Book Review – Forgotten in Death by J D Robb – Absorbing Tale
Table of Contents
My Rating – 3.5 out of 5
Plot Summary – Forgotten In Death
Though this is the 53rd book in the Eve Dallas series (yes! you read that right, 53rd!!), this is my second one of the series (the first being ‘Faithless in Death‘). J D Robb is the pen name of Nora Roberts, who is an acclaimed author in her own right. The novels are set some decades into the future – this one is in 2061, but besides some futuristic attributes, this does not take on the sheen of an out-and-out SciFi novel. NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas, her sidekick Peabody and her husband Roarke form the core of the recurring characters, and it’s a Rockstar combination of brilliant detective work, gritty perseverance, and unyielding focus which form the basis of each novel.
An early morning call to a commercial construction site for Eve starts off this novel when the yet unidentified body of a sidewalk sleeper is discovered in a dumpster, with her head bashed in. The body is hurriedly wrapped in construction plastic sheeting, not expected to be found before another couple of days. While Eve is attending this scene, another grisly discovery is made in a nearby construction site. The skeleton of a pregnant woman and her near-term fetus is found behind a wall, during demolition. The skeletons are approximately forty years old, with gunshot wounds and other signs of violence. Are these connected? Or are they random?
Bleak as it looks, Eve promises to herself to find justice for these unnamed corpses, victims of crime four decades apart and no one missing them. Thus begins the journey of identifying them through forensic analysis, DNA, and anthropological reconstruction. Through diligent investigation and dogged perseverance, Eve and her team identify both victims and reconstruct the events that led to their tragic ends. The sites of the grisly murders both belonged to the Singer Corporation, who recently sold part of these properties (where the skeletons were found) to Roarke‘s construction company. Singer Corporation, in turn, has links with Bardov Constructions – a company owned by a Russian mobster.
But to establish a credible link between the owners of the sites and the dead bodies, Eve has to dig deep and interview many people and can only come up with circumstantial evidence. Then, a senior plumber with Singer Corporation – Carmine Delgato turns up dead – moments before he was to be interviewed by Eve, apparently by suicide caused by his mounting gambling debts. Eve is not one to believe in coincidences and her suspect pool narrows down to a few people who she is convinced were either directly or indirectly in the commission and subsequent hiding of these crimes. What follows is a breathtaking and spectacular climax!
Conclusion – Book Review of Forgotten In Death
The best part of this novel is not the investigative steps that Eve and her team take, but the interviews with potential suspects that truly break the investigation open! A mix of facts and deduction with persuasive questioning by Eve, ably supported by Peabody, is an education in non-violent interrogation techniques. As the novel hurtles towards its climax, one marvels at J D Robb‘s writing genius for coming up with these fierce sequences. Greed, impunity, and a misplaced feeling of invincibility are all-encompassing traits of the perpetrators, and only the tenacity and a fierce quest for justice on part of the investigators finally bring them to their knees.
If you’ve read an Eve Dallas story before, you are going to love this, and if you haven’t, this is a good place to start and I promise you’ll keep going back for more. Grab your copy, people!
*I hope you have enjoyed reading this book review as much as I have enjoyed writing this! Do watch this space for more such reviews and navigate through the links below for more… Thank you!! *
