Apprentice in Death. J. D. Robb

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: 6th September 2016
Format: Paperback
Pages: 375
Genre: Crime
Source: Thanks to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                           

The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice skating rink. There's a sniper loose on the streets of New York City, and Lieutenant Eve Dallas is about to face one of the toughest and most unsettling cases of her career.

Eve knows tha tonly a handfuul of people could have carried out such an audacious but professional hit. Even more disturbing: this expert in death has an accomplice. Someone is being trained in the science of killing - and they have a terrifying agenda of their own. With a city shaken to its core, Eve and her team are forced to hunt not one but two killers. Worse still - the talented young apprentice has developed an insatiable taste for murder....

In #43 of the In Death series we find Eve and her team dealing with a long range laser rifle murderer. The book opens with a chilling killing at a ice skating rink. Soon Eve is asking why, who was the target among those who are dead and where did the shots come from?  And knowing Eve we know she is going to hunt down the answers and the murderer. However will she do it before that laser rifle is used again?

The story is all the more chilling because of the shootings we have seen on our TV screens in our world of today. In this science fiction story there is a deadly killer at work. It turns out it is an apprentice, and Eve is thrown into thinking about her own teachers and those she has mentored. However there is good and bad in the world and there is choice. Some choose to learn to foster good and some are so twisted and evil. 

With ruthlessness and objectivity Eve follows up on every detail, ready to put her own body on the line when necessary. She has her usual team there for support - especially Peabody and Roarke. She sets traps, makes wily use of some of her friends... and of course she gets her target. In a way it is formulaic, but each time it is clever and entertaining as we watch Eve at work.

I enjoyed seeing Eve being really aware of how important friendships have become for her, and when some of them are put in a little jeopardy it cuts to her heart. I also loved how the development of her new office at home rounds out and the continuing love of Roarke.

A little light relief is provided by little one year old Bella who totally adores her birthday gift from Eve and Roarke and who shows even as a one year old the goodness that can abide in a heart, in contrast to the deadly killer. 

Ah yes, J. D. Robb does it again.