Rating: 
Summary: One of her best in the series.
Review: Finally, Roarke is beginning to show more of a human side. I guess J.D. Robb listened to my complaints last time ;) In this book he is a little vulnerable, though he certainly fights it, and Eve gets to help him, once she realizes she needs to. Roarke is still sexy, richer than Midas, of course, and all that but now he's a little more down to earth. The mystery was excellent, as usual. Thank you for another great offering in the 'In Death' series... I can't wait for the next one!
Rating: 
Summary: Another good book in an excellent series
Review: Well, I did enjoy this installment after taking a break from the series around Seduction in Death. I had quit reading due to the ongoing predictable circumstances in this series. Roarke still is a billionaire who own everything in the world on/off planet and he will always be involved in Eve's cases and continues to provide Eve with the best sex she's ever had in her life. Without him, I guess we wouldn't have much a series (which I strongly disagree if more effort was put forth to make this series more original). In this installment, we learn more about Roarke's past, about a past he thought was true but turns out to be only a facade. When he investigates the truth about his heritage, he withdraws into himself and shuts Eve out. This is where the novel gets interesting in that Roarke almost always has Eve as his balance. In this case, he feels he must deal with this problem alone but Eve does aggressively knock down a few of the barriers that he puts up and together, they face the future and the truth and move on with their lives. The usual characters from previous books make an appearance. McNab and Peaboy are still burning up the sheets and Sommerset still gives Eve eye-twitches. A good book and my last. I wish there was more depth to these characters but I guess you can't have everything. This is a great series but I just wish Robb would do more.
Rating:
Summary: A well-drawn portrait
Review: It is circa 2059 in Manhattan and NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas hurtles into her investigation of the death of Columbia University undergraduate Rachel Howard, morbidly immortalized on a portrait completed by an audacious killer who announces his deeds through the city's most popular Channel 75. Suspects from the bar Rachel frequents are singled out along with her dates, imaging professor and a temperamental artist Hastings at Portography who holds images of Rachel - and the second victim. Like an intense episode of CSI, J.D Robb swerves her 16th vehicle with a frenetic pace and futuristic crime procedurals with more depth in her central protagonists Eve and Roarke. Marital blues storm ahead as Roarke traces his blurred pasts and discovers his father had brutally murdered his tender Irish maid of a mom. Eve is caught between her job and insecurities towards marriage, inducing a fragility that sheds away her resilient, edgy mantle. Portrait in Death blasted off with a bold and imaginative concept on a gripping obsession of immortality and light but its denouements and depth faltered with Robb's emphasis on the action and characters. It is thus strait-jacketed into a futuristic thriller. And plenty of thrills it gives - with the occasional snappy humor between Eve and her assistant Peabody to relieve the thickening tension. J.D Robbs draws her portrait with an atmosphere of darkness - stark in its deranged killer to his disillusioned motives and a wild climax to rescue a teammate from the clutches of the killer. This is a lean hard pulsating machine strictly designed to thrill with chills.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best! I Think.
Review: I'm having a hard time deciding whether Portrait in Death has taken the place of Vengeance at the top of my *in Death* list. I think I need to read then BOTH again before I make a final decision, and that will be no hardship at all. Portrait is a indescribably wonderful book, to say I loved it would be a dreadful understatement. I laughed, I cried, I felt every emotion whilst reading it. This was without a doubt Roarke's book, much as Vengeance had been. But we saw a slightly different Roarke in this one, and as more of his past unfolded I wonder how many of we readers kept dry eyed, this reader certainly didn't. Reading this masterpiece, I had to contemplate on how much Eve's character has evolved emotionally since we first met her in Naked in Death, she always cared so deeply but now she's able to show it, and I love it that she can. The parts with Eve and Summerset were hilarious as always, I just love the interaction between them. I was broken hearted when one of my favourite secondary characters had heartbreak of his own to bear. Admittedly I love to see interation between Peabody and McNab as well, and there was less of this in Portrait, but the storyline was so compelling that I didn't miss it at all. As for the thriller side of the story, it was a tight, excellent scenario and I never guessed who the killer was. But this is only a secondary to me, it's the wonderfully rounded characters that make these books a joy to read, and Portrait was one of, if not, THE best of the bunch. Thank you Nora for giving us more of your special magic.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but somethings...missing...
Review: I truly believe Nora Roberts is quite possibly the best popular fiction author on the market today. I love this series. I was in the middle of re-reading the books (up to "holiday in death"!) when this came out. While the story is good, and I enjoyed Roarke's insight into his past, something just didn't ring true. The characters didn't have the same tone or depth; it seemed to lack the usual texture of her writing. I was interested to see other reviewers noted the same. Perhaps I'm overly invested in the series, but truly the tone of the characters seemed altered in this book. However, Ms. Roberts is still far ahead of other story-tellers, and I can't deny enjoying the book. It is a good read, and an interesting installment in the chronological progression of the characters. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: What does Roarke really know about his past?
Review: This is the latest offering in the Death series by J.D. Robb. If this is your introduction to the series I really suggest that you go back and start at the beginning. There is not as much mystery in this one as some of the others. Much of this story revolves around Roarke¡¦s past as well as Dallas¡¦s dealing with their marriage when the tough gets going. There is quite a few sections that deal with what Roarke has thought was his parentage. I won¡¦t spoil it anymore. Also in this one Summerset and Gallahad have an encounter in the start that will leave Dallas with more to deal with that she had hoped for during the month. Not to mention that Peabody seems to be trying to make her eye twitch more than normal 'º In this story the murder is sending Nadine photos of the dead before they are found and telling her where to find them. Dallas along with Peabody, Feeney, McNab, Baxter and Trueheart take on this killer.
Rating:
Summary: Varying the Formula
Review: Roarke doesn't own the scene of the crime! I think that that may be a first for this series.
Likewise, Roarke's part in the investigation is much smaller than usual, as he spends the first two-thirds of the book either tending to his major-domo/surrogate father, Summerset, after he is injured tripping on the cat on the stairs, or investigating surprise revelations about his own heritage in Dublin. With Roarke mostly out of the way, Roberts concentrates strongly on Dallas and Peabody's investigation of the killings; other regulars like McNabb, Feeney, Nadine Furst and Dr Mira make only peripheral (though fairly important) appearances. Just as an earlier volume (Seduction in Death) seemed to take a major part of its inspiration from the Leopold/Loeb murders that also inspired Hitchcok's "Rope", this volume is, once all is revealed, somewhat reminiscent of both "Psycho" and "Red Dragon". What Roarke discovers in Dublin and County Clare, after revelations from a social worker at the refuge for abused women and children he is funding, may well change the future course of the series. (And, here, there is an interesting resonance with the [sadly] now defunct, often brilliant DC comic "Hitman", in which anti-hero professional killer Tommy Monaghan makes a similar journey to discover similar history... but with widely differing results.) Someone is killing brilliant and beautiful young people, photographing them and sending the imagery to Nadine Furst at Channel 75; apparently the killer seems to believe that somehow he will, through his post-mortem photos of the victims in life-like poses, capture what he calls their "light" and, perhaps, become immortal if he can capture enough such "light". As usual, Dallas takes these attacks on the innocent and defenseless as a personal affront, and doggedly tracks down the killer. Also as usual, while the form of the books is police-procedural stories set in a science-fictional milieu, there are lapses in logic as the story advances by coincidence and intuition. ((This does NOT make it a bad story as such, just one in which the reader doesn't have much chance of solving it ahead of the protagonist.)) As often in this series, the identity of the killer sort of comes out of left field, though when revealed, both plausibility and consistency are there. One thing that sometimes causes me to drop the rating of books in this series by a star or so from where i usually would rate them based on the story alone, is the background. Dallas and Roarke and Co are operating in the New York City of 2059. The history of now till then as she Roberts has sketched it in, involving something called the "Urban Wars", is acceptably plausible (and conveniently vague); but the world that they live in bothers me. Most specifically, in the year 2059 (which is, after all, only fifty-six years in our future), Roberts would have us believe that interstellar -- not interplanetary but interSTELLAR -- travel has become so common that there are luxury resorts on the worlds of other stars, and that faster-than-light interplanetary/interstellar communications not only exist but are apparently at about the level that long-distance phone calls were, forty or so years ago -- expensive, but not particularly so. I don't believe it. And, while i am willing to perform that trick called "willing suspension of disbelief" up to a point, i am sometimes jarred while reading these books (and others, more overtly pitched as "science fiction", for that matter) by a necessity to hang my disbelief by the neck until dead. But, that said, this is a worthy entry in a series that consistently delivers solid reading enjoyment, good if not particularly plausible cop action, the occasional little gruesome shiver, and plenty of enjoyable interaction between the members of a well-established and solidly-constructed cast. And more than usual of Dallas and Summerset's running feud, and of their joint love of and concern for Roarke. (Which reminds me, i suspect that one of the characters in this book may well become a new semi-regular in the series.) There's no doubt that Pierce Brosnan would make a wonderful Roarke, if anyone were making a film. But i can't, for the life of me, come up with an actress to cast as Dallas...
Rating:
Summary: Eve and Roarke at their best
Review: Another fantastic addition to a marvellous series. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is investigating the death of students, those who seem to almost glow with an extra quality of 'light' - innocence, happiness, intelligence, and such ephemeral qualities. The killer carefully poses each at death and takes photographs that seem to highlight this quality in their natures, exhibiting his own skill at the lens (and hence the title of the book). Eve is a little off her stride, because Roarke is bothered by the discovery of something about his past, something he feels is fundamental to his own circumstances and nature. Something he's not ready to share, not even with Eve. And Eve has to deal with the fact that, as his wife and life partner, she really wants him to share. She's now truly part of a couple, and doesn't want to be shut out. Now it is Eve standing outside Roarke's internal doors, asking to be let in, and he that seems to have difficulty admitting her. I am pleased that in this book Roarke and Eve are the central focus, even more than the mystery of who is the serial killer. Eve is becoming more and more comfortable with the various connections she makes, openly admitting to being Nadine Furst's friend without any prompting! And we meet all of our old friends, some taking more pages than others (McNab, Dr Mira, Baxter & Trueheart are definitely backstage here, but still able to carry off significant roles in the action, especially the latter two). Regular readers of the series I'm sure will enjoy the book as much as I do. Eve is developing, as is her relationships with Roarke in particular, but also with her widening circle of friends and acquaintances. Roarke grows here too, which is a different element to bring into the book. As usual the writing is superb and the vision of the not so distant future is intriguing. I find with Robb/erts that it is these little, deft touches, sprinkling world-building context into the tale with such as skilful hand that highlights what a talented writer she is.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite of the Series!
Review: This series just keeps getting better and better. I found myself skipping around the murder mystery (which was compelling) to read ahead on Roarke's discovery and how he dealt with it. I'm glad I went back and read the parts I skipped, because I couldn't put it down. If you haven't read Naked In Death, start there. The secondary characters all play a vital role in Eve's life and it's much less confusing (and colorful!) if you start with book one.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC READ!!!!!! Worth every penny.
Review: Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb is worth every penny I payed for it. I started out reading these books and now have both my husband and son hooked on them also..:) We fight over who gets to read it first.
I hope every time I buy another JD Robb that it will be as good as the last one. Well, this book doesn't dissapoint. In fact it is one of my favorites so far. There was more about Eve and Roarke's relationship, which I enjoyed alot. She has also made Eve seem more human than ever in this book as Eve struggles to help Roarke through a tough time as he finds out the women he though was his mother, wasn't. More laugh's also with Eve's interactions with Summerset, Peabody and McNab. You'll love it.
| 
