Random in Death by J.D. Robb – a Review

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Description:
Jenna’s parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It’s the best night of her life.
It’s the last night of her life.

Minutes later, Jake’s in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle—and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

After everyone on the scene is interviewed, lab results show a toxic mix of substances in the victim’s body—and for an extra touch of viciousness, the needle was teeming with infectious agents. Dallas searches for a pattern: Had any boys been harassing Jenna? Was she engaging in risky behavior or caught up in something shady? But there are no obvious clues why this levelheaded sixteen-year-old, passionate about her music, would be targeted.

And that worries Dallas. Because if Jenna wasn’t targeted, if she was just the random, unlucky victim of a madman consumed by hatred, there are likely more deaths to come.

Review:

Random in Death by J.D. Robb is the 58^th book in her fantastic In Death/Eve Dallas series. As I have noted previous times, I am a huge fan of this wonderful series, having read every book and novellas. I also love Eve and Roarke, who I still consider the best literary couple. Random in Death was another fantastic addition to this series.  I will never have enough of this series, and marvel how Robb continues to give us fascinating stories at 58 books later.

The story starts off with Eve and Roarke enjoying a quite evening at home, when she receives a call to a scene of a murder at a music concert. Sixteen- year-old, Jenna Harbough was at the concert with friends, enjoying her favorite band, when she feels being stabbed on her arm. Within minutes, she begins to feel sick, and stumbles out side and dies; as she was injected with a vicious cocktail of a various combination of deadly drugs. Jake Kincaide, lead singer to the band and Nadine’s boyfriend, tries to revive her to no avail; it is Nadine who calls Eve to hurry to the scene. After interviewing everyone at scene, the lab results show a toxic mix of substances in the victim’s body with the needle having major infectious agents.

The following day, at a different venue, another teenager is injected with a syringe needle, highly infected and she too dies. Eve and Peabody, as well as Roarke are scrambling to find the killer before another young girl is murdered. Slowly, Eve tries to put the pieces together to reveal possible perpetrator, especially after a third girl was injected, but she survived, as her extra jacket limited the injection; and she was saved, with her and her friends giving some idea what the person looked like and what they wore.

With Eve in full control of the case, she and Peabody do everything to identify the real killer. With the team helping out, they needed to explore the dark mind of a young teenager, who was a psychopath, who hated girls who ignored him. When they get closer, they rush to find the killer, who is now after a  4^th girl.  Will they save her?

I have to say I love Eve and Peabody together, and I also love when Roarke goes with her on some interviews. I always enjoy spending time with the many recurring characters, such as Peabody, Nadine, McNab, Mira, Mavis, Feeney, Reo, Summerset, Galahad, Charles and Louise.

What follows is an intense, exciting, non-stop action filled race to find out who the real killer was; with edge of your seat suspense. To say too much more would be spoilers, and this is too great of a story to ruin it for you. 

Random in Death was a compelling, captivating, horrifying thriller from start to finish. J.D. Robb once again gives us another masterpiece to this wonderful series, which I hope keeps on rolling for many years to come. Random in Death is another masterpiece to this amazing series, which is always so very well written by J.D. Robb.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher