J.D. Robb – Vengeance in Death

The sixth book in the In Death series, published in 1997.

When technology links the law and the lawless, predators and prey can become one and the same …

He is a techno-savvy madman with the mind of a genius and the heart of a killer. He quietly stalks his prey. Then he haunts the police with cryptic riddles about the crimes he is about to commit – always solved moments too late to save the victims’ lives. Lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past – a secret shared by none other than Eve’s husband, Roarke.

Fifteen years ago Summerset’s daughter, age 14, was raped, tortured and murdered. All because Roarke was getting to much of the action of a Dublin gang. But he took his revenge on all six of them. But now his past sins are coming back to haunt him, and Summerset. Summerset and Eve really dislike each other. Summerset thinks Eve is beneath Roarke, he could have had the crème the la crème of society women, glamorous, successful, great hostesses. Instead he chose a cop. And cops don’t get much esteem from Summerset. After all, they did nothing when his little girl was murdered back then.

And now Eve is getting transmissions from a murderer, daring her to find him, and stop him from killing his next victim. He claims to be the hand of God, justice. But his handiwork is ugly, the worst Eve has ever seen. And all the leads point to Summerset as the killer. And arrogant as he is, he doesn’t listen to Eve at all. He has no solid alibi’s for the times of the murder, he refuses to be careful. And now she has to do the best she can to keep both him and her husband Roarke out of the fire.

People are getting murdered, people Roarke new, and even loved back home in Dublin, Ireland. The murderer is very knowledgeable with electronics, dazzling the e-detective McNab. But he is getting closer, and with Captain Feeney on a well deserved vacation, he is the leading man, working together with Roarke and his R & D department to track down the killer. Eve tries to draw out the murderer by getting his attention on herself. All those murders are only a beginning, the real target is Roarke, and she will do everything in her power to prevent that, even offering herself up as bait first.

This was a real suspenseful story, and I loved it. We got to meet McNab, who will play his part in the rest of the series. A very colourfully dressed e-detective, very good at his work, and totally loving all of Roarkes toys (and his food).

This time it is Roarke who faces his past, not Eve, though she still has her nightmares haunting her. And we got to know Summerset a little better, though he still is a tight-ass, and will always be one.

8 stars