Leafing Through Pages – Chaos in Death (#33.5)

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Stars: 3 / 5

Recommendation: A futuristic urban fantasy mystery thriller throwing the readers into a world that they understand as well as can envision what it would be like; and at the same time keeping it grounded to the world they know so they get hooked. For a novella, it is short story by J.D. Robb. But, Eve delves into the mind of a killer who finds the unquiet within him while finding the quiet in other addicted people.

Chaos in Death is the eighth novella in the long running In Death Series by J. D. Robb, the alter ego of the famous American romance novelist Nora Roberts. This was originally published in The Unquiet anthology book in January of 2011 in which Nora published her novella with four of her recurring authors – Mary Blayney, Patrcia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan and Mary Kay McComas. This was subsequently released along with other in death novellas in September of 2011. We continue to pursue Lieutenant Eve Dallas juggling her role as a Homicide Lieutenant and also being a wife to the Irish Billionaire Roarke.

The stories in the In Death Series are set in mid-21st century New York City, New York in United States, featuring NYPSD (New York Police and Security Department) Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke, an Irish billionaire, CEO of Roarke Industries, and one of the richest man in the world. First started in 1995, as of May 2025, 60 books have been written in this series. The first book begins in the year 2058 and showcases that technology completely dominates the world, yet Robb has her main characters still believe in human impulses, passion and emotions that are key to solving every single case she comes across or in her relationships with her husband and people. They complete their two years of marriage in Indulgence in Death (#31).

We are in early fall of 2060  – a good 65 years ahead for when the series began in 1995 – and Lieutenant Eve Dallas delves into the mind of a monster while that person has a façade of a scientist. In order to find the quiet for others who are addicted, this person find his own unquiet and wreaks havoc.

Morris still deals with loss of his girlfriend, a fellow detective, in Promises in Death (#28). Even though he brings a little color around him and jazz music on the speakers, he is not far from Black.

Her friend and ace crime reporter, Nadine Furst, mentions the Isaac McQueen, the case she handled in New York to Dallas (#33) and wants Eve to come to her show Now. But Eve cleverly side-steps and has the victims of that case take the center stage, an on-location special.

Roarke takes upon himself that Eve is completely healed after Isaac McQueen. He ensures she eats right, takes on the massage he gives her with the cream and also does her physical therapy. Isaac had done a lot on both of them, but Roarke handling Eve particularly hit me a lot.

In Memory in Death (#22) we see that the Icoves case from Origin in Death (#21) is being made into a video or film. In this book we find that the film has been made called The Icove Agenda.

Roarke after looking at the case and murderer reminisces about the 1941 American horror film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They made in 1920 as well with same name.

Robb continues to show us futuristic world in the various concepts and technology that may have been unimaginable in 1995, but are much more acceptable and some available now in 2024. And perhaps in a few years we might see more of her imagination in the series come to life. Check the Spoiler Alerts below for some of them that I identified and grouped them.

Incidentally most of the futuristic world and technology innovations that the book gives the reader, Robb had mentioned them to have begun since 2023. When this series started in 1995, 2025 was 30 years ahead. However, I have started reading them in 2023 so for me some of the concepts seem very real or close to real for the way our world is heading to.

A futuristic urban fantasy mystery thriller throwing the readers into a world that they understand as well as can envision what it would be like; and at the same time keeping it grounded to the world they know so they get hooked. For a novella, it is short story by J.D. Robb. But, Eve delves into the mind of a killer who finds the unquiet within him while finding the quiet in other addicted people.

Spoiler Alerts:

Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:

On Pg. 52, Line 19, it should be “….what’s up?…”

Futuristic technology and concepts for the time the book is set in (2058) which Robb imagined in 1995:

For Security and Tools: Police Sensors and Porta-sensors, Sensor Bugs; Seal It for hands and feet; laser weapons with ability to adjust it’s power making it deadly yet less messier than a gun; Compuguard, a software to detect unregistered and illegal equipment; Force Fields; Anti-mugging Spray; Detox Bowls and Radiant Heats; Space Traffic Control who control interplanetary traffic; Identi-Pad for a forensic sketch artist

Buildings and Landmarks / Travel: Multihabitation Buildings; Graves for loved ones is for rich; Flash Transport for interplanetary travel; EZ Tram and other airstreams, air transport service; medi-copters and ambu-jets; Traffic Hovercraft controlling air traffic; Land, Sea and Sky traffic; Rapid Cabs;

Electronics and gadgets: Body Driers / Drying Tubes; Automatic and voice controlled electronics; AutoChef, vending machine dispensing fresh food on order; Droids / Drones / all Robots of all kinds even pets; Anitron – like robots that are animated; Virtual Reality headphones; Moving Maps, People Glides and Glide-Carts; Portable Palm Computers (PPCs); Laser-faxes, holograms, holo-rooms, holocards and holographs; send-receive units and tele-links; Anti-Gravity gear for off-planer travel – gravity boots; Rain Shields; SCAN-EYE; Mood Screens; scan-cams; viewing discs; Privacy Screens on windows; Elevators that go up and across; music on Sound Sticks; A hollow standing scanner to scan a person’s body internal and external; memo cubes for leaving voice memos; Videos or films are Vids;

Money, Food, Sports and Health Related: Real food like coffee and meat is premium due to depletion of rain forests; twenty four hour facial cosmetics that won’t smudge; Soda and Beer come in recyclable tubes; Rehydrated food such as irradiated powdered eggs or soy burgers; Medicines such as Sober-Up for being sober after a drunk night, Alert All to keep one alert and bright, Stay-Up to stay awake; Suturing Wand that would mend ripped flesh without any trace left; Cash is called credits and more like coins; human organs synthetically manufactured; anticancer vaccines; surgical freeze-coat to stop the flow of blood; Arena Ball Game; skins casts; for quick way to move thru the streets – airskates, zip bikes, city scoots;

Global incidents that changed the course of the world to what Robb imagined – Population Adjustment Theory (Two Parents one Child); The Revisited Period (a new period for artists post whatever wars the world went thru); Genetic Engineering and in Vitro repairs; Urban Wars; Gun Ban introduced in 2022-2023; Depletion of Rain Forests.

Sub Plots:

Law Enforcement: Commander Jack Whitney, Eve’s commanding officer, and his wife Anna, daughter Linda, son Steven; Chief Harrison Tibble, Chief of NYPSD, and his wife Karla Blaze; Prosecuting Attorney / Assistant PA’s- Jonathan Heartly, Carla Rollins, Cher Reo; Adam Quincy, Chief Legal Counsel for NYPSD; Lab Staff – Chief Tech Dickie Berenski aka Dickhead (dating and in love with someone he met a few weeks ago but gets dumped in this book), Harpo; ME’s Office – Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Li Morris, Ty Clipper, Duluc, Foster, Marlie Drew; Medics: Carver; Morgue Staff – Chambers, Rochinsky, Herbert Fienstein, Feeno, Harvo; Lieutenants and Captains – Captain Jonah MacMasters, Delong, Don Webster IAB (dating Darcia Angelo as of Treachery in Death), Medavoy from anti-crime, Desevres at one six-two, Marks, Hayes on 128 Precinct, Jaye Smith from Missing Persons Unit (MPU); FBI Special Agent Karen Stowe; FBI Assistant Director Sooner;  Interplanetary Law Enforcement (ILE);  Darcia Angelo, Chief of Olympus Police; Mayor Steven Peachtree; Sweepers – Lobar, Beaver, Tweeser (head sweeper); Detectives – Janburry, Delfino, Jacobson, Santiago, Manson from Special Victims, Moynahan, Reineke, Sisto, Melodie Reedway, Letterman, Renicki, Callender, Crouch, Marion Burns, Brinkleman with 4-1, Darlymple, David Baxter, Cartwright, Zeno, Yancy Ident-artist, Briscoll, Ute, Janson, Jules, Jenkinson, Slader, Carmichael, Sherry in Illegals; Officers – Slovic, Carmichael, Milway, Uttica, Kobel, Guilder, Laney, Jonas, McKlinton, Oritz, Klink, Harris, Darnell, Powell, Newkirk, Carter, Miller, Frohickie, Troy Trueheart and his mother Pauline (he is being trained by Baxter, dating Casey in Records), Clark, Rinsky, Briggs, Lopkre, Beth Ricky, Nalley, Queeks, Grimes, Ivansky, Bilkey, Bennington; Tomjohn Lewis from Maintenance; Media Liaison Lee Chang; CSI team – Kurtz, Chief of CSI, Petrie

Close friends and family of Eve and her husband Roarke: Lawrence Charles Summerset, Roarke’s valet and butler; Mavis Freestone, Eve’s friend and her husband Leonardo (Fashion designer), daughter Bella Eve (they marry in Born in Death (#23)); Galahad, their cat; Detective Third Grade Delia Peabody, partner to Eve as of Imitation in Death (#17) (has two brothers – Zeke and another one -?? and a sister; mother Phoebe and father Sam); Captain Ryan Feeney, Eve’s ex-partner and head of Electronics Detectives Division (EDD) and his wife Sheila; Dr. Charlotte “Charley” Mira, behavioral psychiatrist & her husband Dennis has a Wiccan daughter Gillian with three kids (Lana, ???) and a husband, Callie and Bryce (???), son Anthony & his wife Deb9orah with a child Matthew James Mira; Nadine Furst, Channel 75’s reporter; Detective Ian McNab, from EDD, cohabbing with Peabody since Survivor in Death (#20), has a cousin Sheila; Charles Monroe, retired LC and a sex therapist, and his wife Dr. Louise Anne Dimatto, doctor at the Canal Street Clinic, manages Dochas; Jamie Lingstrom from Ceremony in Death and Feeney’s God child; Trina, hair stylist.

Other characters frequently appear: Roarke’s family – dead father Patrick Michael Roarke, dead mother Siobahn Margaret Mary Brody, step-mother Meg; Eve’s family – dead father Richard Troy “Rick” and dead mother Stella; Siobhan’s family – father Colin Brody and mother Patricia Carney Brody or Alise Brody, son Eemon and his wife Reenie with a kid Cassie, brothers Edward “Ned” married to Mary Katherine with four children (Connor,?,?,?) and Fergus married to Meghan, Siobhan’s twin sister Sinead and her husband Robbie with three children, puppy named Mac, eldest son Seamus and their son Sean, Connor married to Maggie, kid Devin; Roarke’s staff – Caro and her daughter Reva Ewing, Yoshi Tokimoto in love with Reva, LaSalle, Ariel, Loreen; Larinda Mars, Channel 75’s reporter for Social Information; Wilson Buckley aka Crack, a street dealer and runs the Down and Dirty Club; Biff, a fabric expert; Dr. Engrave, leader in horticulture; Dr. Ambrose, at Midtown Rehabilitation Center; Dr. Ward, on the Olympus Resort; Spirit Quest owners – Isis Paige and Charles “Chas” Forte; Cassandra, a palmist; Kevin, an abused 6-yr child, along with his cat Dopey get adopted by Richard DeBlass and Elizabeth Barrister from Naked In Death (#1), he has a dog named Butch, they adopt Nixie Swisher in Survivor in Death (#20); Carmine, owner of Gametown; Ratso, a weasel; Rue McLean, manager at Purgatory; Milo Horndecker; Dr. Stiles, works for Allegany; Physician’s Assistant Spence; Moira O’Bannion, head crisis counsellor of Dochas; Dirk Hastings, an image artist / photographer; Brian Kelly, Roarke’s childhood friend; Quinton Post, a reporter; Sade Tully, receptionist at the law offices of Dave and Grant, mother in service still as City Beat Sergeant in Trenton; Tandy Willowby and Aaron Applebee, have a son names Quentin Dallas Applebee.

Off planet locations: Silas I; Silas Three; Taurus I – Alpha Colony; Taurus II; Taurus Three; Taurus Five; Refini; Arts Colony on Mars; Penal Station Omega; FreeStar One; Star 50; Stellar Five; Starlight Station; Eden Colony; Vegas II; Terra Colony; Olympus Resort, owned by Roarke, completed in Interlude in Death (#12.5); Regis III; Regis Six; NASA Two; Space Station Delta; Travis II; Attica Two; Station Utopia; Rembrandt Station; Alfa Six; Planet Disney; Optima II; Nexus Station; Rexal facility for Mental Defectives; Flora; Green One

Roarke’s gifts to Eve can be seen here.

Someone is stealing candy bars from Eve’s desk at Cop Central. Wonder who that is?

Will Summerset and Eve call truce to their animosity and get at least form a sort of bond enough to reduce their bickering?

Eve’s ongoing fight with Vending Machines continue. I don’t get why she has so much aversion to them and have no patience while they spew out benefits of the food of choice the user does. Same goes with her aversion to shopping. Never understood it.

Miranda rights are revised in this series. We don’t get to see the actual revision though.

From Immortal in Death #3: A new sect – Members of the Pure Sect – devotional and similar to monks.

From Conspiracy in Death #8:

Hans Vandervahen, one of the accused, is never caught at the end of the book.

Wilson McRae, an ex-detective with CPSD in Chicago, has a wife who is very pregnant with their second child, and a 5-yr old son, Will. Will he come back in future books?

From Judgement in Death #11: Max Edward Ricker, Roarke’s archenemy, vows revenge against Roarke and Eve. He is mentioned in Divided in Death (#18). He makes an appearance in Promises in Death (#28)

From Betrayal in Death #12:

Dominick J. Naples and his son Dominick II escape at the end of the book.

FBI Special Agent Karen Stowe mentions that she owes Eve a favor on account Eve handing her collar to him.

From Seduction in Death #13: Detective Matthew Renfrew from one-twenty-eight precinct has issues with Eve as she unravels of conspiracy and fraud at his station in Judgement in Death (#11).

From Reunion in Death #14: As fun joke, Roarke names their fictional kids as Carlos Junior, Robbie, Anna and Alice. If ever they have kids, does Robb have them naming any one of these?

From Portrait in Death #16: Patrick Roarke was killed by Summerset which Roarke was never aware of.

From Imitation in Death #17:

Eve muses about VR for pets and thinks Roarke might jump at that idea.

Marlene Cox, a survivor of a brutal attack by the serial killer, and her family could be part of a future book.

From Remember When (#17.25): Will the Gannons (Max, Laine, Samantha) show up in any of the future books?

From Divided in Death (#18): Eve and Roarke’s fathers knew each other when Eve was 8 and Roarke was perhaps 11 or 12 yrs old. In Portrait in Death (#16) it is revealed that Roarke was a whole year younger than what he was led to believe.

From Survivor in Death (#20): Several political reasons hinder Eve’s promotion as a Captain per Whitney in this book. However Eve is also not ready to ride a desk yet.

From Origin in Death (#21):

The fate of Avril Icove and her sisters, and Diana Rodriguez and her sisters is left open giving hope that they might surface again somewhere in the future.

In Portrait in Death (#16), Siobhan and Sinead’s mother was called Patricia Carney Brody, but in Fantasy in death (#30) she is called Alise Brody. Which is it?

From Born in Death (#23): Summerset gives his dead wife’s ring to Leonardo to put in on Mavis when they get married in the hospital. Will they give it back and she gets her own ring?

From Secrets in Death # 45:

Garnet has a daughter Miranda; shows interest in Morris.

Nadine is looking for an admin; Eve has someone in her mind. A past character surfaces perhaps!

From Strangers in Death (#26): Eve meets a kid named Tiko and meets his Granny in the process of dismantling a wrong business

From Indulgence in Death (#31)

Roarke invite Sinead and her brood to spend with them for Thanksgiving in NYC. Hope to see them in a future book?

Eve and Peabody joke about tracking a Lion through midtown. Will there be a book on this in future?

Detective Baxter recommends Officer Trueheart to become a detective in Homicide, a pretty fast tracker in Eve’s opinion.

Will Officer Carmicheal and Detective Carmichael change their last names, in a future book, as mused by Eve.