Vengeance in Death

in Death: 6

ISBN: 0-425-16039-4 Order from: Amazon.com

A tense police thriller with an appealing, intelligent heroine, good on human emotion and interaction, but set in a fake-seeming world and with a rather overpowering romantic interest.

Reviewed by David on June 05, 1999

Genre: Mystery (Near Future, Romance, Police Procedural)

Synopsis: Sixty years in the future, many drugs have been legalized, prostitution has become a licensed profession, and androids help guard buildings and tend bars. Nevertheless, poverty, greed and jealousy remain. After ten years on the force, Lieutenant Eve Dalls has become one of the most effective homocide investigators in the New York police. Her combination of intelligence and compassion, dedication and passion for justice drive her to treat each case as the most important thing in her life.

A series of truly cruel murders shock even the veteran Dallas. The murderer tortures his victims, and calls Eve to taunt her with riddles. Always too late to save the victim, Eve realizes with Horror that the demented criminal seems to be bent on vengeance, vengeance that comes closer to her husband with every dead body.

Full Review: Forced to dig into Roarke's painful past, Eve finds that the criminal comes from Dublin, just like her husband. As the clues point to someone close to Roarke, Dallas recreates the motivation of the murderer and races to catch him while causing havoc in Roarke's household.

Nora Roberts, a well-known romance writer, has written this series of near-future police procedurals with a romantic bent. Her protagonist, Eve Dallas, has the combination of courage, intelligence and humor that make for a very appealing hero. A small set of supporting characters that make their continuous appearance in the books of this series flesh out her life and investigations.

The world of the near future is rather flawed for a science fiction reader. The tropes: annoying androids, space flight, cranky computers, are full of inconsistencies and seem to be more appropriate to sitcoms than to fiction. For instance, there is some confusion between orbital and interstellar flight, AI and glorified PCs. In general, the setting is used to add artificial glitter and remove the grit and constraints of a real city police investigation rather than to add narrative value.

This setting, artificial as it is, does allow for a more streamlined plot.

In summary, this is a fast-moving, entertaining novel with an appealing hero, offering a good emotional ride but little food for thought. The fans of Eve Dallas may also like Hamilton's Anita Blake.

Overall: 6; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 6; Style: 5.5; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;

ISBN: 0-425-16039-4 Order from: Amazon.com