Friday, April 15, 2022

FFB Review: Judgment in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb


It is spring in 2259 and while technology is advanced and the weapon of choice is often very different, murder still happens on a fairly frequent basis. It is what keeps NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas in business and she is very much in business as Judgment in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries begins. The brutal and messy scene underneath her feet and before her in club “Purgatory” is going to be the first body in a violent and far-reaching case that is going to keep her very busy in the days to come.

 

Purgatory is trashed, but her focus is on the murder victim very much dead behind the bar. It is clear he has many broken bones and has suffered major trauma to his head and body. He was probably beaten before and after death with the nearby metal bat. It isn’t until she rolls the body that Lieutenant Dallas discovers that the deceased was a cop.

 

Detective Taj Kohli, assigned to the 128 and on the drug squad, was 37, married, and had two kids. Dallas and her assistant, Peabody, have no idea if he was working undercover or a second job. They also don’t know what happened as somebody has taken time to remove all of the security discs from the club. For Dallas, at least the owner will help a bit as her  husband, Roarke, owns the place as had happened before with various books and crime scenes.  The downside to his owning damn near everything on and off world means that once again he will be inserting himself into one of her cases. 


That need to be involved in everything she does when it touches his business world is often a good thing as he has resources to help and does not much care about the loyalties involved in doing so.  His help is certainly needed here as Detective Taj Kohli is not going to be the last officer to die as she works the increasingly complicated case.


The 11th book in the series is another good one in this long running series. While Judgment in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries suffers from the same issues as previous books in the series, --mainly the abrupt head hopping POV shifts in a paragraph--- it also spins an interesting and often very violent tale. This read is one of the more graphic ones, beyond the normal intimate relationship stuff that goes on between various characters in the series. Overall, these books are a lot of fun and keeps the reader turning the pages even if, at times, one winces at how unartfully the story is constructed. 

 

 

The series to this point and my reviews:

Naked in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 1) March 2021

Glory in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 2) April 2021

Immortal in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 3) May 2021

Rapture in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 4) June 2021

Ceremony in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 5) July 2021

Vengeance in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 6) September 2021

Holiday in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 7) October 2021

Conspiracy in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 8) October 2021

Loyalty in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 9)

Witness in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 10) March 2022

 

 


My reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System through the Overdrive/Libby app.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

 

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