Ceremony in Death

Rating:
Summary: ...in Death series continues with Ceremony
Review: The incredible "...in Death" series written by Nora Roberts, under the name J.D. Robb, continues with Ceremony in Death. Eve Dallas is investigating the death of a fellow officer to determine whether he was corrupt and whether he was murdered.

The investigation gets Eve involved with a satanic cult and a wiccan group. The wiccan element brings more development to Peabody's character and makes Peabody more than just a trainee in this story since Peabody knows a bit about the wiccan practices.

As always, Roarke gets involved in the investigation even when Eve doesn't want him to of course. This book is as good as the other's in this series and they're all great. If you haven't read the series start with the first book, Naked in Death.

Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A perfect combination of mystery, suspense, and romance!!!!!
Review: The story line is involved, developed beautifully, and is well written. Roarke and Eve's respective characters, along with Peabody and McNab's, shows and grows more and more as the series evolves. I wish that J.D.Robb wrote more books in this series and that the local library carried more of this series. Maybe she should publish them in hardback as well to make it easier to gain access to the book. I LOVE ALL OF THE BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A weak link in the series
Review: This is a fantastic series with a great blend of suspense, romance and just a sprinkle of sci-fi. "Ceremony in Death" is a disappointment, however, when compared with the other books in the series. It's really heavy on the cult and lacking the page-turning who-done-it suspense so characteristic in Robb's other novels. You do learn more about Peobody, however, and the humorous banter between her an Eve (as well as Eve and Roarke) make it worth the read.

If you are disappointed with this book don't give up on the series. The next book, "Vengeance in Death", is the best one yet!

Rating:
Summary: The best one yet...
Review: This is the 5th novel in the "Death" series and its the best one yet. Jd Robb has really hit her stride with this novel- the characters are well fleshed out and the story line is fascinating. For those not familiar with the series, Jd Robb chronicles the life and cases of police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke. The novels take place in the future around 2058.

In Ceremony in death, Eve is forced to investigate the death of a fellow officer. Her investigation leads her to satanic cults, Wiccan religious groups, and more murders. It seems that everyone Eve questions ends up getting killed and soon Eve herself is the target. Eve is disturbed by the ritualistic killings, especially given her own abused background. And she has no shortage of suspects.

The attraction of the series is the mix of suspense and romance- all meshed into a great murder mystery. Its nice to continually follow the same main characters. Their complex and evolving relationship are what keep me reaching for the next book. Too often, storys concentrate on the courtship, but the Death series proves that marriage/committment are just as complelling, romantic and sexy. Eve and Roarke have a great partnership and chemistry that has been evident since their first meeting in book 1, Naked in Death.

While Ceremony in Death is the 5th book, those who haven't read the earlier novels won't get confused as each book is essentially self contained. But loyal readers are rewarded as familiar characters are brought back--like Mavis, Peabody, Fenney and the butler. But prior knowledge of the series isn't required- in fact, I read book 1 Naked in Death and then this one..and have read some of the others out of order.

Happy Reading!

Rating:
Summary: The best one yet...
Review: This is the 5th novel in the "Death" series and its the best one yet. Jd Robb has really hit her stride with this novel- the characters are well fleshed out and the story line is fascinating. For those not familiar with the series, Jd Robb chronicles the life and cases of police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke. The novels take place in the future around 2058.

In Ceremony in death, Eve is forced to investigate the death of a fellow officer. Her investigation leads her to satanic cults, Wiccan religious groups, and more murders. It seems that everyone Eve questions ends up getting killed and soon Eve herself is the target. Eve is disturbed by the ritualistic killings, especially given her own abused background. And she has no shortage of suspects.

The attraction of the series is the mix of suspense and romance- all meshed into a great murder mystery. Its nice to continually follow the same main characters. Their complex and evolving relationship are what keep me reaching for the next book. Too often, storys concentrate on the courtship, but the Death series proves that marriage/committment are just as complelling, romantic and sexy. Eve and Roarke have a great partnership and chemistry that has been evident since their first meeting in book 1, Naked in Death.

While Ceremony in Death is the 5th book, those who haven't read the earlier novels won't get confused as each book is essentially self contained. But loyal readers are rewarded as familiar characters are brought back--like Mavis, Peabody, Fenney and the butler. But prior knowledge of the series isn't required- in fact, I read book 1 Naked in Death and then this one..and have read some of the others out of order.

Happy Reading!

Rating:
Summary: The focus is on the relationship
Review: This is the second book of the IN DEATH series I've read. GLORY IN DEATH was the first I'd read. Yes, GLORY is #2 in the series and CEREMONY is #5 -- I'm skipping because these are the volumes I was able to lay hands on.

Despite the gaps in my reading, each book reads very well. There's no confusion or disorientation because of the missing episodes.

As I said in my review of GLORY IN DEATH -- this is structured to become a television series using the long story-arc of the developing Relationship as the envelope and presenting a whole new mystery episode in each 1 hour drama.

If the futurology were worked into the mystery and relationship, IN DEATH would be as good as Babylon 5.

Up to CEREMONY IN DEATH, the futurology is almost entirely missing. Though this series appears to be set in the future, the story, the romance, the mystery and the solutions could just as easily happen today. There's no reason internal to the story for it to be set in the future.

For this 5th book in the series, this seems to me (a professional sf/f writer) to be a flaw, whereas for the 2nd book of the series the lack was a good teaser.

In CEREMONY IN DEATH, Robb/Roberts has taken the subject of ceremonial magic (another subject I know write about) and has treated it well and fairly, bringing out the massive and very important difference between Satanism and the Wiccan Religion.

Still, both Satanism and the Wiccan Religion are treated with the same short shrift given to the futurology. After you finish reading CEREMONY IN DEATH you have not learned anything useful about either Satanism or Witchcraft except that they're very different.

But here's the very fascinating thing about these novels -- even though I began reading them for my favorite things (futurology, galactic civilization, a touch of the occult), and it turned out these elements are barely there, I'm still looking forward to reading another one.

I think it's because I keep hoping we'll meet some real aliens -- a non-human detective that Eve Dallas would have a hard time making friends with, or an interstellar business situation Roarke would have to sprain his brain to understand and fight to get Eve to accept. But of course, that's what I write, not what J. D. Robb writes.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: The focus is on the relationship
Review: This is the second book of the IN DEATH series I've read. GLORY IN DEATH was the first I'd read. Yes, GLORY is #2 in the series and CEREMONY is #5 -- I'm skipping because these are the volumes I was able to lay hands on.

Despite the gaps in my reading, each book reads very well. There's no confusion or disorientation because of the missing episodes.

As I said in my review of GLORY IN DEATH -- this is structured to become a television series using the long story-arc of the developing Relationship as the envelope and presenting a whole new mystery episode in each 1 hour drama.

If the futurology were worked into the mystery and relationship, IN DEATH would be as good as Babylon 5.

Up to CEREMONY IN DEATH, the futurology is almost entirely missing. Though this series appears to be set in the future, the story, the romance, the mystery and the solutions could just as easily happen today. There's no reason internal to the story for it to be set in the future.

For this 5th book in the series, this seems to me (a professional sf/f writer) to be a flaw, whereas for the 2nd book of the series the lack was a good teaser.

In CEREMONY IN DEATH, Robb/Roberts has taken the subject of ceremonial magic (another subject I know write about) and has treated it well and fairly, bringing out the massive and very important difference between Satanism and the Wiccan Religion.

Still, both Satanism and the Wiccan Religion are treated with the same short shrift given to the futurology. After you finish reading CEREMONY IN DEATH you have not learned anything useful about either Satanism or Witchcraft except that they're very different.

But here's the very fascinating thing about these novels -- even though I began reading them for my favorite things (futurology, galactic civilization, a touch of the occult), and it turned out these elements are barely there, I'm still looking forward to reading another one.

I think it's because I keep hoping we'll meet some real aliens -- a non-human detective that Eve Dallas would have a hard time making friends with, or an interstellar business situation Roarke would have to sprain his brain to understand and fight to get Eve to accept. But of course, that's what I write, not what J. D. Robb writes.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
[e-mail]