Golden in Death (In Death, #50) by J.D. Robb Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: hardcover, large print, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: mystery, romantic suspense, suspense
Series: In Death #50
Pages: 400
Published by St. Martin's Press on February 4, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads
In the latest thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, homicide detective Eve Dallas investigates a murder with a mysterious motive―and a terrifying weapon.
Pediatrician Kent Abner received the package on a beautiful April morning. Inside was a cheap trinket, a golden egg that could be opened into two halves. When he pried it apart, highly toxic airborne fumes entered his body―and killed him.
After Eve Dallas calls the hazmat team―and undergoes testing to reassure both her and her husband that she hasn’t been exposed―it’s time to look into Dr. Abner’s past and relationships. Not every victim Eve encounters is an angel, but it seems that Abner came pretty close―though he did ruffle some feathers over the years by taking stands for the weak and defenseless. While the lab tries to identify the deadly toxin, Eve hunts for the sender. But when someone else dies in the same grisly manner, it becomes clear that she’s dealing with either a madman―or someone who has a hidden and elusive connection to both victims.
My Review:
I wanted to read about someone righteously kicking ass and taking names. And that is absolutely what I got. And it was awesome.
Golden in Death was also a bit of a welcome throwback to earlier books in the series. While there is, as always, plenty of romantic action between Eve and Roarke, the focus in this OMG 50th book in the series was on the murder and the hunt for the murderer.
So, this is a compelling narrative about an experienced detective and her kick-ass team of cops and technicians on the trail of an inventive but cold-blooded killer, with an appropriately righteous takedown at the end.
In the fairy tale, the goose is supposed to lay the golden eggs – not commit murder with them. But that’s just what happens in this convoluted case that starts with the murders of seemingly unrelated people in the present, but hearkens back to a past that someone has never forgotten – or let go of.
This is also a case about privilege, the privilege of being rich, young, white and indulged at every turn. It’s about feeling the entitlement of revenge against anyone and everyone who interfered with that privilege and that entitlement, no matter how long ago. And it’s about believing that the rules don’t apply to you – because that’s what your privilege has encouraged you to believe.
It’s also about running your privilege straight into the sights of Eve Dallas and the Homicide Division of the NYPSD. Because once that entitlement led to murder, all of the victims were hers to stand for – until she made sure that the perpetrator marched into a cage.
Righteously – just as it should be. That she gets to serve that justice with extreme prejudice is fantastic icing on a very tasty book, and case, and cake.
Escape Rating A-: I’ve often said that I read this series just to visit with all my friends, the found family that has come to surround Eve and Roarke. This particular entry in the series also reminded me that one of the things I love about this series is that it is basically “competence porn”, which I also enjoy very much.
By “competence porn” I mean that everyone involved on the side of the angels – or at least on the side of the NYPSD, are the best of the best at their jobs. Even the ones like Chief Tech Dickie Berenski (almost always referred to as “Dickhead”), who may have horrible personalities but are fantastic at their jobs, no matter how much they complain about said jobs or how much they have to be bribed to do those jobs expeditiously.
I also read the series for Galahad, Eve and Roarke’s very large and extremely spoiled cat. Even in the future, cats are still cats, and Galahad is a perfect example of that.
But the emphasis on the case in this one, and that the case does not in any way tie back to any of the many, many traumas in either Eve’s or Roarke’s pasts made this entry a nostalgic cut above many recent books in the series.
The murderer is suitably deadly, slimy and smart but not quite smart enough. The dialog between Eve and her motley crew zips and zings along, provoking a frequent chuckle and an occasional outright laugh – just as it should. And the scene where Eve and Peabody confront that formerly smirking murderer in the interview box was perfect and deserved and perfectly deserved.
Job well done. Case closed. And I have Shadows in Death (sounding creepy and ominous) to look forward to in September.
I look forward to every new episode of this series – I’ve also been re-reading the series.
But, oh, I was struggling so with that closing interview. What was UP with the dual spellings of the attorney’s name and the random back and forth between them? I was so thrown by that, that I kept losing the thread of the plot through there. It’s so frustrating when a book is this badly proofread. Like the early book where Morris is called Morse throughout and it’s shortly after the one featuring a Morse as a character. Like nails on a chalkboard.