Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Random in Death is book 58 in the In Death series. 58. That’s a pretty amazing feat all in itself. I took a break from the series for a little while (at about book 53 I think) but then came back to it last year and binged the books I’d missed. Now I’m right back into it.
I suppose it’s theoretically possible to start with this book – it does cover a discrete police investigation – but I suspect most of the nuance would be lost. That said, I think one could skip quite a few of the middle books if one was inclined and be just fine with this one.
Eve and Roarke remain happily married and banging regularly; McNab and Peabody are still happy and together; Mavis and Leonardo (with Bella) join the story, as do Charles and Louise and Dr Charlotte Mira – along with more important roles for Nadine Furst and her lover, Jake Kinkade, lead singer from Avenue A – and the rest of the Murder Squad at Cop Central. Knowing who all these people are and watching how they’ve grown throughout the series is half the fun of it.
At an all-ages Avenue A gig, a 16-year-old girl is murdered. Given she dies in Jake Kinkade’s arms, Eve is called in straight away. It quickly becomes clear that the murderer is an incel type and he won’t stop at just one so it’s a race against the clock before more victims end up on Morris’s slab at the morgue.
I’ve always enjoyed how J.D. Robb can make me care about characters quickly and Random in Death is no different in that regard. The family of the murder victim and their devastation got to me straight away.
The In Death series has a romance in it but it is not a romance series as such, not anymore. Now it’s a police procedural set in the near future (with many cool things) with more than a small helping of “slice of life” scenes from Eve and Roarke and their increasingly broad found family. I’ve grown away from police main characters in romance to a large degree but I think that the In Death series is set in the future (albeit only 40 years or so into the future) helps me here; they’re even farther removed from real life.
There’s not a lot more I can say about Susan Eriksen’s narration. She is the voice of the In Death series for me. Even were I to read a book in the series, I would hear her voicing all the characters. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword; she’s so closely associated with In Death for me that I can’t listen to her narrating anything else without thinking of Eve and Roarke and everyone else. On the other hand, she’s just fantastic with this series. She has a large cast of characters of all ages to play with, plenty of accents and the opportunity to grow many of those characters as are they are recurring in the series. She manages to keep all the accents straight as well. Charles and Louise may not appear in all that many books, but when they’re there, their voices are the same from book to book.
Random In Death has an evil criminal, sympathetic victims, an engrossing (if sometimes extremely lucky and possibly quite improbable) investigation and fantastic characters. While it’s not the best entry into the series, it is very solid and is far from my least favourite. Audio is generally my preferred medium for In Death books because Susan Eriksen is so good and this one did not disappoint.
Buy Random in Death by J.D. Robb on Amazon
The enduring appeal of this series is incredible. Do you know of any other series of any gnere (besides things like Nancy Drew) that have gone on this long? I listened to the first 8 or 9 books many years ago and then life intervened and I stopped reading much for almost a decade. When the pandemic hit I went back and started listening to the series from the beginning, but again after 7 or 8 books I felt a bit overwhelmed by the task of catching up. Perhaps I need to stop thinkng about “catching up” and just enjoy the books I have time for! Nora Roberts/JD Robb is such a remarkable person. Thanks for the review!
It’s such an easy series to dip in and out of – I stopped reading/listening for around 3 years and then caught up all at once last year. I think it’s probably worth reading in order but there’s no hurry. I reckon just read one here and there and the it’s not as likely to get too samey. I think it would be too overwhelming for me to go back and read/listen to all of them but one day I may revisit the first 3 books again (I’ve devoured them more than once already).
And no, I don’t know of any other series which is so prolific. Probably there are some but I don’t know them!
I love this series. As with all series, there are some books better than other but overall I think it is stellar! And the audios with Susan E. makes them even better!
I agree – audio is the best way to consume the series. :)