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

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Description:
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…

Review:

Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb is the 49^th book in her wonderful In Death series.  I am a huge fan of this series, with our fantastic heroine Eve Dallas, and her awesome sexy husband, Roarke.  Forty Nine books later, not to mention novellas, I still cannot get enough of Eve and Roarke.

Vendetta in Death was an intense and exciting story, with a violent murderer called Lady Justice.  Eve is dispatched to the scene of a horribly mutilated body, and from there, she, Roarke and Peabody become enmeshed into a case that is not only violent, but also emotional, as the victims are not nice men.

The first victim, Nigel McEnroy was a wealthy respected businessman, who was devoted to his family; but behind the scenes he was a dark and evil man, who preyed on women, either women he hired for his company, or those he picked up in bars. Nigel would drug the women, and rape them, then he would blackmail them to keep it quiet.  The second victim left his wife for a younger woman, and stole the business from under her.  The third victim brutally beat his wife into submission, and though now divorced, she still felt threatened by him.  Most of these women belong to a private support group that enabled them to share amongst themselves their stories and get past the trauma they suffered.  Lady Justice was part of this group, taking it upon herself to secretly take vengeance against the men who tortured these women, by torturing, mutilating and murdering them.

Eve and Peabody begin their investigation by finding the names of the women in the support group, and to interview all of them.  Half way through, we can guess who the murderer is, but Eve needs to find proof, and time is of essence as now there are three murders, and another one may be near.  What follows is an exciting, intense and thrilling story line that will keep us glued to our seats, unable to put the book down.  It many ways this was a different type of story, with the evil men deserving justice, but not at this horribly violent manner.  Eve having spent many years coming to terms with her abusive childhood, does not allow herself to be sympathetic, despite the evil men. Eve always stands for the dead; she is determined to stop this murderer.

Again, I have to say I just love the relationship between Eve and Roarke, and in this book it was even better; they are so great together, with their love and banter…… the best literary couple ever.  I also love Peabody, who has come a long way to not only be the perfect partner, but also stepping up more.  It is always great to spend time with the fabulous recurring secondary characters in this series; Peabody, Nadine, Mavis, McNab, Baxter, Feeney, Trueheart and Morris.

Vendetta in Death was very exciting, emotional, as well as tense and even dark, but it was a fantastic read.  From start to finish, there was never a dull moment.  J.D. Robb once again gives us a fantastic addition to this wonderful series, which I hope keeps on rolling for many years to come.  This was so well written by Robb, and if you have not started this series…..What are you waiting for?

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher