In the new Eve Dallas police thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author J. D. Robb, what looked like a lover’s quarrel turned fatal has larger—and more terrifying—motives behind it… bashed in. But when Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don’t add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant, comforted by her handsome fiancé as she sheds tears over the trauma of finding the body—but why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things?
As Eve and her team look into Gwen, her past, and the people around her, they find that the lies are about more than murder. As with sculpture, they need to chip away at the layers of deception to find the shape within—and soon they’re getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.
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This is the 52nd entry in the “in Death” series. In this outing, Dallas and Peabody are called to scene of a murder in the West Village studio on an artist. A cursory walk through indicates it was a lover’s spat gone very, very wrong. As Dallas begins piecing together the evidence, she reaches the conclusion this is bigger – much bigger than a lover’s quarrel…and it keeps getting uglier and uglier.
Robb has written a hard-put-down tale of murder, bigotry, and power with undertones of rampant misogyny ala “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Even the secondary characters have interesting tales to tell us. The writing in this book is clean, crisp, and clear. This is the best book in the series after several just okay efforts.
If you’ve given up on Dallas and Peabody over the last few years, get this book and you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve been a fan of Dallas and Peabody since book one came out in July 1995, get this book as soon as possible.
My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Edelweiss for an eARC.
I really enjoyed Faithless in Death. I’m not surprised really, I mean, this is the 52 books in the ‘In Death” series. Every new book brings us a more mature Eve Dallas, more grown and put together. I do get a bit tired of her leaning so heavily on Roarke during her police investigation but she seems to be allowed by her supervisor and her husband loves joining the fight.
The last few books I keep wanting more personal aspects thrown it, like when they have a lavish party or when Trina gets her hands on Eve and her friends. This just gives us another side to Eve, I like that side of her. My favorite part of this entire story is seeing Eve really grow into herself. She accepted Roarke’s affection throughout the book. If you’ve read these books than you’ll know she doesn’t normally accept loving attention.
The writing is what I’ve come to expect for JD Robb, it’s an enjoyable story that keeps me fully entertained. Robb sets a scene up and goes through the story in ways one might not expect. This one had a few shocking moments. I’m always impressed with the depth of Robb’s deceptive ways. I’m always left eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, February and September are two of my favorite months.
Faithless in Death is J.D. Robb’s latest futuristic police procedural featuring Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her amazing and sexy husband Roarke. The plot is a mix of Jeffrey Epstein’s human trafficking, a Handmaid’s Tale, and a murder mystery. But nothing is too big a challenge for Eve, who pulls in half of the NYPD, the FBI, and Interpol to take down a cult with followers throughout the US, on a private island, and who knows where else. Good always triumphs in this series, and it’s so much fun watching Eve make that happen. If you haven’t read this series, definitely read it in order and consider listening to it in audiobook form, since the narrator, Susan Eriksen, does a great job!
I’ve read the entire In Death series, but this is one of my absolute favorites. It felt timely and the villians were spot on. Besides, who could ever resist Roarke and Dallas. You should read this one!!
I thought I knew where this book was headed when I started it, but it completely swerved and exploded into so much more. This was epic. I don’t know how she does it, but book 52 in the In Death series and Robb just keeps getting better and better. If this was made into a movie, I’d be the first to buy tickets.
I love this series and read every new book that comes out. Some books are just okay, others are great, but it’s the whole world and all its characters that keep me coming back. This one was really very good.
Does JD Robb have the ability to see the future? I think she may because this book’s topic is so timely, so scary, that she must have a crystal ball.
The gang is all here in the latest Eve/Roarke book. This time the death of a NY artist leads to a twisted, horrible underground of hate mongers and misogynists.
Another well-done book in a series that I hope never ends!
J.D. Robb’s In Death series just keeps on getting better and better!
Fantastic book…and eerie how prescient
Loved this latest offering in the In Death series. This one of very focused on the case and mostly takes place at the stations or working the case. Somerset gets to take a breather in this one as we don’t see a lot of him. We get a little bit of Mavis but it’s a big deal.
The story here is cleverly plotted out and twisty-turny. What starts as a likely crime of passion murder turns into so much more…horrifyingly more. And so much of the writing parallels as social commentary. The description of this cult and its followers/believers, while supposedly religious based here has an eerily familiar ring to it.
What is really freaky is how much of it turns out to be prescient. And the coincidence of release day being the day of the actual start to the second impeachment trial is something else.
I continue to be amazed that Robb can still turn out such great stories after so much time. The world building and character development is true master class status. Any author seeking to develop and maintain a series that follows the same characters over the long haul needs to do a deep dive study of JD Robb’s work from Naked in Death (1995) to Faithless in Death (2021). 52 full length novels plus a bunch of novellas. It is my all time favorite series and I have read and listened to them all over and over again. I can’t say enough about this world, these characters or this storytelling.
This book is yet another edge-of-your-seat, suspenseful, engrossing, can’t-put-it-down offering by the inimitable J.D. Robb. I can never get enough of this series and if she produced one a week, I’d read it. The first book of the series was set in 2058 and after 52 books, we are only up to the spring of 2061. I’m definitely NOT complaining about the amount of time passing – New York Homicide cops get lots of cases. What amazes me is the imagination the author has and her thorough descriptions of life in that time and the gadgets – OMGoodness, the gadgets are wonderful! I sometimes have to wonder if Robb doesn’t have a bit of the ‘fey’ within her because – well – in the books she talks about the Urban Wars of the 20’s – and just look where we are today in the real-world 20’s. Since the series began in 1995, she couldn’t have known what the real 2020’s would be like. I hope she wasn’t right about all of it – but I do hope she was right about the gadgets – I’d love to have an AutoChef and a car that can go vertical.
This case comes just on the heels of the last case, Shadows In Death. Eve has gone in early to finish up all of the paperwork for that case when she gets the call from dispatch. A body has been found in the West Village. It is a lovely young woman, Ariel Byrd, who is an up-and-coming sculptor. Her head has been bashed in with one of her own tools. The body was only discovered because a 9-1-1 caller reported the dead body. That caller, Gwen Huffman, didn’t report it right away because she panicked and ran away from the scene. Or, did she panic?
Eve and Peabody are off on an investigation that is going to lead to some totally unexpected places and people. Such a ‘normal’, almost insignificant, crime leads to a vile cult named the Natural Order, missing FBI agents, and involvement by the FBI, Interpol, and Homeland Security. OMGoodness – you are in for a roller-coaster of an investigation in this one.
It takes Eve’s entire team, along with Roarke (we can never get enough of him), Feeney and McNab with the rest of the EDD team, not to mention Nadine Furst and ADA Reo to find the real villains and see that they are brought down and punished. I also loved that Police Artist Yancy was more involved in this case. He’s always been a favorite character but doesn’t usually get much page time.
I absolutely loved this read and can highly recommend it. I was left with a bit of a puzzler though. All of those Eve was focusing on finding we definitively solved – whether dead, injured, etc. except one. There was a mention that they thought he was probably dead, but since they wrapped up everyone else, I would have liked to learn, for sure, the fate of Keene Grimsley.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The story was much more involved than some with several different villains and scenarios. I was impressed by Eve, who is relentless in her search and conviction of the guilty parties, as usual. I’m still one behind. so, if you haven’t read this one — it should be next on your list.
I just have to admire and be astounded by the fertile imagination of J. D. Robb. Fifty-two books into the series and it is still fresh, interesting, original, and, at times, eerily possible. ‘Nuff said.
Always interested in catching up with Eve and Rourke!
If you’ve read JD Robb, then you know that she follows a formula in her writing this series. But there’s enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. I enjoyed this one!
Always love the death series of books. Read almost every one. She is the master at writing.
Love all the Eve Dallas books
I d Robb is one of the good authors
Faithless in Death by J. D. Robb (pseudonym for Nora Roberts) brings murder, romance and suspense to a well-written futuristic police procedural and romantic suspense set in New York City and Connecticut during the spring of 2061. This is the fifty-second book in the In Death Eve Dallas series and I have read all of them up to this point.
This story starts with our protagonist, Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYC police department, being called to a crime scene. Joined by her partner, Detective Delia Peabody, they find the body of sculptor Ariel Byrd in her studio. While it appears to be a crime of passion, the 911 caller’s story doesn’t track and seems full of lies. As the police investigate, the lies include more than just the tale about finding the dead body. Before long, they get the FBI involved in a case that also involves a fanatical group.
It’s always entertaining to spend time with Eve, Roarke, and Eve’s colleagues. She is definitely a compelling and three-dimensional character. Her need to serve and protect comes through in every book, but the underlying impetus for this is best understood by reading this series in order. Due to the way Eve was raised, she often doesn’t understand commonly used phrases and this comes into play a few times in this book making her seem more real and less perfect. As always, the interactions between Eve and Roarke are enjoyable and bring a different facet of Eve’s personality to light. Many of the reoccurring police characters play significant roles in this book. However, readers also get to see a bit of their private lives as Mavis, Leonardo, and Bella have big news.
The prose is well-written, entertaining, and engaging. This time Eve’s passion for justice and those that need help pushes the story beyond finding a single murderer to taking down a disturbing group of people preying on others. The plot is thought-provoking and tragic. While this book has some action, it is mostly a police procedural until the ending. It is appalling in places and uplifting in others.
Robb is an author that manages to embed humor in her novels, providing some much needed levity to offset some of the more serious and grim aspects of the story. There is a steamy scene in the novel as well. Themes include murder, justice, family dynamics, cults, child abuse, domestic violence, greed, racism, infidelity, intolerance of others, and much more.
If you enjoy engaging near-future police procedurals with some romance and humor, then I recommend this series. Overall, it is entertaining, and over time, it is like spending time with old friends. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
I purchased a digital copy of this novel. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not biased in any way. Publication date was February 9, 2021.
I always enjoy the books in this series. This was definitely a good entry. It is usually pretty easy to figure out the “bad guy” in these stories, but always fun to watch the NYPSD “gang” solve the crime. After reading 50 some novels in this series, I’m pretty much along to visit the characters. They really seem like old friends by now. When I first started reading these, I thought they were so far in the future–now I’m getting worried we may catch up!
Love the entire series