Vendetta in Death by J. D. Robb

SYNOPSIS

The predator becomes the prey in the newest thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring homicide detective Eve Dallas.

She calls herself Lady Justice. And once she has chosen a man as her target, she turns herself into a tall blonde or a curvaceous redhead, makes herself as alluring and seductive as possible to them. Once they are in her grasp, they are powerless.

The first victim is wealthy businessman Nigel McEnroy. His company’s human resources department has already paid out settlements to a couple of his young victims—but they don’t know that his crimes go far beyond workplace harassment. Lady Justice knows. And in one shocking night of brutality, she makes him pay a much steeper price.

Now Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, are combing through the evidence of McEnroy’s secret life. His compulsive need to record his misdeeds provides them with a wide range of suspects, but the true identity of Lady Justice remains elusive. It’s a challenging case, made even more difficult by McEnroy’s widow, who reacts to the investigation with fury, denial, and threats.

​Meanwhile, Lady Justice’s criminal crusade is escalating rapidly, and if Eve can’t stop this vigilante, there’s no telling how much blood may be spilled… 

Synopsis from Goodreads

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PERSONAL REVIEW

So even though I’m not a fan of Mystery as a genre, I LOVE J.D. Robb’s In Death series! Obviously I found out about it because I love Nora Roberts, but the characters are the reason I can’t get enough of these books. With Vendetta in Death as the newest addition to the series, it was interesting to see how characters are changing after 40+ books.

Eve’s Growth is Wonderful
Early in the series, a case like this would’ve given Eve nightmares and probably caused a massive fight between her and Roarke. Now, it’s something that she can face head-on and literally get angry in her dreams at the killer instead of making herself sick. What I appreciated about this is that Eve is finally able to take care of herself and stay healthy while still kicking ass. I also LOVED seeing her with Bella! For the woman who was terrified of babies and children, I love reading about how she’s becoming much more comfortable in her role as Bella’s aunt.

Acknowledging Roarke and Their Relationship
I thought it was such a beautiful moment when Eve tells Roarke that she can’t believe she ever got upset that he would try to take of her or butt into her cases. I sincerely loved the acknowledgment of how important he is in her life. There are multiple moments in the story where they both seriously admit how much they love and respect each other and I loved it because it’s amazing to see how far they’ve come. While their fights in the first 15 books were epic (as was the makeup), I’m glad we’re seeing their relationship mature because it would feel static (and false) otherwise.

Missing Time with Secondary Characters
This might sound odd, but I actually remember each book in the series by the relationships or fights that happen over the murder case itself. Which is probably why I was disappointed that although Mavis has some big news, there really isn’t much time spent with some of my favourite secondary characters in this book. I love with Robb includes a party or event in the story because we’re given a glimpse of what characters like Mavis, Nadine, Feeney, the Mira’s, the detectives in the Homicide Unit, etc are all up too and without those forced interactions, the book doesn’t really connect with most of these people. I always enjoy seeing Eve’s personal relationships with other characters develop and we don’t really get that this time.

Overall, I thought this was a great addition to the In Death series! I thought the mystery and investigation was fairly interesting and I loved seeing Eve and Roarke, even if there wasn’t as much growth in other characters. If you’re a fan of the rest of the In Death series, I think you’ll be happy with this book as well!

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FINAL RATING: 3.5/5