Who would want to kill an accountant? That's the puzzle Lieutenant Eve Dallas is dealing with. The "why would someone kill an accountant" is easy; it's not a mugging, the woman must've found something she wasn't supposed to and they took her out. And eve is back to "who" and needs to pick the right "who" out of her little pool of suspects.


You might've deduced from that lackluster synopsis, I didn't much care about this book. It too was rather lackluster from my POV, but it's probably just me and my complete and utter disinterest in the world of accounting. Because, let me tell you, it delved there, and it delved deep.

The story was so boring and slow, and with all those descriptions and information about shell corporations, fraud, corporate frauds blah-blah-blah it got to a point my eyes nearly crossed, and I just wanted it to be over with.
In the end, I didn't really care about who ordered all the people dead, who made them dead, and why. I just knew the motive was idiotic and the one who ordered and performed the killings was an idiot as well. Leaving a trace for the cops to follow, moronic to the core.

It was too simple, if you want, utterly too slow, and so boring, not even the cast managed to inspire more than a bare whiff of excitement. Peabody once more got on my nerves with her anything-but-the-case talk, Eve and Roarke were being Eve and Roarke in and out of the bedroom, and the preparations for the big premiere (professional and non) failed to whet my appetite.

Next, please!

She followed the direction of his gaze, looked down at herself and found herself mildly stunned by the bruising blooming across her chest above her tank.

“Wow, colorful. I think the kid’s head plowed into me. He came at me like a mortar. Pow! Skull meets tits. Tits lose.”

Ouch! *chuckle*

After reading the last three in the series, this book felt so slow; usually it takes me a couple of afternoon readings to inhale an ...In Death installment. This book was more than a decent addition to the series, just fell flat when you go from the awesomeness of Treachery, NY to Dallas, and Delusion to murders to hide financial wrong doings. And did I mention the slow pacing? It felt too much like a police procedural, in that it felt like weeks, not days, went by before Eve got a handle on the suspects. Then BOOM! she caught them in one chapter.

With that said, the personal relationships still hit the right cord. Roarke is still the greatest.hero.ever. And when he helped out on this case, it was actually within his expertise without stretching the credibility of the case. Peabody didn't really do much other than hang with Eve and do the tedious chores, but did excel as usual in the interpersonal relationships that police work often requires. I kind of miss the more confident Peabody that I saw in Treachery.

The end of the book also ends the The Icove Agenda stuff that has ran through so many books in the later part of the series. I loved Origin In Death, but the book deal then the movie was overkill.

I managed to get ahold of Thankless in Death much sooner than I thought I would, and I spent the next few days immersed in New York 2060.  For those that aren't familiar with the series it centers around Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Security and Police Department and her husband, Roarke, a former Dublin street rat/thief and billionaire.  In this book, Eve is on the trail of a killer, Jerald Reinhold, who killed both of his parents.

Jerry is a very much grown up Holden Caulfield, if Holden had never received psychological help for his undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder.  He believes that everyone lies, which, well, duh, but he also believes that everyone is out to get him.  His ex-girlfriend dumped him because she wanted to get involved with someone else--not because he was an asshole, who didn't like to pay the rent.  His high school computer science teacher flunked him because she knew that he was smarter than her--come to think of it, he's the fictional version of Tea Party members; if he doesn't get what he wants, he throws a fit and screws over everyone.  Finally, having enough of his mother's nagging, he kills her and discovers who he is.

Unfortunately, Jerry's brand of crazy is slightly smarter than Eve gives him credit for and he manages to catch break after break, staying one step ahead of her for days before one of his victims hands him over to Eve on a silver platter.

All this is going on as Thanksgiving is barreling down on them, bringing with it Roarke's family all the way from Ireland, come to celebrate the holiday with them.  Also, present for Turkey day are Richard and Elizabeth de Blass and their family, including Nixie Swisher, the lone survivor of a horrific murder that Eve investigated previously.  It was nice seeing these characters again and I hope we get to see other characters in future books.

I know a lot of people had problems with this book, saying that they thought it was ghostwritten, but I don't agree.  As a matter of fact, if anything, I felt this one was a return to form after the underwhelming, Calculated in Death, which took me three tries to finish reading.