Book Review: Born in Death

So far this trip has been lovely as far as reading is concerned. I've read three and am well into a 4th book (though this latest is a bit of a slow start, so I may not devour it quite as quickly as the others -- more on it, however, once it's finished.)

Born in Death is the latest (in paperback) (I'm sad that I have to qualify that way, but there's already another one out in hardcover for this series, so I don't want you to get confused. But I'm now behind the times when it comes to these books because I'm too cheap thrifty to spend my money on hardback books.) of the "in Death" series by J.D. Robb a.k.a Nora Roberts. All the usual suspects make their appearance and Mavis is finally near the end of her term. How many books has she been pregnant through? Too many, in my mind, unless in the future our gestation periods swell to match those of an elephant. That minor annoyance aside (though probably more than a minor annoyance to dear Mavis), it's yet another wonderful installment in this series.

The in death books are one of very few formula series that I continue to enjoy over the long haul. And there are rarely any surprises to be had - they follow the same basic plot - but the characters are enjoyable and there are enough little quirks to keep you coming back. Unlike, for example, the Monk and Pitt series by Anne Perry. I loved those at the beginning, but as they dragged on, the characters stopped developing and, in fact, regressed into people that I had no interest in knowing about. Thus far Eve, Roarke, Mavis, Peabody, and McNab (and the others, though those are the typical major characters) continue to develop and retain interest.

Now for the bad. This book is the second book by Roberts that villifies adoption agencies and adoption in general, intentionally or not I can't say. (The other being a standalone, Birthright.) For me, if she can't manage to come up with anything positive to say about infant adoption, I wish she'd just leave it alone (she has made marginally positive statements about older child adoption in previous books - even in this series.) Perhaps it's just that it's a hot button topic for me, but infant adoption has such a bad reputation in our country already that it's annoying to me when influential people (and face it, she's an international bestseller - whether she likes it or not, the political and social statements she slides into her book make an impact, conscious or subconsciously) use their platforms thoughtlessly. The negative perspective of infant adoption painted by the media (news or otherwise) is responsible for young women who state clearly that they can't place for adoption because they'd rather the child was dead than in a home where they had no control. And women say this. And they mean it. And they then rush off and abort rather than giving the thousands of childless couples a chance to share their love with a child.

Sure, there are horror stories on both sides of the adoption fence, but they're the minority. They're not the norm. Sadly, the culture sensationalizes these horror stories and tries to make them the norm in everyone' s mind. And they've succeeded to a large degree. And Nora Roberts has chosen to perpetuate the problem. And that's a disservice to women, children, and families everywhere.

Other than that, the book was good. (And it is a relatively small part of the plot.) It's a light, fluffy, fast, formulaic read - perfect for mindless vacation reading. 3 stars out of 5.