FFB Review: Delusion in Death: In Death Series by J.D. Robb

Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD has seen a lot of bad things, but nothing at all like this as Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb begins. The scene in the bar, On the Rocks, in Manhattan Lower West Side is a bloodbath.

 

Literally.

 

There is blood everywhere and dead bodies, scattered everywhere with some top of others, as some sort of frenzied deal went on with very few survivors. In a matter of minutes, over 80 people died as they fought hand to hand and did everything they could to kill each other. Friends turned on friends, coworkers turned on each other, and the results are a nightmare for Dallas, Detective Peabody, and others that have to go inside the destroyed place and work a massive case of savage carnage.

 

Of course, Roarke owns the place, and that means he is involved. Was this aimed at Roarke? Was it terrorism aimed at the City? Was it something else?

 

With Roarke involved that also means that eventually Roarke’s butler, and everything, Summerset is involved. As longtime readers know, Dallas and Summerset, are like oil and water. They don’t mix well and have a grudging tolerance of each other with Roarke as their focus. But, in this case and as has happened before a couple of times, Summerset is a huge help because he has seen quite a few things in his many years.

 

Summerset has had a long and checkered life including experiences during the “Urban Wars.” A period where there was incredible strife, civil unrest, and terrorism as mankind did to each other as it always does-- kill on a large scale. Summerset knows of two very similar sounding incidents during that period. One was in South Kensington, an area of London. That was followed by another event in Rome a few weeks later.

 

The military and the politicians covered it all up and nobody knows who or what was behind it all. She asks Summerset to reach out to his old contacts and see if anybody, all these years later, might have an idea what is going on now. While Eve Dallas wonders if somebody is trying to resurrect the old terrorist group, Red Horse, or something else is happening, it isn’t long before the federal agency, Homeland, is involved. The race is on as Dallas and others chase an elusive suspect who won’t stop with just one demonstration.

 

A fast moving read, Delusion in Death, unspools a gripping read. All the usual caveats apply with the head hopping and such, but those quickly fall away as the author once again pulls the reader deep into a police procedural set in the future where people still kill for all the usual reasons. The tools of cops and killers are different, but humanity does what it does.

 

I also still want an auto-chef, Roarke’s library, and maybe my own Summerset.

 

My reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive App and the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023