Abandoned in Death, by JD Robb {Book Review}

Only I would drop into a series on the 54th book in the series!! Better late than never I guess? On top of that, I also didn’t realise that JD Robb and Nora Roberts are in fact the same person! There’s a lot I didn’t know going into Abandoned in Death, but let’s get into the review…

What is Abandoned in Death about?

Homicide detective Eve Dallas must untangle a twisted family history while a hostage’s life hangs in the balance—in the new In Death novel by #1 New York Times bestselling J. D. Robb.

The woman’s body was found on a bench in a New York City playground. She was clean, her hair neatly arranged, her makeup carefully applied. But other things were very wrong—like the tattoo and piercings, clearly new. The clothes, decades out of date. The fatal wound hidden beneath a ribbon around her neck. And the note: Bad Mommy, written in crayon as if by a child.

It seems clear the killer’s childhood was traumatic—a situation Eve is all too familiar with herself. Yet the clues point to a perpetrator who’d be around sixty, and there are no records of old crimes with a similar MO. What was the trigger that apparently reopened such an old wound and sent someone over the edge? When Eve learns that other young women have recently vanished, the case grows even more urgent—and to solve it she’ll need to find her way into a hidden place of dim light and concrete, into the distant past, and into the depths of a shattered mind.

My Thoughts

Abandoned in Death opens with Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, being called to the scene of a murder. A woman is found, murdered, seemingly dressed in outdated clothes, with a note that says: Bad Mommy. The narration is told in the present and a time before. In the ‘before’ chapters, we are following a woman and her life and in the present, Eve is trying to solve the crime. More women are missing, and the clock is ticking to save them!

I really enjoyed the plot of this story, and especially the ‘before’ chapters, to try to figure out how it all ties up. The antagonaist is such a polarizing character, because you sympathise to a degree, but, um….murderer…so that kind of nullifies the sympathy! Eve Dallas is a compassionate cop and I found her character to be endearing. She also has a lot of supporting characters, who I assume, have a lot of history in the series. I did feel there was  a lot of repetition, going over the clothing and the facts over and over, so that could have been cut down a bit.

My struggles due to this being the 54th book

The In Death series is a futuristic series, and I think I would have just liked some sort of catch up. I still have no idea what a tube or a link is. Now I do realise to rehash and summarise 53 books over and over is a but much to expect….but Karin Slaughter I feel does this so well in her books that every one can be read as a standalone. I felt very confused reading this, no idea about all the characters and why we had to talk about building Mavis’ house in such detail. Also, who is Mavis?? So personally, I didn’t feel this was the best to read as a standalone, but if you can ignore whatever you don’t know, you can still enjoy the book. That’s what I did, I just stopped trying to piece the people together….and figuring out what ‘tagging’ somebody meant. 😉

My Rating

Abandoned in Death has a Goodreads rating of 4.47 stars. I’d definitely rate it at around 4 stars, but that’s ignoring the fact that I wish the author included some more backstory for us new readers.

Abandoned in Death retails for around R310 and is available at all leading book retailers. 

Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for this review copy.