Three hours. That's it. I knocked this out waiting for a client meeting that got pushed twice, sitting in a parking garage in downtown Austin with Ranger snoring in the back seat. And honestly? For a three-hour novella that asks me to believe hard-nosed homicide detective Eve Dallas gets possessed by a dead Romanian grandmother, it worked way better than it had any right to.
Let me cut to the chase: this is a snack, not a meal. If you're expecting a full In Death experience - the layered investigation, the slow build of evidence, the procedural grind - you're going to feel shortchanged. But as a weird little side mission in the series? It's entertaining enough.
When Eve Dallas Starts Speaking Russian, You Just Roll With It
Here's what surprised me. J.D. Robb - and yeah, we all know that's Nora Roberts wearing her sci-fi crime hat - actually commits to the possession premise instead of half-assing it. Eve doesn't just get "feelings" about the case. She's suddenly fluent in Russian. She's seeing through dead eyes. A peacock feather tattoo appears on her ankle like some kind of supernatural GPS marker. It's bizarre for this series, and I kept waiting for it to annoy me the way bad plot devices usually do.
But it didn't. Mostly because Robb keeps Eve's personality intact underneath all the supernatural static. She's still pissed off, still methodical, still fundamentally Eve. The possession doesn't turn her into someone else - it just gives her tools she didn't ask for and doesn't want. That felt honest to me. I've known plenty of people handed capabilities they never requested. You don't suddenly become a different person. You just get more irritated.
The actual crime - eight young women vanishing after attending the same dance classes - is straightforward. Almost too straightforward. With only three hours of runway, there's no room for the kind of false leads and misdirection that make the full-length In Death novels satisfying puzzles. You pretty much know where this is going by the halfway mark. The question isn't whodunit so much as how fast can Eve get there before the ghost in her head drives her completely crazy. That compressed, foregone-conclusion feeling reminded me of Tell Me Lies — another one where the destination is visible from a long way out, and the whole thing lives or dies on execution rather than surprise.
Ericksen Carries This Thing on Her Back
Susan Ericksen is the reason this novella punches above its weight class. I've listened to her across multiple entries in this series, and the woman has Eve Dallas locked in. But what impressed me here was the shift - the moments when the old Romanian woman's presence bleeds through Eve's voice. Ericksen doesn't go full exorcist with it. It's subtle. A slight change in cadence, a heaviness that wasn't there before. You can hear two people occupying the same space without it turning into a cartoon.
Her Roarke is solid as always - that Irish edge that reminds you he's basically a reformed criminal who happens to be a billionaire. And Peabody gets her usual treatment, which is fine. But this is Eve's show, and Ericksen handles the dual-consciousness thing with the kind of control that justifies those Audie and Earphones Awards sitting on her shelf.
No production gimmicks here. No sound effects, no music. Just Ericksen and the story. For something this short, that's the right call.
The Three-Hour Problem
Here's where it lost me a bit. At three hours, this novella can't do what the In Death series does best - make you live inside Eve's world, feel the weight of the investigation, earn the resolution. The possession concept is actually interesting enough to sustain a full novel. Instead, it feels compressed. The eight missing women deserve more than what amounts to a speed run through their disappearances. The villain, when revealed, is almost an afterthought.
And look, I get it. This is a .5 entry in the series - a bridge between novels, a bonus for the faithful. It's not trying to be "Ceremony in Death" or one of the heavy hitters. But that's exactly why your expectations need calibrating before you hit play.
Who's This Mission For?
If you're already deep in the In Death series, this is a quick detour worth taking. Don't expect it to be your favorite - it won't be. But Ericksen's performance elevates material that could've been forgettable, and the possession angle is at least something different.
If you've never read a single In Death book? Do not start here. You'll be lost, you won't care about these characters the way you need to, and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.
Worth your time? Here's the debrief: it's a solid three-hour listen that doesn't waste your time but doesn't blow your doors off either. I listened at 1.25x, it flowed fine, and Ranger slept through the whole thing - which for him actually means approval, because he gets restless when narrators bore him.
Mission accomplished, but it was a recon patrol, not a full engagement.
