Book Review: Fantasy in Death

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb

Category: Crime Fiction

Challenges: 2010 Challenge, Thriller and Suspense Challenge

Synopsis: Bart, Cill, Benny and Var are best friends and are living their dream, they design and sell video games. However one day Bart is killed in a locked holoroom while testing the latest game. Eve Dallas and her partner Delia Peabody are put on the case.

My Thoughts: Oh my! How I loved this book. Robb is back in fine form! The last few books in this series have felt a bit lacklustre. I still liked them but they didn’t bring me the same joy that the earlier books did. This one. This one totally did.

Part of the reason I loved this one so much was because it was set in a subculture that I can somewhat relate to. The victim and his friends are all gamers and game developers and although I’m no gamer (unless you count The Sims (what? I like to control people :D)) the world of games and sci-fi and cons is something I have a bit more than a passing familiarity with. In addition Robb gets bonus points for including BSG and the Galactica CIC in the book. These little nods to this particular subculture are a really nice touch. I also liked the discussion of nerd and geek (it is something that we discuss in our family a lot :D)

This book has the classic “locked room” murder and although the reader sort of finds out how it is done in the first few pages we still don’t know HOW they manage it. The twist is rather scary, but good.

I thought I had the murderer figured out after just a few chapters but somehow it just didn’t feel completely right and it turned out I was wrong. I won’t say more, except once it became clear I was wrong I worked out who it was BEFORE it was revealed. 

Another thing I liked about this book was the banter in it. The banter was back and funny. I laughed so hard I cried at the start of chapter 5. There was a long discussion about penises that was just hilarious.

Since I am currently re-reading the series the changes that take place in Eve are very clear to me. It is so interesting to see how she is now willing to admit to herself that she has friends and that that is a GOOD thing. Although this instalment primarily has the cops the other friends make little cameos which are sweet and funny. 

Overall this is probably one of my favourite books in the series. I really couldn’t put it down.

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