KINDRED IN DEATH
J. D. Robb
Putnam Adult
Thriller
ISBN: 9780399155956
J. D. Robb’s In Death series featuring Eve Dallas continues to work incredibly well. The novels are set in the mid-21st century, primarily in a Manhattan that is comfortably familiar with just enough futuristic tinges to keep it exotic.
Dallas is a New York Police and Security Department (NYPSD for short) homicide lieutenant who is not personally likable but is professionally admirable. She is married to a charming and enigmatic character named Roarke, an Irishman with a dubious background who has gone “legitimate.” Roarke is fabulously wealthy, and his resources extend far beyond the monetary. Given that he absolutely adores his wife, he is quick to extend himself into her investigations when some red tape gets in the way of her ability to obtain information. He is also willing to extend himself in other ways as well, resulting in a lively balanced mix of the mysterious and the erotic. With KINDRED IN DEATH, the 29th installment in the series, Robb combines a chilling murder, a diabolical killer and a fascinating investigation to create a work that sets another new benchmark for herself and her protagonist
Dallas, who is not really into the warm and fuzzy, is preparing to stand as Matron of Honor at the wedding of her friend Louise, just as she begins to enjoy an idyllic (and rare) off-duty holiday weekend with Roarke. But her attention from both matters is suddenly diverted when an unspeakable murder hits close to her professional home. Jonah MacMasters, a veteran New York police lieutenant, has been newly promoted to the rank of captain and celebrates the occasion with a weekend trip with his wife. They return home to discover that Deanna, their 16-year-old daughter, has been brutally raped and murdered in her own bedroom. They are devastated, all the more so because they believed Deanna would be perfectly safe with their state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment in place. MacMasters specifically asks that Dallas head up the investigation, which she accepts and undertakes with a single-minded vengeance.
The only evidence that the killer has left behind is a deliberate, cruel taunt to MacMasters, which makes it clear that the murder was a carefully calculated and premeditated act of revenge against him, using his only daughter as an instrument. This small bit of carelessness begins a search into MacMasters’s past cases and Deanna’s activities. Using her own resources, Roarke’s all-pervasive influence, and a combination of futuristic technology and timeless, dogged police work, Dallas gradually unearths the perpetrator, a genius with the seeming ability to change his identity and appearance at will as he strikes again and again.
Longtime fans of J. D. Robb and Eve Dallas will once again find much to love here. Roarke’s ability to provide professional and personal succor to his wife, while managing a network of business interests, presents him as a benevolently omnipotent and riveting character who often steals the spotlight from Dallas. But it is Dallas’s tenacious pursuit of the shadowy murderer and the combination of past and future investigative techniques that make KINDRED IN DEATH a memorable installment in this long-running and worthwhile series.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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