Lieutenant Eve Dallas hat eigentlich frei und freut sich auf einen gemütlichen Abend mit ihrem Mann Roarke als ihr Handy klingelt und Commander Whitney persönlich sie zu einem Tatort ruft. Das kann nur etwas ganz schlimmes bedeuten und tatsächlich lässt die Tote ihr den Atem stocken: Nackt und verstümmelt liegt sie auf einem weißen Leinentuch drapiert liegt sie im East River Park. Doch was Eve so schockiert ist nicht die Tote selbst sondern die Zahlen die ihr in den Torso eingeritzt wurden: 48 Stunden, 12 Minuten, 38 Sekunden. Der "Bräutigam" ist zurück in New York. Er hat vor neun Jahren bereits 4 Frauen ermordet und sie mit einer Zeit und einem Silberring am Finger ähnlich drapiert für sie zurückgelassen. Damals war ihr Freund, Captain Feeney, der ermittlende Beamte und sie hatte seinem Team angehört. Nach 4 Morden hatte es aufgehört und sie hatten gedacht er wäre tot oder erwischt worden. Doch jetzt geht es wieder los und es ist sicher, dass er bereits ein zweites Opfer in seiner Gewalt hat. Ein großes Sondereinsatzteam wird unter dem Kommando von Eve ins Leben gerufen und die Ermittlungen beginnen sofort mit Hochdruck als erste Spuren eine Verbindung zu Roarke zeigen. Das Leinentuch war aus seiner Fabrik; die teuren Pflegeprodukte mit denen der Mörder die Opfer nach ihrem Tod reinigt und pflegt stammen aus seinen Läden und die Tote war eine seiner Angestellten. Die Vermisstenmeldungen werden mit Roarkes Angestelltendaten abgeglichen und bald steht fest, dass auch die zweite Frau für ihn arbeitet. Will er sich an Roarke rächen oder führt die Spur in eine ganz andere Richtung. Ist Eve das eigentliche Ziel und wird sie sein finales Opfer werden?Ein Auftakt mit Paukenschlag während es danach erstmal etwas gemächlich vor sich hin plätschert. Alte Dateien werden neu gesichtet und mit den neuen Spuren verglichen. Bald ist klar, dass dieser Fall am Nervenkostüm aller zerrt. Feeney fühlt sich als Versager weil er meint damals entscheidende Spuren übersehen zu haben und rauscht aus eher nichtigen Gründen mit Eve zusammen die sich sofort schuldig fühlt. Auch dem sympathischen Chefpathologen Morris und dem mürrischen Laborchef Dick "Sturschädel" Berenski geht der Fall nahe. Jeder kennt die alten Fälle und hat damals entweder selbst mitarbeitet oder zumindest darüber gelesen.Nach einem gemächlichen Auftakt nimmt das Buch dann ganz langsam an Fahrt auf und galoppiert am Ende in die Zielgerade. Roarke ist dieses Mal von Anfang an als polizeilicher Berater dabei und hilft wo er nur kann, auch wenn es manchmal einfach nur das Besorgen von Essen für die Truppe ist. Natürlich sorgt er auch immer wieder dafür, dass Eve nicht vergisst Pausen einzulegen. Alle sind mit von der Partie, von Dr. Mira über Mavis bis hin zu Trina, die dieses Mal einen besonderen Auftritt hat. Amüsant war es wieder einmal zu sehen, was für eine höllische Angst ein kleines sabberndes Baby Eve und Roarke einjagen kann. Die kleine Bella hat zwar nur einen ganz kleinen Gastauftritt aber der war extrem amüsant zu lesen.Ich bin immer wieder fasziniert von Frau Roberts, wie sie es schafft, auch im 25. Band noch so eine Qualität an den Tag zu legen. Solide und konstant gelingt ihr es die Reihe weiterhin interessant und spannend zu halten. Es gibt Entwicklung im Privatleben, nicht nur von Eve und Roarke sondern auch bei den anderen Charakteren. 479 spannende Seiten, die ich innerhalb von 24 Stunden regelrecht inhaliert habe und mich in Vorfreude auf den 26. Band zurücklässt.
4.25 StarsI read a ton of books in this series last year, but took a small break recently so I didn't get overloaded. Now I'm back at it and Creation in Death provided me with everything I expect from Eve, Roarke, and the gang. The mystery was fascinating, the characters entertaining, and, as always, the audio narration from Susan Ericksen is impeccable.This particular case was a difficult one to read due to its violent nature. Basically, a serial killer that Eve and Feeney had hunted for nine years earlier has reappeared in New York and is terrorizing the city once again. Now Eve is put in charge of the investigation and she assembles a task force to stop "The Groom" once and for all. This plot really reminded me of something that could be on a Criminal Minds or Law & Order episode. The villain is terrifying in both his predictability and the difficulties that the authorities have in getting a read on him. It was great to see the task force work especially on something of this magnitude.As always, the characters are what really shine in this book. Eve is as kick-ass as ever and shows off her detective skills and her ability to handle the lead on such a high-profile case. Her relationship with Feeney is looked at deeply here due to the fact that Feeney was the lead on the earlier Groom case and emotions run pretty high between them. I think their pseudo-father/daughter dynamic is wonderful to read and this book brings that back to the forefront of the readers' minds. It was also fun to see hairstylist/make-up artist/bane of Eve's existence, Trina, get to take a big role in the case. And, of course, it is always a blast with the regular case like Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Mavis, Baxter, and Trueheart.Creation in Death is both fascinating and bone-chilling so it is a worthy installment in the series. The narrator continues to be fabulous and the characters are like family to me now. I'm ready to dive back into this series and possibly catch up in the next year or so!
What do You think about Creation In Death (2007)?
A serial killer who had eluded the NYSPD nine years ago has returned. Feeney was the primary investigator back then and Eve was a newly minted detective and his partner. The fact that the killer escaped clean to go ply his trade in other cities and countries has sat bitterly with not only Eve and Feeney but with Morris the coroner, Whitney the chief and even Berenski the lab tech.Now, nine years later he is back, doing exactly what he did before in his same MO. The cops of the NYSPD have a chance for redemption. Eve is tagged as the primary investigator and hits the ground running with her usual band of co-horts: Peabody, McNabb, Feeney, Baxter, Trueheart and of course Roarke. Even Trina, the scary hairdresser plays a part that surprisingly does not involved terrifying Eve with grooming products. And we get introduced to a few new characters such as the sassy e-girl Callender.What I liked the most about this story is the pacing. Robb writes the book just like what it is, a race against time. The pacing and the tension ratchets up so as you read it you feel the same sense of urgency that the characters on the page feel. It is a nice effect and Robb does a good job with that. Another nice touch is that there is quite a bit of it shown from Roarke's POV. And Robb does a nice job of flipping the script a bit from some of the previous books. Whenever Roarke gets involved with Eve's job it is done in their home on his turf, but she takes him out of his comfort zone and puts them all at the police dept. almost around the clock. You can see Roarke struggle a bit as he is working in a place that is alien to him. Nice touch there.I knock off a star because of the whole mother/female figure that the perp is killing over and over again. Robb has drunk from this well a little too many times before.
—Tina
Here's the thing that I like about Eve Dallas. That good or bad, she stands for the law. Books like this one or Origin in Death where Eve does something major to circumvent the law leave me a little cold. I'm not talking about Roarke using his unregistered computer to dig out background information to help catch the bad guy faster. I'm talking about when she takes matters into her own hands and decides what kind of justice should be served. (view spoiler)[ I mean like in Origin in Death, when she decides that the murderer is justified and helps them escape. Or in this book, she decides that murderer shouldn't be allowed to self terminate because that wouldn't be enough justice so she had Roarke erase all records of it so he has to spend the rets of his life in jail, suffering. (hide spoiler)]
—Tara
This story opens with Lt. Eve Dallas called to the scene of a murder that's all too familiar: The body of a young brunette woman with wounds on her body indicative of horrific torture and carved in her belly is the time it took for her to die. Nine years ago, the department investigated a series of murders just like this one, the case never solved. Now this vicious, elusive murderer known as "The Groom" is back in New York City, targeting women who work for Eve's multimillionaire husband Roarke. Now Eve and her team are literally racing the clock with a vengeance to catch "The Groom" once and for all and before more women die. I have to admit that it took me almost half the book before I got pulled into this one. The case was interesting enough, but there was a lot of fact gathering going on and very little criminal suspense or personal drama to the story at that point to keep me absorbed. Plus I have to admit being somewhat annoyed that once again, expert civilian Roarke is working around the clock with the NYSPD on this case and even present at meetings with the commissioner. Really? Thankfully, around half way through the book the pace finally picked up. In fact, it got so intense that I didn't want to put it down! The reader is exposed to the murderer's disturbing torture methods throughout the story, which definitely raises the creep-factor several notches. His motives are slowly revealed as the investigation progresses, which in turn makes it all the more disturbing. Not only are the physical acts horrific, but so are the psychological aspects. There are some great scenes between Eve and Feeney, both heated and emotional, as they rehash the investigation from nine years ago and discover that neither one of them have ever gotten over the frustration and guilt from having never solved "The Groom" murders long ago. These several scenes and the last couple of chapters turned this book from an okay read into one I thoroughly enjoyed. I even choked up a bit there at the end!
—Christine
