Kindred in Death ~ J.D. Robb

What follows is a not-quite-a-review review. Because, dude, this is the 29th book in this series. What more can you say?

From the book jacket…

When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena’s body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate.

When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.

Hard to believe, but Kindred in Death is indeed the 29th book in Robb’s/Robert’s In Death series. It’s a remarkable run, really, made even moreso by the fact that I’ve loved each and every release, and that I continue to crave more. The last book, Promises in Death, was an emotional wringer and an installment I loved due to M.E. Morris’s increased involvement in the storyline. So I was going into this one with high expectations for a solid follow-up. I wasn’t quite prepared, however, for the fact that it would hit rather close to home.

“The loss of a child goes deeper than any,” he said. “It doesn’t pass the way other losses may. However the loss came, a parent looks inward. What could I have done, what didn’t I do?”

Last month I lost my brother, the one closest to me in age, the one I was closest to, and I see my mother working through these questions every day. Imagine my surprise then when I’m hip deep in one of the series that I consider an escapist pleasure and all of a sudden I see it mirroring, in a way, something happening very close to home. I guess it made the reading a little bittersweet…any time MacMasters or his wife began to talk about a future without their daughter in it, any time lines read like the ones above.

But moving back to the story.

That the crime involved a cop’s daughter certainly made things tense for Eve and her team, and she took a few knocks in this one that she won’t forget any time soon. But this one also hit at her because of the nature of the crime, bringing back memories from her own childhood, and the abuse she suffered. Roarke, ah, Roarke, was there as always to help her put the pieces back in place after they’d come loose from the work.

Kindred in Death is typical of what we’ve come to expect from this series. I, for one, know this is one formula I will never tire of.