Naked in Death (Paperback)

New York City, 2058 CE, are the time and setting of "Naked in Death." Robot drones and voice activated machines do menial work, i.e., clean house, serve meals; there is a total ban on guns, (the police use lasers); major improvements have been made in medicine and technology, with advancements in genetics (and strong genetic control); airbuses for public transportation have replaced subways; tele-links replace telephones - but it is not a "brave new world." Minor armed skirmishes have taken place between China and the US, and France had another revolution which lasted for a few years. The overpopulated world has more limited resources - real coffee is rare and way too expensive, as is beef and other fresh meat. Robb has not written a sci-fi series, however. Far enough into the future to make the storyline more interesting, 2058's world is still easily recognizable.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD is called to a murder scene where a young licensed companion, (a legalized prostitute ), has been brutally murdered with an antique handgun from the 20th century. The victim, Sharon DeBlass, is from a very prominent family - her grandfather is a US senator. An angry man who preaches morality and leads an ultra conservative branch of his party, the senator would like to totally suppress the case, and perhaps even run the investigation himself. According to friends and relatives, Ms. DeBlass apparently chose her career not only because she liked sex, she did not need the money, but because she was rebelling against her family and strict upbringing. A note was found under her body with the printed words, "ONE OF SIX." So, was the perpetrator a serial killer warning that there were to be five more murders? One of the prime suspects is a sexy Irish billionaire named Roarke. We never learn whether this is his first or last name. Perhaps if one is a billionaire, especially a tall, dark and handsome, with an Irish brogue, billionaire, it doesn't matter. He is quickly cleared of suspicion, and he and Eve embark on a stormy, intense romance - but not before murder #2 occurs.

Eve, although a tough cop who made Lieutenant before the age of 30, is also very vulnerable. She doesn't remember the early years of her life, but knows that she was sexually, physically and emotionally abused by her father, then abandoned at age eight and left to the mercies of Children's Services. She has made her work her life, and letting Roarke get close to her is a first.

Happiness is discovering another excellent series - and from what I have read, this looks like a winner! The writing is tight, as is the plot - an excellent and complex mystery. I really like the characters, Eve, definitely, Roarke - who lives up to his description, Feeney, Eve's partner, and Eve's chanteuse friend Mavis. I can't wait to pick-up book two, "Glory In Death."
JANA

Eve and Roake make an excelent team and I cant wait to see how their relationship will develop ... Eve is a no-nonsense type of women very quick and smart.

The development of the characters within the book have got me wanting more.

This is such an exciting book I couldnt put it down and actually read it in a day !

The book is part of a series - which revolves around the central character of Lieutenant Eve Dallas - who with the New York Police and Security Dept. Its set in the future - 2058 - which provides the author with the freedom to experiment, not to only in terms of the police environment i.e. the equipment, tools and tricks used by cops in the future, but also the framework of relationships and their evolution.

Eve is presented as being a dedicated,shrewd and hard working cop, who is also trying to come to terms with the fact that she cannot (or rather does not want to) remember the first 8 years of her life. The reasons for that are not completely sketched out, something which presumably, future books in the series would address.

The storyline is fairly simple - Eve is in the middle of an investigation - involving a series of sexual murders of prostitutes, and she finds herself strongly attracted to the prime suspect on the case. This is of course the hero - Roarke (no last name) - who is sinfully rich, sinfully gorgeous to look at but is still likeable for all that. Truly the stuff of fantasy. So she deals with the tugs and pulls of the situation - since she inherently does believe in the value of the badge.

"To serve and protect" is not a byline for her, its her philosophy of life. Getting involved could potentially jeopardise the investigation, more importantly if she is wrong about the man, she would ruin her credibility in her own eyes. An interesting sub-angle is the impact of the murders on her own psyche, she finds herself starting to have memory flashes and nightmares about her childhood, even as she deals with the the classic "head versus heart" tug-of-war.

How she solves the crime and whether she gets the man - not necessarily in that order - forms the gist of the plot.

What makes the book readable, and makes it rise above its somewhat clichéd storyline are two things. First, the level of research that has gone into creating a believable environment in the future. For example, "Testing" i.e. a mandatory psychiatric procedure that every officer on the force must go through, after killing on the job, and which involves a strong Virtual Reality component, is sketched in enough detail to be believable and to be in sync with expected developments in current technology.

Second, the author's way with words which redeems the plot and makes it worth the 7 odd dollars one pays for the book. The byplay between Eve and Roarke is interesting - especially since Eve does not deviate from character merely because she is attracted on a personal level, she is not shown to compromise the job, and when it comes to taking the heat from the powers that be, she doesnt flinch from that either. Strength in a woman is attractively packaged here.

The author manages to keep both her characters believable (even if the streak of sentimentality in Roarke is a little out of sync with the rest of him), more importantly she manages to keep them likeable, without making them degenerate into the "diabetic" zone. All the secondary characters in the book are also well etched - making this overall a readable experience.

Given that this is the first of a series, it would be very interesting to see how the author deals with sequels - of maintaining the balance between rehashing material and plot lines in past books - without losing either the repeat reader or estranging the first timer.