Look, I have a bone to pick with J.D. Robb. You don't dangle a locked-room mystery on a ferry — a woman vanishes between two decks with no way off the boat — and then wrap it up in three and a half hours. That's not a meal, that's an appetizer. And I was hungry.
I knocked this one out on a Saturday afternoon while cleaning my Beretta at the kitchen table. Linda was out, Ranger was sprawled across my feet, and I figured a quick Eve Dallas novella would be the right background for some mindless maintenance. Turns out it demanded a bit more attention than I expected, which is either a compliment to the writing or a criticism of the length — probably both.
A Locked Room on Open Water
The setup is genuinely clever. A woman disappears on a New York City ferry in Robb's near-future setting. She didn't jump. She's not hiding. The passenger manifest says she boarded. So where is she? That's a hell of a hook, and for the first hour or so, Eve Dallas is doing what she does best — being abrasive, brilliant, and methodical while everyone around her tries to keep up. The futuristic forensic tech gets deployed without the usual lengthy world-building because, well, this is deep into the In Death series and Robb assumes you know the drill. Fair enough.
But here's the problem with a novella in a universe this established: you get the investigation without much of the connective tissue that makes these characters worth caring about. Roarke shows up, does his charming billionaire-husband thing, but their dynamic — which is honestly the engine of this series — barely gets warmed up before the credits roll. Peabody gets a few moments. McNab barely registers. It's like showing up to a reunion and only getting to shake three hands before someone pushes you out the door.
Ericksen Carries the Weight
Susan Ericksen has been voicing Eve Dallas for what feels like forever, and it shows — in the best way. She's got Eve's clipped, impatient cadence locked in so tight that you can practically hear the eye rolls. When Eve snaps at a ferry security officer who's more worried about PR than a missing person, Ericksen delivers it with this flat, barely-controlled irritation that reminded me of every competent NCO I ever served with who had to deal with incompetent leadership. That specific energy is hard to fake.
Her Roarke is smooth without being cartoonish — there's an Irish undercurrent that she doesn't oversell. And she shifts between Eve's internal monologue and her spoken dialogue with enough distinction that you always know whether Dallas is thinking it or saying it. That matters more than people realize in a first-person-adjacent police procedural.
At 3 hours 28 minutes, Ericksen doesn't have much room to stretch, but she doesn't waste a second either. No dead air, no over-dramatic pauses. She runs this like a tight briefing.
The Three-Hour Problem
Here's where it lost me. The resolution comes fast — too fast. The mystery itself has a sci-fi angle that fits the In Death universe, but it needed another hour to breathe. The villain's motivation gets explained rather than revealed, which is the difference between a good thriller and a decent summary of one. Silkworm gets that distinction exactly right — Galbraith earns the reveal, lets it land with full weight, and you feel it in your chest. I've seen this scenario play out in real life (not the sci-fi parts, obviously) — investigations that look impossible until one piece clicks and the whole thing collapses. That moment of collapse should feel earned. Here it felt... efficient. Which is fine for a field report but not great for storytelling.
If you're already deep into the In Death series, this is a perfectly serviceable between-novels snack. If this is your first Eve Dallas, don't start here. You'll get the mechanics but miss the soul. Purity in Death is the kind of entry that shows what this series looks like when the length matches the ambition — that one has meat on the bones.
Who's This For?
In Death completists — you're going to listen regardless, and you'll enjoy it. It's Eve being Eve. New listeners should start with Naked in Death and work forward. If you're looking for a quick mystery for a short road trip or an afternoon of gun cleaning, this fits the bill. But don't spend a full credit on it. At under four hours, this is a library borrow or a subscription stream, not a purchase.
Mission Brief
Worth your time? Here's the debrief: solid narrator, clever premise, frustratingly short execution. Ericksen is the MVP. The story needed another act. Ranger fell asleep during this one, but to be fair, he'd already had a long walk. I'll give it credit for not wasting my time with bad tactical details or sloppy procedural work — Robb knows her stuff on the investigative side. But I wanted more, and "wanting more" from a novella isn't always a compliment. Sometimes it just means the story wasn't finished.
