[Buddy Read] Glory in Death by J.D. Robb

[Christine]

Leslie, Isabella, and I are planning a buddy read of the second book in J.D. Robb's 'In Death' series, Glory in Death. We'll most likely be starting around Dec 12 or 14. Feel free to join us!

[Isabella]

So where are we? Are you ready girls to begin? I'm wondering what is your expectation on this book? Let's shake this topic up a little bit :)

[Christine]

I have about 40 pages left to go in another book before I start this one. So, if I can keep my eyes open long enough I might get to it tonight, but it's more likely tomorrow.

I'm curious to see the progression of the relationship between Eve and Rourke and how it affects their professional lives.

[~Leslie~]

I have one book to finish tonight and then I will start some time tomorrow. I am so excited to start it. I've heard that this is one of the best.

[~Leslie~]

I started this today and so far so good. I am interested to see how much more she world builds in this book. It's a fine line- 2058 is not that far away. Interesting to think about what the world will be like.

[Dee]

I think that is what I like about the series...for the most part, the technology is do-able...there is some outlandish stuff...i mean, I think GiD was written in 1992(ish)...I want an auto-chef!!

[Isabella]

yes it was written in a time we didn't have same technology as we have today.
I'm in chapter 4 right now, just stopped here to see the updates.

[Christine]

I'm on page 86 or so. I got to the part where Eve is interviewing the victims family. She was about to interview the daughter's fiance when I fell asleep. I'm liking the daughter or her fiance for the murder, but I've no idea why since I haven't read much yet.

I'm glad Roarke finally spoke his mind with her and stormed out on her. Now to see what she does about it... I need to get one of these on audio because I would really like to hear Roarke's accent.

[~Leslie~]

I'm on page 180 now. Several twists and turns in the case. Still not sure where we are going with it but I never ever guess "who done it".

[~Leslie~]

Okay, just finished the book and loved it. Can't wait to hear what others think.

[Christine]

I knew I should have started this a few days before you, so I could try to keep up with you. :D

I'm really looking forward to getting back into this tonight. I fell asleep last night just as felt like it the story was about to take off. Now, if I could just get the kids to bed early....

[Christine]

They just found another body! I hope this isn't like the first one and someone is pretending to be a serial killer so they can try to cover up the motive for the "real" murder.

But Eve and Roarke made up. At least for now. I really liked that scene. In most books, she would have stormed out and he would have let her and we would have been strung along for the rest of the book. It's nice to see a couple fight it out and admit how they really feel for a change.

Okay, back to the book. They're off to Italy. I need to find a man like this. Giant diamonds, fly to Italy on a whim.

[Isabella]

I'm stopping for today it's 01:15am. Tomorrow I've got work and probably will get back late around 8 to my home and children so I'm not sure I can finish it until Saturday. I'm in the middle of it just when Eve is going to interview Ana the commander's wife. I think it's all to divert and distract us from the real killer. I'm wondering if it would be Morse the bad ass reporter just cause he's acting weird insensible and he was the first one to show for the crime scene of the second victim. I like Eve and Roarke and the development of their relation but I'm getting bored with these reporters and with the crime investigation.

[Christine]

Oh, yes! Morse showing up at the crime scene right after the police was totally suspicious. But I can't decide if it's because he's the actual killer or just that the killer is his source. I have to say, in the first book I was pretty sure who the primary killer was from early on, but with this one, I'm not as sure. Or maybe I stayed up too late reading and the sleep-deprivation is fogging my mind. Hope to finish it tonight. Happy Friday!!

[Christine]

okay, I squeezed in another chapter before I had to get to work. I'm back to liking the daughter for this, since the eye witness to the third murder couldn't definitively identify the gender of the killer they claim to have seen. Which could just be a red herring to make me think the killer is female. And once again Morse was on the scene awfully quickly. Hmmm....I guess I'll find out tonight.

[Christine]

I finished it this morning. I really enjoyed this one, too. But then I'm already a fan of mysteries, so that helps. I really liked the developing relationship between Eve and Roarke and how they are learning to just be honest with one another. As a plus, I didn't identify the killer nearly as quickly as I did in the first book. I kept going back and forth between the daughter and the news guy, until pretty far into the investigation.

On a side note, sometimes when I read odd little things about the writing will jump out at me. I noticed in this one that everyone kept shoving their hands into their pockets. These people must all have the biggest and comfiest pockets in the world. Eve did it a couple of times, Roarke did it a few times (but then he was usually fingering Eve's button that he's still carrying around like a talisman). Two characters with similar body language didn't bother me too much, but then Feeney did it one. And I think Marco and Whitney both did it a time or two. I just found it odd that all of these people had the same habit. What, none of them run their fingers through their hair, or twist their wedding band, or rub their faces in frustration? I'm not really sure of my point, other than that as much as I did enjoy the book, there is just something about the writing that keeps it from being a five star read for me.

[Christine]

Me again. I enjoyed these first two books enough that I've signed up for another challenge in which during 2012 you are to read either 10, 20, or 30 books by a single author. I'm definitely not up to committing to 30 books, but I've signed on to read the next 10 in this series. We'll see what happens...

[Isabella]

Christine wrote: "I finished it this morning. I really enjoyed this one, too. But then I'm already a fan of mysteries, so that helps. I really liked the developing relationship between Eve and Roarke and how they..."

Did you notice that ?? :D really almost every author has something his character keeps doing or a words of two that he keeps repeating like in The night Circus I think the author is fond in chocolate and caramel that I lost the count on how much she did mention these 2 words.
Now in Glory in death I noticed that every character who got upset or something, the "jaw" made a reaction.
Here's some examples I added on a note while reading. "his jaw tense", "jaw tightened", "Somerset tightened his jaw", "her jaw was set","dropped jaw reaction"... and even several characters has a muscle that jerked or twitched in their jaw, I thought that was funny, all with the same defect :)

[Isabella]

I finished this book this morning. I can say I liked it but that's why I rated 3 stars but in my opinion it was a bit deceitful. This time I think the mystery was a distraction. Eve spent a lot of time working out details and setting fake traps and at the end it was because she was emotionally involved. But the author began right with this excuse. Eve cared about death and mourned death, and the commandment put her prime to this case cause she feels for the victim...
My favorite part actually was when Morse got Nadine and Eve came later but the part I didn't like this time is when the charming prince came to save the damsel in distress, I think he came also in book 1 after she fight the criminal didn't he? After a misogynist serial killer I would have liked better Eve finishing him and not Roarke.

What was your favourite part and was there any scene you didn't like?

[Christine]

I agree with not really liking how Roarke rushed in an saved her at the very end. I get the whole 'knight in shining armor' fantasy, but Eve is such a strong competent woman I would have liked to see her take the guy out just in time for Roarke to show up and realize she didn't need him for that. She had already had Roarke feeding her tidbits of information to urge her investigation along. Even though, in the end, the info he fed her sent her down the wrong path and distracted from the real killer. He's already flying her wherever she needs to go, and again, feeding her info she might not otherwise have access to. So I would like to have seen her take down the bad guy all on her own.
I was also surprised by how quick she was to discuss the investigation with Roarke. In most other books where one character in the couple is a cop, FBI, whatever, there's usually an understanding between them that they can't discuss every detail of a case because of maintaining the integrity of the investigation.

My favorite part was probably the scene when Roarke realized their time in the hot tub, lagoon, whatever it was, was recorded and Eve made fun of him for being embarrassed about it. It was nice to see Mr Calm, Cool, and Collected have such a human moment.

[Christine]

Isabella wrote: "Now in Glory in death I noticed that every character who got upset or something, the "jaw" made a reaction.."

I didn't notice the jaw thing. I guess I was too distracted by all the hands in pockets. : P

[~Leslie~]

I loved reading all of the comments y'all made about the book. I did not notice the jaw thing. One of the things that I like best about Rourke and Eve is that Robb does not have artificial situations for them to fight and then make up. Probably my biggest pet peeve in relationships. Also, while I like strong female characters, I like them to have some vulnerability. Eve is beginning to show that and I don't think it takes away from her strength. I think it's important in the development of her character that Rourke save her. I spent 10 years counseling sexual abuse victims and it is very hard to let someone take care of them. I'm still not a hundred percent sold on the mystery part of these stories. I think Robb could do a little better. It always seems so obvious to me that Eve missed something. I'm wondering how this will progress as we move through the books. I discovered that my library has many of these to check out as ebooks. So I'm excited to read more of them.

[Christine]

I keep thinking of other things to mention, but by the time I get to a computer, I've forgotten. But here goes:

What's with Summerset (the butler)? I'm hoping that somewhere along in the series we get his back story and find out why Roarke tolerates the way he treats Eve. Or that he and Eve will come to some form of grudging respect for one another.

Also, I liked how Roarke realized early in the book that some of his "shady" businesses might put Eve in a bad position with her work so he immediately started thinking about what he could do to eliminate those potential problems. It showed a real thoughtfulness on his part, without being in your face about it.

I'm definitely planning on reading the next one or two in January if anyone's up for another buddy read. I love the discussions.

[Dee]

you def. find out more about sommerset later on...maybe book 8/9...and you delve more into rourke's past as well...but they still love to hate each other in book 15 that I just finished up

was peabody introduced in this one? i can't remember...i think she was...i love her, in the later books, she is as entertaining as eve/rourke, and you see all of them develop more individual characterisitcs...i kinda figure, this early on, she wasn't sure how many books were going to be in the series, so was playing it safe/easy with developing characteristics, but as it got more popular, she developed them more

[Christine]

Oh yeah. I did like Peabody and remember wondering if she was going to become a recurring character.

Here's something else I noticed: When Eve would go to a scene, whatever subordinate officer that was on scene would always call her 'Sir'. I'm guessing that in the time of the book, Sir has become a generic, gender-neutral term and I thought that interesting.

I also liked that Whitney's wife (I think) had stayed home to raise the kids on the state salary for parents and got a retirement stipend, too. Nice. Wishful thinking for America, but nice.

[Dee]

yep peabody sticks around...its great seeing her come into her own (for lack of a better word during the series)

I think Sir is a term of respect...there is a later one (maybe one of the bridging books) where Eve and someone off planet butt heads over the use of Sir

[Isabella]

I liked Peabody first appearance, I was always wondering how she first met Eve. I imagined different meeting (maybe Roarke was worried for Eve working alone and for her own security requested a partner for her)but it wasn't bad this meeting on a crime scene.
As for the term "sir" I didn't like it for Eve cause why considering a masculine term is more superior than a female term? especially for a superior female character like Eve.

[Dee]

my view might be jaded being in a male dominated career field (military) but being called sir could be seen as them respecting you as much as they respect the males that you work with...that you are equal

[Isabella]

Dee wrote: "my view might be jaded being in a male dominated career field (military) but being called sir could be seen as them respecting you as much as they respect the males that you work with...that you ar..."

Oh! Ok I didn't thought about it this way but I like it.
I don't mind if I'm called "sir" really I won't hate it in this case, but now just to laugh a little bit, I wonder if I call them "mam" or something alike if they will consider I'm respecting and considering them equal :)
I think we still live in a male dominated society (but it is not as much as it used to be).

[~Leslie~]

Loving all the comments. I agree about Summerset- I'm glad she explains the attitude at some point. And I also like that Rourke is thinking about Eve and how his business interests might affect her job. I like hearing what others think about things that I just skim over. I never thought twice about her being called "sir". I just assumed it had become a gender neutral term in the future. I find it interesting to think about how she decided what the world would be like. I think in some ways technology has bypassed what she conjured up when she first wrote the books.

Christine, I will be happy to read the next one in January and do another buddy read. Just let me know when you would like to start.

[Christine]

I'm really loving all the discussion. I'm definitely up for a buddy read of the next book next month. Around mid-month again?

[Isabella]

I would like to join you if I may.

[~Leslie~]

Mid-month sounds great. And Isabella, of course you can be a part of this! Do we need to start a new thread? I'll be looking forward to this. Happy Holidays to everyone.

[Christine]

Would anyone be up for trying a year-long book-a-month type read? As long as we keep enjoying the series that is. We could just set up one thread and each month read the next in the series and comment on that one thread. And if anyone else wants to join in, they'd have time to get caught up between our reads. Granted, I'm being a little selfish here. I've got to read the next 10 books for another year-long challenge I'm doing and this would be a great way to keep me focused.

[Dee]

haha!!! i'll chat, and join in the year after next if you keep reading...since i'm past that

[Christine]

LOL! I guess that at a book a month, it would take a few years to get through this series.

[Isabella]

Thanks Leslie..

Christine I can try this challenge with you but I already read the 5th in the series,would it matter?

[Christine]

Absolutely you can join in. I don't think it would matter that you've already read book 5. You can still join in the discussion. And maybe we can entice some others to join as well. The more the merrier.

[Christine]

I'll set up a thread before the start of the new year. I guess it's another for the 'Dare you to read' folder?

[Isabella]

Most be Yearly Challenge for it's for the entire year, but I guess it's no problem setting it on Dare you read.

[Christine]

I checked with one of the moderators and she said to post in the Dare you to Read folder. So, I started a thread.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...