Wonderful storytelling by Susan Erickson. She made the story alive and very enjoyable with the inflections of each character. I would recommend this book highly. The story itself was fast-paced and very fun with the different characters being introduced into the storyline. Overall I would give the story and the story teller five stars.

The 2nd in the series is really heating up! Lt.Dallas is starting to lose a few rough edges-very few. Good storytelling.

Glory in Death, Series Book 2, J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, narrated by Susan Ericksen. Our heroine Eve Dallas, is a beautiful New York City cop, in the years 2050+. I.e. the future. This is a big winning series of 55 plus novels. I have read books one and two, and won’t be reading any more. There are some really involving mystery and detective novels out there, that can provide hours of happy reading. This book/series, is not one of them.

The novel is rather poor histrionic with exaggerated actions. The story itself, per its own text, constantly praises Eve Dallas as a brilliant cop, but she shows no insightful sleuth, has no theory of the case and is without tactics. Further, one can pre-guess the simplistic plots. What makes the story really bad is Eve Dallas’ personality. She does not talk to anyone, but blasts out an embittered attitude to all, and everyone responds by loving her, praising her detective skills, and becoming her friend for being nasty to them. Incomprehensible. Really, she doesn’t talk nice to anyone. She becomes annoyed at all the characters with every new fact developed in the story and is constantly threatening that she will bring someone down to the station, beat them up or charge them with impeding a police investigation and everyone kowtows to her.

She has an interesting love affair with a billionaire who’s wealth and connections often help in her investigation (when he is not suspect himself for the murder) but one is perplexed as to how he truly loves her as I have recorded one pleasant interchange from Eve to Rourke in two books now. Does he really love to be abused each time he speaks to his lover? He is one of the masters of the universe but is a wimp to her? I doubt it.

Susan Ericksen may be the source of why Eve Dallas is nasty to everyone she deals with. Perhaps Ms. Ericksen could tone it down a bit. Then again, though, Roberts did write the novels as such. Okay, I didn’t like much about these stories. Actually, they are poor stories with an inane drift; which makes them good only if you are into wanting to occupy your time with fluff. On the other hand so many more people think otherwise. 55 books and counting? Perhaps my species of discernment is distinct from that of the masses. I just gave three five stars to the emotional whirlwind, Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Now that is a novel worth one’s time (and credit).

Love all of the books in the Death series. We go back and listen to them again to catch up on the Eve and Rourke romance as it blossoms.

Really enjoying this series. It has a little of everything you love in a series. Can't wait to get back to it when life events interrupt. Super characters that you can't wait to know more about them. You feel you are right there in the room following all the clues and trying to help solve the cases.

I have a couple of times as #1 & 2 are still one of the best in this series.

When Eve comes to beg.

the first 10 books are still the best of her work. She brings all the main characters to life.

When Roark confesses his feelings to Eve

The book grabs your attention and won't let go until the final scene
This world the author has constructed and the developing characters kept me absorbed with every new chapter.
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Everyone should start with Naked in Death to see how the characters grow.

The different voices for each character.

This book pushes all the buttons: lots of blood; incredibly handsome, sophisticated, rich lover; recurrent obligatory sex scenes; climactic violent denouement; fairly predictable villain with Freudian motive.

That's time I'll never get back. I should have given up after chapter one. Not good.

Wow! Just Wow! Eve Dallas is learning to trust even if it makes her vulnerable. Roark loves her but she doesn't want the distraction. She says she doesn't need it so he tells her he can't take it anymore. The next move is hers. This is going on while she is trying to solve an ugly murder case involving two prominent women who have had their throats slashed. While struggling with the potential suspects, Roark's name is known by both victims and he won't do anything to explain. He just looks at her and acknowledges that again she doesn't trust him. She works on the murders while struggling with her own personal demons. Finally, she can't take it anymore and she goes to Roark and admits that she can't live without him and that she loves him. Whew! Glad to have that angst out of the way. Now, she can focus on the murders and she does just that. In typical J.D. Robb fashion, Eve identifies a suspect and then looks for the why of it. Turns out she isn't on the right track yet but she perseveres and ultimately identifies the murderer. These stories are so real and the characters so well described that they become real. This book was published in 1995 but is relevant to today's world even though taking place in futurist 2060. I just listened to this book in audible and love it even more. Even bought the next three in audible form. Susan Ericksen is a spectacular narrator and fortunately she has done all of the books so she has become the characters. Her voice and inflection bring them all to life. So, take a break from 2016 and travel to J.D. Robb's and Eve Dallas' world. You'll be glad you did.