Brotherhood in Death by J. D. Robb Series: In Death #42
Published by Berkley
Publication Date: February 2nd 2016
Pages: 388
Format: eBook
Goodreads
Buy Online: Amazon ♥ B&N ♥ Kobo
Sometimes brotherhood can be another word for conspiracy…
Dennis Mira just had two unpleasant surprises. First he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather’s magnificent West Village brownstone, despite the promise they both made to keep it in the family. Then, when he went to the house to confront Edward about it, he got a blunt object to the back of the head.
Luckily Dennis is married to Charlotte Mira, the NYPSD’s top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. When the two arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody. When he came to, his cousin was gone. With the mess cleaned up and the security disks removed, there’s nothing left behind but a few traces for forensics to analyze.
As a former lawyer, judge, and senator, Edward Mira mingled with the elite and crossed paths with criminals, making enemies on a regular basis. Like so many politicians, he also made some very close friends behind closed—and locked—doors. But a badge and a billionaire husband can get you into places others can’t go, and Eve intends to shine some light on the dirty deals and dark motives behind the disappearance of a powerful man, the family discord over a multimillion-dollar piece of real estate . . . and a new case that no one saw coming.
Review
Forty-two books in and somehow, Ms. Robb still finds something new about Eve Dallas to explore. I love the sense of familiarity I feel every time I pick a new addition to this series.
In BROTHERHOOD IN DEATH, the case hits really close to home for Eve in more ways than one when she investigates an assault on Dr. Dennis Mira and his cousin’s disappearance. What starts out as a missing persons case ends as a murder investigation rife with destructive secrets and atrocious crimes spanning decades as well as opposition from powerful and wealthy elite. The lines between victim and perpetrator blur and Eve will need every tool in her arsenal to get to the truth, even as she revisits her own painful past.
It’s always interesting to see Eve and her team jump into a case and I love the methodical process of fitting together pieces to form a picture and find a killer. While each book follows a pattern, it never gets old because Ms. Robb keeps it fresh and interesting with an emotionally complex and layered headline character and her fairy-tale romance with her husband, an interesting cast of supporting characters, fun dialogue and emotional scenes. This installment is really dark and will definitely challenge readers’ sense of right and wrong, but it’s uplifting to see Eve stand for the dead, regardless of who and what they were while alive.
Eve is such a fascinating character and it did my heart good to see her explore her relationship with Dennis Mira here. You can’t help but love that after her formative years with her monster of a father, she finally gets a taste of what a good one feels like.
As usual, I adore Roarke’s unconditional acceptance of what Eve does and his support for her as well as his devotion to her well-being.
My favorite quote from this book is a thought-provoking and very apt one:
“Time doesn’t heal, whatever they say. It’s how we use the time that can heal.”
About J. D. Robb
With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, Nora Roberts was ready for a new writing challenge. As her agent put it, like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and caffeine-free Pepsi, a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new and different group of readers. The first futuristic suspense J. D. Robb book, Naked in Death, was published in paperback in 1995, and readers were immediately drawn to Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her even more mysterious love interest, Roarke.
The series quickly gained attention, great reviews, and devoted readers. Since the debut of Loyalty in Death (the ninth In Death book) on Halloween 1999 on the New York Times bestseller list, every J. D. Robb title has been a New York Times bestseller. While fans had their suspicions, it wasn’t until the twelfth book in the series, Betrayal in Death (2001), that the publisher fully revealed that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for bestselling powerhouse Nora Roberts. Unmasked, Nora Roberts fans who hadn’t yet picked up one of the Robb books were quickly playing catch-up.
Robb’s peers in the mystery world are fans as well, with accolades for the In Death series from such blockbuster authors as Stephen King, Jonathan Kellerman, Dennis Lehane, Kathy Reichs, Lisa Scottoline, Janet Evanovich, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, Ridley Pearson, Linda Fairstein, and Andrew Gross.
The In Death books are perpetual bestsellers, and frequently share the bestseller list with other Nora Roberts novels. J. D. Robb publishes two hardcover In Death books per year, with the occasional stand-alone original In Death story featured in an anthology.
Thirty books and fifteen years later, there is no end in sight for the ever-popular In Death series.
Leave a Reply