Culture

Publisher: Piatkus
(5/5)
 
Strangers in Death is the first book in a long time that has hooked me into reading it nonstop, compelling me to avoid other tasks just to satisfy my curiosity. I was intrigued to read my first futuristic crime novel (being an avid Poirot fan) and I was not disappointed. 
The story follows Lieutenant Eve Dallas as she hunts down the killer of a famous businessman and philanthropist. The circumstances in which the victim was found were scandalous: tied to the bed with black velvet cord, strangled, and with numerous kinky gadgets littered around. Extraordinary material for gossip among the New York aristocracy. Eve has to carefully weed through the evidence and try to find cracks in suspects’ alibis, chiefly those of his wife and nephew. Eve’s character reminded me of Dr. Brennan from Bones: strong-willed, ridiculously good at picking up on connections between seemingly unrelated events, and just that little bit eccentric. However, Eve also has a super-hot billionaire husband with whom to share lovey-dovey moments throughout the case. Obviously a talented guy, he uses his connections, good looks, and computer hacking skills to help Eve. 
I found Robb’s New York of the year 2060 interesting. Robb predicts that fifty years into the future we will be able to talk to computers; that security systems will have been made almost hack-proof; and, my favourite, that household machines can automatically cook whatever you want. It actually seemed realistic enough, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit excited about the prospect of having a machine whip up culinary delights in the blink of an eye. Finally, Robb has an uncanny ability to bring minor characters alive, from the street kid who helps Eve to the mothers in the charity programmes. In each case, Robb makes me care about them, and I just had to read on to see how their individual journeys panned out.
I am glad that Strangers in Death is one of many in the series; if this one is anything to go by, the others should be great reads too.