Echoes in Death. J. D. Robb

Published:  Hachette NZ
Date: February 7th 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages:371
Genre: Suspense
Source:Thank you to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                   

New York at night. A young woman stumbles out on to a busy street - right in front of Lieutenant Eve Dallas and husband Roarke. Her name is Daphne Strazza, and she has been brutally assaulted. Confused and traumatised, she manages to tell them one thing. Her attacker wore a devil's mask.

As Eve investigates this shocking case, she soon discovers a disturbing pattern. Someone is preying on wealthy couples, subjecting them to a cruel and terrifying ordeal. Worse still, the attacks are escalating in violence and depraved theatricality. Eve and her team are now in a race against time to find the man behind the mask - before he strikes again. But for Eve, this case in particular has unsettling echoes of her own troubled past...

Echoes in Death is #44 in the series. It seems an awful lot but every book is excellent as we watch Eve Dallas, Roarke and Eve's team go in to bat for those who have been murdered.

Every story is different, yet there is often a very egotistical killer, and this one has an ego the size of a city. Yet he in the end is no match for Eve as she carefully builds the details to bring him down. The young woman Eve and Roarke find  - Daphne - awakens in Eve memories of her own experiences and it seems to me that she is learning to deal and move on. She has the love of Roarke, her main support. And of course she is a strong woman. However her past experience helps her walk in the shoes of Daphne and understand her like no other cop would be able to.  

There is the usual banter between friends, the fun of the others on the team seeing Eve's new work space at home and Eve's own enjoyment of it. Somerset is a little in the background this time but he's there and so is the cat, another little bulwark for Eve.

The murders are different to any others J. D. Robb has come up with, she has an amazing ability to set up a murderer and his motives, reveal his warped mind and then unravel them all through Eve. This murderer like all the other ones really, is very very unlikeable. There is a little twist at the end, I should have seen it coming but I didn't and loved how that was dealt with.

Peabody and Eve continue to work as a team and there are little indications that Peabody is growing more and more in stature and Eve is the best of leaders and teachers. She gives to Peabody before Peabody even realises she is taking a new step. 

Verdict: Thoroughly great yarn.