Abandoned in Death

Today I was talking with some friends about how many books are too many in a series or world. Seeing as I was finishing this book, I felt it was particularly relevant. This is the 54th book about Lieutenant Eve Dallas, Roarke, and their cast of varied friends and co-workers. It was not too many. Robb continues to bring creative stories and wonderful character growth in each one.

This is a series of futuristic murder mysteries set in 2060s New York City with additional themes of love, friendship, and family.

Do you have to read all 54 for this story to make sense? Nope. They are all stand-alone books. However, I will say the relationship pieces and the story around the murder are more satisfying if you know the backstories and how all the characters relate to each other and have grown to where they are. I think that’s true for each book in the series.

Also, Eve and Roarke are #relationshipgoals. Seriously, the communication, the support, the love, and definitely, the frequent, mind-blowing sex is always something to aim for.

As for the mystery, in this one Robb mixes it up with a live victim in addition to the dead body to give the reader a new perspective. And as usual, unless she wants you to figure out who the bad guy is, you won’t until Eve does.

Book summary (per Goodreads):

Homicide detective Eve Dallas must untangle a twisted family history while a hostage’s life hangs in the balance—in the new In Death novel by #1 New York Times bestselling J. D. Robb.

The woman’s body was found on a bench in a New York City playground. She was clean, her hair neatly arranged, her makeup carefully applied. But other things were very wrong—like the tattoo and piercings, clearly new. The clothes, decades out of date. The fatal wound hidden beneath a ribbon around her neck. And the note: Bad Mommy, written in crayon as if by a child.

It seems clear the killer’s childhood was traumatic—a situation Eve is all too familiar with herself. Yet the clues point to a perpetrator who’d be around sixty, and there are no records of old crimes with a similar MO. What was the trigger that apparently reopened such an old wound and sent someone over the edge? When Eve learns that other young women have recently vanished, the case grows even more urgent—and to solve it she’ll need to find her way into a hidden place of dim light and concrete, into the distant past, and into the depths of a shattered mind.