve's friends & can't wait to see what happens with Mavis and her pregnancy. The only problem with finishing a J.D. Robb book is that you are left impatiently waiting for the next one.

I really enjoyed this book as I do all of the books in the "In Death" series. I find myself rereading them over and over from the first, Naked in Death, to the last especially when I know another one is being published soon. I wish someone would make a movie from the series. I can see Hugh Jackman as Roarke.

I enjoyed this book because it filled in alot of the background on Eve. I wondered alot about what happened to her after she was found in the alley. You understand more about her makeup. Why she has a soft spot about some people and not about most people. J.D. Robb brought everything together and the book is great. I don't think I would have cared as much had I been Eve. Thank you.

I enjoyed this book - everything from the witty banter, the resolution to the conflict with Dr. Mira, the words between Roarke and Eve, and how it resolves. It does get a bit slow in the middle and it becomes obvious as to who did the crime, but I have still enjoyed rereading it.

This is the best in the "In Death" series by Robb. It's so well plotted and keeps one on the edge of the seat and wanting to stay up all night reading to the last page. I love the way the characters fill out more in each of her books in this series and can't wait till the next one comes out.

This book should have been edited to approximately 1/3 of its size. So much impotent verbage and dialogue. I found myself becoming a master speed reader, slowing only occasionally for a rare pithy paragraph. It was a relief to reach the end of this time waster. Skip this one, and I do not send thanks to Nora Roberts.

These Eve Dallas books have always been a favorite of mine, it's someone's peak into the future and fasinating. This one is the best so far. Cloning is something we are all going to have to look at pretty soon, like it or not.

Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb has produced another winner. From the first chapter to the last, she weaves an entertaining mystery, keeping the momentum of the story throughout. Once your start reading, you don't want to put it down.

Her characters have matured and grown since the first book. Can't wait to read the next one.

Loved this book just like all the In Death books. I can't wait for the next one. You learn a lot about Eve's childhood and things that happened to her as a child. J. D. Robb is a great writer and I hope this series never ends.

This book was a huge let down. I have been a long time fan who eagerly awaits any JD Robb title. I think this book is the worst in the series so far. There isn't any suspense in this book at all. Nothing was exciting, surprising or unpredictable. In my opinion, the best thing that can be said about this book is that it does provide some background information on Eve and serves as a transitionary story that will lead to hopefully better releases in the future!

JD Robb or Nora Roberts lives up to her talent in the continuing sagas of Eve Dallas and Rourke. I have read every one of the "Death" series and have never been disappointed. I wait very impatiently for the next installment.

This book was even more interesting because it is different from the previous books. The writing style is the same but the tone is more personal. We see Eve getting along in her world much better and dealing with her past and her husband with greater ease.

the "in death" series just seems to be getting worse and worse. THe story lines are all basically the same and the id of the killer is known by the second chapter. THe characters are not developing at all and time is going by way to slowly, Mavis has been pregnant for what, 2 or 3 yrs now and this is only their 2nd christmas together. I used to get these in hardcover and then I started to wait for paperback, now I just wait till it gets to my local library.

This is by far one of the best stories created by J D Robb. It is set in the future, like the others, but it is done in a very believable manner.I can't wait for the next one and I hope that it is half as good as this one was.

As usual, Robb out did herself again. It was a really good book and you gotta love Eve and Roarke. Once again they are out saving the world together. I would recommend this book, it was really good!

Loved it! This one was much better than her last. I love the characters and how Eve's relationship has developed with them. I think I love the interaction with them more than the actual investigation.

Overall: This story is a bad to terrible deriative mixture of weak sci-fiction, female sterotypes, weak romance novel and a clear ripe off of "The Boys from Brazil".

Characters: The characters are two-dimensional bad architypes of tough female characters who are loathsome of their sexuality so they can fit into a "male dominated" world. It should be noted that there are very few males in the stories and most of them are bad guys..the clear loathing of males is very obvious and fairly annoying. The other characters are straight out a cheap romance novel. Eve Dallas is crass, pushy, crude and very much non-female; her distain for anything considered classically "female" is very telling and a sad commentary by the author. The other "girly" characters are mocked through out the story.

Also, the author should review the "Evil Overlord no-no list" before writing her next author. The use of maniacal laughter to show insanity is heavily overdone but I guess it fits in the general cliche-ness of the entire novel. Also, the self-destruct on the death of the evil overlord is something that should be done anymore....ever.

Plot: See "The Boys from Brazil" plus "Stepford Wives" and move along.

Prose: The writing style is painful at best and insulting in general. The cliche tirades by the policemen just shows the author is quickly writing another novel to get cash but not worrying about producing anything of quality. The editors that allowed this book through should be ashamed. I can not imagine how this series continues to be consumed by the public.

Action: There is not much action; the action could easily be skipped.

Overall: 1 star
Characters: 1 star
Plot: 1.5 stars
Prose: 1 star
Action: 1.5 star

This is the first Nora Roberts book I have read and will probably be the last. There are too many better researched, talented writers of fiction than this writer available. She doesn't hold a candle to Nicholas Sparks, Sue Monk Kidd and Nicholas Evans. She let you know who murdered the victim half way through the book. I just find it more of a "sex" read with a little fluff of a plot.

I was somewhat dissapointed in this book. I viewed it as Nora's view on cloaning. She makes a great point, but its not her usual style. Less about the caracters, and their lives, ect. Not as suspenseful and graphic as her normal. :(

Nora's last three "In Death" books have been a disappoint to me. They lack excitement and the spark seems to have gone out.They've got "no juice". I hope she isn't getting bored with the series. Hopefully, "Born..." will have some of the old chemistry going for it.

Usually I have no problem reading Robb's books, I love them. This time I feel shorted. This book has no substance.

Eve is rather whiney, using the poor me sydrome. The book just does not stand up to the usual Robb series writing.