FFB Review: Visions in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J.D. Robb

I had always had a strong skepticism of folks who claimed they could see things, whether it be visions of the future, or something else. Then I met Sandi. We had been married a number of years and with kids before she told me she had the ability to see things before they happened. Not during the event, but before it. It did not happen that often, sometimes more than a year would pass between such deals, but I learned that when she had a very strong dream of something that she believed would happen, I really should pay attention.

 

So, Lieutenant Dallas’s skepticism of such abilities reflected my own long ago as Visions in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb begins. This is the 19th book in the series. It is still September 2059 and just after recent events detailed in the last book. She has been out with Roarke, doing the corporate wife thing, and has survived the four-hour event without killing anyone. She counts that as a win and is looking forward to getting out of her dress and high heels. That is until her latest case begins.

 

Her and Detective Delia Peabody are dispatched to Belvedere Castle in Central Park. A young woman has been brutally assaulted and killed. It wasn’t bad enough that she was raped and strangled by way of a red ribbon wrapped around her neck. The killer set the body up as a presentation of what he done and finished the act by taking her eyes with him.

 

This poor woman wasn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last. Detective Peabody and Lieutenant Dallas are chasing yet another killer across the city from kill site to kill site as he works his own agenda. What that agenda is or why he is doing it remains a mystery to them both. That means Dallas is going to come up with a risky plan in Visions in Death.

 

All the usual caveats apply here in this read as they have been from the beginning. The former writer in me cringes every so often with all the head hopping shifts of POV in many paragraphs, awkward transitions, and all the rest of it. At the same time, this read, and the series in general, pulls you in from the start of the tale.

 

Which is ultimately why it works. The series characters you care about, the crimes are often twisted and gruesome, and the stories are interesting. While there might be flaws in the construction of the storytelling, depending on the eye of the beholder, there is no doubt the actual story is compelling. Every case, including this one, pulls the reader in quickly and weaves a complicated world with murder at the heart of it. Technology changes over time, but human emotions do not. These books work well and can become quite addictive. Visions in Death is another good one.

My reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive app and the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2022