Book review: Salvation in Death
From Sunday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
“Salvation in Death” advances series
J.D. Robb’s series of futuristic police thrillers keeps going strong with the 27th installment, “Salvation in Death” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $25.95, 353).
Set in 2060, the latest “In Death” book from Robb (a pen name for romance novelist Nora Roberts) has hard-nosed homicide cop Lt. Eve Dallas and her peppy partner Detective Peabody trying to solve a priest’s poisoning death at St. Cristobal’s Catholic Church in New York’s Spanish Harlem.
But the coroner’s examination yields some puzzling results: faded scars from knife wounds, signs of extensive plastic surgery and, most telling, a removed tattoo, which when reconstructed, reveals a gang connection.
Dallas begins to suspect that Father Flores wasn’t the holy man he made himself out to be, but an imposter. The conclusion leaves her with more than one mystery: What was Flores true identity and why was he posing as a priest? What happened to the real Father Flores? And who killed the phony parishioner?
As far as whodunits go, “Salvation in Death” stands as one of the strongest in the series, with layers of suspense that kept me guessing for much of the novel.
But the book doesn’t build much on the great characters and relationships that make the series so fulfilling; it especially seems to skimp on interplay between Dallas and her billionaire husband Roake. Outside Dallas’ discomfort with religion, a theme Robb has explored before, the book doesn’t continue the author’s steady streak of advancing the genuine, relatable characters.
Still, Robb’s “In Death” series remains one worth following, which is good news, since the novelist has two more books in the series set to come out this year.
- Brandy McDonnell
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The characters are what I read this series for. I can get a mystery in lots of books, but it’s rare to read about such complex secondary characters and a happily married central couple. So, I’m a little disappointed to read they aren’t featured in this book.