Pre-numbered label used for registration.

If you've never read J.D. Robb - Nora Roberts by another name - then I suggest you start over way at the beginning, with "Naked in Death." Basically, it's the late 2050s, and tough-as-nails cop Eve Dallas simply won't put up with unsolved murders and criminals not getting justice. She's edgey, has a massively dark (and yet, character-building) past, and she's the most anti-girly character out there.

By now, the "in Death" books have me hooked as much for the support characters than anything else - do I really care about the mysteries? Not really - though sometimes they are quite good. It's more that I want to see Peabody (Dallas' able and affable partner), Roarke (her shady past uber-billionaire husband), Mavis (preggo vid-star sensation of scandalous outfit), and Nadine (journalist extraordinaire). Many other characters also nab your attention and bring you back, and the pacing of the novels (often only a month or so passes between each book) means that their lives are evolving without the jump-ahead-two-years effect that many series have.

In "Origin in Death," J.D. Robb did what I hadn't seen her do in many of her books - she included the SF element quite strongly in the plot. There are nods to some contemporary ethical issues - when someone seems to be bumping off a plastic surgeon and his family, the motives are confused. But was the surgeon the head of a designer baby project? At what point does medical science cross the line between stopping disease and playing God? And who would kill over it?

I think I enjoyed this "in Death" book the most. High literature? Definitely not - but this time, I could happily call it Science Fiction.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

As always, I try to set my books free once I'm done with them... and hopefully make some room for some new ones in the house!

I'm incurable.

This is one of my favorite places to release a book.