Review: Loyalty in Death

Loyalty in Death
J. D. Robb
Romantic Suspense
In Death/Book 10
Penguin/October 1999
Purchased

*Spoilers*

From Goodreads ~

In 21st-century New York City, tough-as-nails cop Eve Dallas can survive a bombing, seduce her husband, and outsmart a terrorist--all on four hours of sleep. In this latest installment of the In Death series, author J.D. Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts) casts our heroine against an enigmatic group of terrorists named Cassandra. With no clear motivation or demands, Cassandra feeds on the thrill of senseless killing and the calculated destruction of Eve's world.

Relying on her own brawn and brains, as well as that of her aid Peabody and her husband Roarke, Eve begins to unravel a mystery that began decades before. When the killer's threats land close to home, Eve knows she has no choice but to gamble her own life for the chance to save her city as well as her loved ones.


I'm jumping around on my In Death reading, or re-reading as is the case. I also realized that I can use the In Death books as my re-reads, when I don't have time to do both, as was the case this month. :) I don't remember why I picked Loyalty, maybe, subconsciously because 9/11 is fast approaching? I'm not sure, it isn't one of my favorites but it had some memorable moments as well as some over-the-top ones too.

The creepy terrorist group known as "Cassandra" is taunting Eve with their threats against the citizens of New York City. They are threatening to set off bombs if their demands are not met. Dallas and Peabody also have a bizarre homicide to deal with. They know who the murderer is, who the victim is and how he was killed. It's the how he was killed that makes it bizarre. Dallas and Peabody have see a lot of deaths but death by power tools isn't all that common.

So there's the bomber and the murder and somehow they're linked. I liked the overall plot of the story. The tension was high when the teams were trying to figure out what the next likely target of the bomber would be. Race against time and all of that. Roarke, of course, was involved. He's not only good with B & E but also with defusing bombs. Who knew? He's a real jack of all trades that Roarke!

I wasn't crazy about the antagonists - the evil terrorists group. The recordings that were sent to Dallas came off a bit too formulaic. Anyway, I liked the drama surrounding the threat but felt the actual villains came off as nothing new.

Peabody's younger brother Zeke shows up and well, I wasn't impressed. He's nice and sweet and just too nice and too sweet and way too naive to be believable. And speaking of Peabody, this is the point where her relationship with McNab finally comes to a head and they quit the can't-stand-ya dance and start the I-can't-keep-my-hands-off-you dance. Much to Dallas' disgust. LOL

Eve and Roarke are still fairly early in their marriage so the strong feelings they have for each other are still new. They're learning how much and how far to push each other and not always pulling back when they should. It's interesting to see two very strong, powerful characters learning to trust enough to let someone else take the lead.

So, not my favorite in the series but it does have some character development between Roarke and Eve along with the turn in the relationship development with Peabody and McNab.

Rating: B