Crime

Book 15 in the In Death series, PURITY IN DEATH by J. D. Robb, is another stellar murder mystery. Better yet, we see several relationships evolve and get to ponder several morality questions that cause tension between Roarke and Eve.

I'm always impressed by how well Ms. Robb balances developing her characters while progressing the story. In PURITY IN DEATH, she uses a mysterious group enacting vigilante justice to force Eve and Roarke to discuss deeply held beliefs that oppose one another. Unlike in previous installments where the couple would argue and fume at the other's stubbornness, they show real emotional growth and relationship maturity. Sure, they still argue. They wouldn't be a couple if they didn't have arguments. Still, it was nice to see them come together to discuss their different viewpoints and to have them listen to each other.

Even better, we get to see both their reactions to Mavis' news, which seriously was the highlight of the entire story. In a novel that includes serious discussions of who gets to determine guilt and whether vigilante justice has any place in a lawful society, Eve and Roarke's reactions to Mavis' news provide a much-needed comic moment.

Ms. Robb and her In Death series continue to fascinate and entertain me. The crimes Eve must solve are always engaging and difficult to guess in advance. The growth of Eve and Roarke's relationship is just icing on the cake. ( )

This episode of the In Death series highlights a difference between Eve and Roarke that they are going to have to adjust to. Eve's black and white view of the law versus Roarke's moral flexibility causes some conflict between the two of them as Eve investigates a terror organization that has found a way to pass a virus into the minds of those they have judged as criminals who have escaped the justice system.

The story begins with a phone call from Officer Troy Trueheart who has answered a call for help and who killed the man who was beating a woman and who had killed her boyfriend. Eve rushes to his aide because he is one of her cops and discovers that things aren't adding up. Trueheart's stun shouldn't have killed this drug dealer whose target audience was school children.

When the dealer's computer is brought to EDD, it contaminates one of the officers assigned to study it which causes him to stun and paralyze McNab and take Feaney hostage before Eve manages to disarm him. Then the virus kills him. Since Eve has recruited Roarke as an "expert consultant, civilian" he gets deeply involved in trying to trace down the virus without killing himself while Eve follows the more traditional police path of investigating.

For Eve, law is god. She is especially outraged by these murders because they are being committed by people who have taken the law into their own hands. She stands for the victims even though they are not nice people. These are people who are exploiting children - a drug dealer who preys on schoolchildren, a child molester, etc.

This episode also begins to put some shades of grey into Eve's black and white view of the world and the law. She has to decided how far she can push the line without becoming what she despises. She has to make compromises for the greater good.

On the personal front, Eve's relationship with Nadine Furst, Channel 75's star reporter gets a lot of play. And Eve's best friend Mavis swirls into the story very briefly to tell Eve that she is pregnant which opens up more strange emotional worlds for both Eve and Roarke.

This was another excellent and entertaining entry into the In Death series. ( )

Eve, Roarke and the usual gang. Enjoyable read as always. I love listening to this series on my iPod. Eve has to figure out how these undesirable members of the community are being killed by a computer virus. I always love how she gets into the "bad guys" head and be able to figure out how things happened.
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Purity in Death
4 Stars

Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her team are called in to investigate a seemingly routine case of heat induced rage, but soon discover that the perpetrator might have been the intended victim. When another man dies under similar circumstances, Eve begins to suspect that, although impossible, the men were infected by a computer virus. Can Eve find the culprit and stop their nefarious agenda before the contagion spreads?

With so many books in the series (#45 will be published in 2017), it is inevitable that certain plot elements will be repeated. Thus, Eve is once again investigating a cyber related crime (similar to Rapture in Death and one that involves a vigilante (as in Judgement in Death). Nevertheless, Robb manages to put new twists on these tropes to keep the reader engaged and the pages turning.

Unlike the previous installment, the character development takes a back seat to the mystery and the intriguing discussion on the moral ambiguity of vigilantism. That said, there are several heart-warming scenes between Peabody and McNab, and a wonderful moment in which Eve realizes that they, along with Feeney, Baxter, Trueheart and even Webster and Summerset, are all part of the family she never thought she would have.

Overall, another satisfying addition to the series and it was good to get an update on Jamie Lindstrom. Hopefully, we will be seeing more of him in the future.
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