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.

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.

Brotherhood in Death. J. D. Robb

Brotherhood in Death
J.D.Robb
Published: Piatkus/Hachette NZ
Date: 9th February 2016
Format: Paperback
Pages: 388
Genre: Crime
Source: Thank you to Hachette NZ

Dennis Mira just had two unpleasant surprises. First he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather’s magnificent West Village brownstone, despite the promise they both made to keep it in the family. Then, when he went to the house to confront Edward about it, he got a blunt object to the back of the head.

Luckily Dennis is married to Charlotte Mira, the NYPSD’s top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. When the two arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody. When he came to, his cousin was gone. With the mess cleaned up and the security disks removed, there’s nothing left behind but a few traces for forensics to analyze.

Brotherhood in Death is #42 in the In Death series. You'd think it would be slightly jaded by now, but no way! As always with this series, Brotherhood in Death entertains and enthralls and at times managed to totally disgust me! Brotherhood has such friendly connotations, but it turns out in this case, it is totally chilling. Now I know that in this world of Dallas and company, the word used to mark something totally great is 'iced' or 'frosty'. Nope this book is chilling in a whole different sense.

Eve has a special affection for Dennis Mira. Who among us who reads this series with fanaticism doesn't? This absent minded, gentle and loving husband of  Dr. Mira (whom we love too), the guy who generally has his cardigan buttons mismatched - is to the centre left of this drama. He might be a little absent minded but his mind is sharp where it matters, so is his eye and heart. So it is with dismay that we learn that all this has not rubbed off on his cousin Edward, who is something of a totally different ilk.

Eve goes to work when  Edward Mira goes missing. And when she finds him - well not a pretty picture. As she delves deeper into the case she finds some very unpalatable facts. With her trusty team - and of course that includes Roarke she begins the long mission to investigate and of course solve the case. As so often happens it connects into some of her personal history and leaves her somewhat shattered at times. 

I am not going to expand on the plot any further, as always the best part is following along one step at a time with Eve and Peabody and the team. The crime is abhorrent and the supposed justice meted out equally so. Yikes I think, why do I read this?

It's because of the relationships, the next step for Trueheart, the dialogue between the likes of Eve and Peabody. The fear Eve has of change or the mention that Peabody and McNabb might engage in sex. There is humour, there is healing, there is friendship and love. The Miras and Eve and Roarke such loving couples. There is Eve standing for those who can't. Look - I know this is a long series, I own I sneaked up about ten in the series to read this one, but I will go back and catch up, I have it planned!

And by the way if you have never listened to any of this series on audiobook, then you must. I have listened to some and I hear the voices in my head as I read.

About The Author:

Nora Roberts published her first novel using the pseudonym J. D. Robb in 1995, introducing to readers the tough as nails but emotionally damaged homicide cop Eve Dallas and billionaire Irish rogue, Roarke. With the In Death series, Robb has become one of the biggest thriller writers on earth, with each new novel reaching number one on bestseller charts the world over.