J.D. Robb discussion

The 2012 book schedule for Nora Roberts was released today in her newsletter. The next book following Celebrity in Death is called Delusion in Death and is scheduled for release in September.

It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . .until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity—if not kill them outright.

But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror—or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne. . . .

Cast List (view spoiler)[Eve Dallas: NYPSD lieutenant and homicide detective; married to Roarke
Roarke: Billionaire, married to Eve.
Capt. Ryan Feeney: Head of EDD and Eve's former partner and trainer.
Detective Delia Peabody: Eve's partner and McNab's cohab
Mavis Freestone: Music phenom married to Leonardo and Eve's best friend. Mother of Bella.
Commander Jack Whitney: Eve's boss
Detective David Baxter: Partnered with Troy Trueheart and on Eve's squad
Dr. Li Morris: Chief medical examiner for New York City
Dr. Charlotte Mira: NYPSD profiler and psychologist
Kyung Beaverton: NYPSD media liaison
Officer Troy Trueheart: David Baxter's partner and trainer
Whistler: Bar patron who left early.
Nadine Furst: Ace reporter for Channel 75 and host of NOW, Eve's friend.
Cher Reo: ADA and Eve's friend
Detective Jenkinson: Homicide detective on Eve's squad
Detective Ian McNab: EDD detective under Feeney and Peabody's cohab
Galahad: Eve and Roarke's cat
Leonardo: Renowned fashion designer married to Mavis and father of Bella
Detective Sanchez: Homicide detective on Eve's squad
Detective Reineke: Detective on Eve's squad
Summerset: Roarke's majordomo, his surrogate father
Belle (Bella): Mavis and Leonardo's child
Harrison Tibble: Police chief
Dennis Mira: Dr. Mira's husband
Detective Carmichael: Homicide detective on Eve's squad
Dick Berenski: Chief forensic lab tech
Detective Callendar: EDD detective on Feeney's team
Detective Lilah Strong: Illegals detective assigned to work with Eve's team. She was injured during the takedown of Renee Oberman (Treachery in Death).
Adam Stewart: Brother of one of the bar victims
Amie Stewart: One of the bar victims.
CiCi Way: One of the bar victims
Bren Wang: One of the bar victims
Macie Snyder: One of the bar victims
Travis Greenspan: One of the bar victims
Devon Lester: Bar manager, married to Quirk.
Dr. Christopher Lester: Chemist and Devon's brother.
Quirk McBane: Art teacher married to Devon Lester.
Bidot: Bar liaison to Roarke
Wendy McMahon: One of the bar victims
Andrew (Drew) Johnson: Busboy at the bar
Shelby Carstein: One of the bar patrons who left early; Rocky's girlfriend.
Rockwell Detweiler: One of the bar patrons who left early. Shelby's boyfriend.
Nancy Weaver: One if the bar patrons who left early; works for Stevenson and Reede. VP in charge of marketing.
Lewis Callaway: One of the bar patrons who left early, works for Stevenson and Reede. Marketing executive.
Stevenson Vann: One of the bar patrons who left early. Works for Stevenson and Reede as a marketing executive and is the COO's nephew.
Joseph Cattery: One of the bar victims
Elaine Cattery: Joe Cattery's wife
Whistler: Bar patron who left early. In Sales at Stevenson and Reede.
Evie Hydelburg: Bar cook
Russell Callaway: Lewis' father
Audrey Hubbard Callaway: Lewis Callaway's mother
Richard Troy: Eve's father
Stella: Eve's mother
Lydia McMeara: Café West patron
Jeni Curve: Part-time delivery girl for Café West
Brenda Deitz: Café West patron
Carly Fisher: Café West patron and Stevenson and Reede employee working for Nancy Weaver and was her protégée.
Miyu Teasdale: Homeland Security Office agent
Chad Hurtz: Homeland Security Office director, New York branch. Teasdale reports to him.
Guiseppi Menzini: Scientist and former Red Horse faction leader.
Salvador Menzini: Defrocked priest and Giuseppe's father.
Karleen MacMillon: Red Horse abducted child who was never recovered, according to records
Gina MacMillon: Tessa's half-sister and Karleen's mother. Married to William.
William MacMillon: Karleen's father
Tessa Hubbard: Audrey's mother and Gina's half sister. Married to Edward Hubbard.
Edward Gregory Hubbard: Married to Tessa.
Dana Forest: Elaine Cattery's mother.
Lowenbaum: SWAT commander
Marty Reede: CEO of Stevenson and Reede (hide spoiler)]

There are no spoilers in the list. It's only set up this way because of its length and for easy reference.

Any word on what Delusion in Death is all about?

Nope. I even checked the UK site, which normally has a description before the US site. I'll keep checking until it does and will post here.

thanks

Sounds like the bad guy is going to be delusional though! :) Or maybe the people who die will be delusional??

Lol! Hard to tell at this point but the title is pretty explanatory.

Jonetta wrote: "Lol! Hard to tell at this point but the title is pretty explanatory."

interesting point. Have you thought about how many of the titles are self explanatory?

Most are. With each book, I try to figure out the relevance of the title to the story. They help me to later recall the story lines.

I should do that! I get all the books confused...

Once you read the book it sort of makes sense but just reading the title doesn't really tell you a lot. Think about Ceremony in death. Just looking at the title you could think a wedding for a christening etc. Creation in Death is another one. I still don't understand how the criminal, can't remember his name was creating anything.

In Ceremony, it was a pagan ritual or ceremony (at least that's my method of recall). In Creation, it was more obscure. The bad guy was Robert Lowell, who was "re-creating" his stepmother and her death.

For this one, I can only assume that the criminal is going to be under some delusion or another in committing his or her crime. You asked for some examples...Portrait, Innocent, Fantasy, Seduction, Vision...just to name a few.

Works for me, may not for others.

Did you guys see this? Cover!

Thanks for sharing this!!!

Now that the book has been released, this is now a spoiler zone! I've changed the heading accordingly. Don't look beyond this post unless you've read the book:)

I have been recovering from a case of E coli, don't get it-it is really miserable. I'm still not up to doing a lot, but I had to drag my butt down to the library to pick up a copy of Delusions, then come home and take a nap.

I'm half way through with the book and the thing that keeps crossing my mind is how the book came out on the appropriate date. It reminds me so much of how I felt when the towers fell, you know, the absolute loss of safety.

I LOVE LOVE Robb's books. I like the way she handles the police procedures, for instance, never interviewing to witnesses together, or looking at all the possible angles. She has really done her homework about police procedures and that makes so much of a difference to me. I hate it when authors don't spend the time researching the subject. To me it is sloppy writing.

The one thing I did notice that is different in this book is you have had to read Rapture in Death, Loyalty in Death, Divided in Death, and especially NY2D, before this one. In the past,although it is preferable to read them in order if you read the books out of order it would still be a good read.

Dee wrote: "The one thing I did notice that is different in this book is you have had to read Rapture in Death, Conspiracy in Death, Divided in Death, and especially NY2D, before this one. In the past,although it is preferable to read them in order if you read the books out of order it would still be a good read.
."

Since I've read the entire series I guess I don't really think about how the new books would work for someone who has not read the previous books. I do agree that in this case it would be a problem if you had not read NY2D prior to this one and while NY2D is actually one of my least favorite of the series, I think it is going to be somewhat of a primary 'marker' in the series ... the place where Eve begins to become much less traumatized by her past.

This is one of the books that I tend to just hang up the 'closed for the day' signs and read straight through so I finished this last night.

Very good police procedural, as always and the twisted, intricate plotting a reader expects of this series. All of the things I like about the series, good characterization, etc.

My biggest criticism of this book specifically is something I've actually noticed in the previous two books ... seems to have started in NY2D. There is a lot less of the interaction with the 'supporting characters' and almost no 'social' scenes where Eve manages to stumble through the politically correct moves while ranting about shopping/gifts/dressing up and so on.

Those little scenes tended to really make this series stand out for me and stay very vividly individual. I could understand it in NY2D ... she wasn't in her own territory and her crew wasn't with her for the most part. I expected a return to the normal interactions with "Celebrity" but it wasn't something that really happened and there is very little in this book as well.

That's one of the things that really 'hooked' me into this series and I have to admit I'm missing it.

I so totally agree with you Sharon about the lack of interactions in her last few books. I can kind of understand it in this one, because the subject matter is so serious. I mean when she finds 83 people dead in a bar and realizes it is an airborne drug that is causing it, and this can be repeated over and over I could see that there wouldn't be a lot of interaction. However, in Treachery and Celebrity and even in Chaos were lighter not so serious murders. I hope this is not a trend of Robb. I notice she is getting more characters involved. I would like less and more interaction.

Dee wrote: "I so totally agree with you Sharon about the lack of interactions in her last few books. "

For me, the trend seemed to start with New York to Dallas. I could understand it in that book as she was in a different city. But I noticed it in the book after that as well and it was very noticeable in this book. Even the people she's actually working with ... Mira, Peabody, Baxter, Trueheart ... not even a touch of the usual humorous interactions.

I can understand there not being a lot of humor in mass murder, but one of the earlier books had explosions that had high body counts (I'm horrible about titles, so can't remember the title) and there were still several of the little scenes that offered Eve the chance for one of the little rants that I've always enjoyed so much about this series.

That kind of humor is difficult to do well and in all the earlier books in this series it has been done well, which is what hooked me so throughly.

I'm afraid this is going to be the book that leads me to put this series on my "read from the library before buying" list for the first time. I only buy books that I feel certain I'm going to like ... not just read all the way through and enjoy, but like well enough to know I'm going to want to re-read it.

Finished Delusions in Death today. Overall I enjoyed it. I did laugh out loud a few times. What I really liked were the scenes with Sommerset. Being reminded of what he did for Rourke and he and Eve trying to get along ... for the time being. I was surprised by the references to Dallas as that was 2 books ago...wasn't it? Sometimes I get the order confused. I was hoping (spoiler here) that she was exposed to the drugs and had to meet her demons (Stella and Richie) head-on like in her dream, of course with better results that the others who were exposed to the toxin. And I liked trying to envision Roarke in a NY hat and Eve in pink cowboy boots:)

Sharon, the book you are thinking of with the explosions was Liberty in Death - one of my favorites, actually, because of the Peabody/McNab relationship and how it changed in that book.

I just finished the book last night. As others have noted, there is definitely a bit less of the humor that's usually present. However, I did find it fun when she had the "Candy thief" conversation, and there were still a few times when I found myself grinning. Understandably subdued, but still there, I think.

The change in interactions between Eve and Summerset were actually very nice to see, actually. They've known each other for 3 years now, and really it's about time. I'll be interested to see if they go back to their mutual sniping in future books, but it had already changed to more of a habit or "in joke" between them, anyway.

I found the following changes interesting, showing that Robb is actively thinking about the background of the characters and not simply throwing elements in because she "always does"
1) Nadine is unsuccessful at getting into Eve's office (a first, I think)
2) Media conference - Eve present but not needing to say anything
3) Summerset becoming much more involved, revealing more of his background
4) No candy stolen, but Eve did get a chance to question her detective about it
5) "You take the car" - and Peabody's reaction. :)
6) Mira's in-dream assistance (go, Eve! Brava!)

I'm sure there were more - I found many refreshing changes in a series that had started to have many of the books sound very similar (aside from the main storyline, at least). I'm sure the next time Eve needs to shop we'll hear her grumble. And I'm *still* waiting for her "magic coat" to get tested.

Loved the latest in death. I like that Roarke pressures Eve to go to Dr. Mira to deal with her disturbing dreams. I'm glad to see the author hasn't just set Eves issues aside because everything she does from now on has got to be affected by those revelations from NY2D.

I love Summerset, he is such a deliciously grumpy character and I got the feeling in the exchanges in this book that Eve is beginning acknowledge that she loves the curmudgeon not only for Roarkes sake but for his own.
Nadine is pushing for exclusives as always but nice to see her pastries(Bribes) turned down.
Peabody is pink cowboy boot befooted and her smart mouth earns her hearty laugh and a dozen cannoli's from Roarke. I love how she tells Eve that if McNabb is out of the picture that she would fight Dallas for Roarke. It would be interesting to see when Eve makes Captain how long before Peabody would make Lt. or if that would be a priority for her.
I like how this book named each of the detectives and even brang in detectives from past books. It was nice to see Det. Strong from Illegals again. Trueheart is as sweet as ever and Baxter looks after him like a mother hen--Wouldn't it by fun to pair Trueheart with someone like Dallas(his hero) say perhaps the new Homeland agent(Teasdale)? oh the possibilities... Reineke has the best lines with Roarke when he over hears Eve talking to Roarke on linc about how she wants a "so much sex" evening with Roarke.--pretty funny.
I also love the exchange with the Lt Lowenbaum from the Swat team with Eve and Roarke about how he wanted to get to know her better at one time but she would never give him the green light.
Most poignant moment is when Eve decides to tell Peabody about what McQueen's partner Silvia's connection to her and I loved Peabody's reaction to that--Her outrage and the threat to hug Eve.

I wish the book would have expanded some more on one or more of the Detectives in the bullpen. I would love to have some more personal deets on the detectives and their romances and down time.

This is the first time I think I have an inkling who the candy thief might be. I never really paid attention, but the conversation with the new guy in the squad made me think it was the squad stealing the candy. Maybe taking turns as a dare. His reaction to the question just sent red flags.

Anyone, I just finished the book and give it a solid three stars. Mostly because I thought the middle seemed to bog down a bit.

I do agree though, that this book more explicitly references other books than almost any other book in the series: The Cassandra group (Loyalty in Death), why Eve hates Homeland so much (Divided in Death), The references to how dirty the illegals squad was (Treachery In Death) and of course the immediate aftermath that she is still struggling with in the aftermath of NY2D.

My other big takeaway from this nook is that I am even more interested in what happened during the Urban Wars. I'd love for her to write a standalone set during the wars.

I just finished and felt this was solidly written from the police procedural standpoint. I was able to deduce that Lew was the killer at the time Eve announced it to Summerset, which I found odd so early in the story.

Sharon, I had the exact observation you did regarding the absence of secondary storylines involving secondary characters in the series. Many of the characters showed up here but in fairly perfunctory ways. Those side stories provided texture and their absence is leaving a void.

Dee, I hadn't thought of the significance of the storyline to the 9/11 release date! What a great observation.

As far as needing to have read past stories for context, I think it's safe to say we're now looking at an Eve Dallas before New York to Dallas and after. That book was a pivotal point in the series and readers should know that it's required reading before starting any other one beyond that point. I've been adamant that this series should be read in order because of the character evolvement and this is a great illustration.

The moments with Summerset were extraordinary. I've had a curiosity about the Urban Wars and this was the first time I've read anything as expansive as this book about the basis of the conflict. Summerset has always appeared to me as a complex character and he's even more layered than I thought.

Tina, I'm right there with you about the Candy Thief.

Almost finished with my first read through of this one. It jumps right into some craziness from the first page.
I feel like there wasn't much of the background, step away from the intensity and gruesomeness of the main story in this one. Not sure if that was just me. There were a couple parts still. Possibly the background/secondary parts of the story were just that much more intertwined with main story here. Like stuff with summerset, was great to see some more depth to his character here, but it was heavily tied to the crime part.
Figured out whodunit this time was subtle, but there. We are told fairly early who it is and then it becomes more how Eve takes them down again. This happens in some of the books, I wouldn't like if this was the case everytime, I sometimes like the trying to figure out who it is to last longer.
Oh, love Baby Bella on the phone with Eve. Love the dream with Mira. I may now be swayed to Candy Thief being everyone!!

Ohhhh done and nice twist there! I agree about having to have read others in the series to get some of the references and emotions in this one.