Bonded in death

During the Urban Wars, Giovanni Rossi was part of a covert group of fighters known as the Twelve. The members took a vow that if one of them ever needed help, they would respond. Decades later, Giovanni receives a request he believes comes from one of the Twelve that sends him to New York. However, within hours of his arrival in the city, Giovanni is found dead. Clutched in his hand is a facsimile of Lieutenant Eve Dallas' NYPD business card with a cryptic message on the back. Giovanni's murderer may think outsmarting Eve will be easy. However, engaging in a battle of wits with the city's finest police detective could prove to be the biggest mistake Giovanni's murderer makes. Robb (Passions in Death, 2024) returns in resplendent fashion with the sixtieth stellar entry in her Eve Dallas series, a tale that features a cleverly constructed and completely compelling story line that delivers all the requisite thrills her readers crave while also offering some fascinating and keenly relevant insights into the past of Eve and her tycoon husband's majordomo, the heroic Summerset.

Lt. Eve Dallas and her colleagues in the New York Police and Security Department step outside their comfort zone into counterterrorism. Back in 2024, during the stressful time of the Urban Wars, a courageous band calling themselves The Twelve fought Dominion and other violent fringe groups that sought to end civilization as we know it, despite the presence of a traitor in their own midst. Now, 37 years later, someone's killed Giovanni Rossi, a retired cybersecurity expert who was one of The Twelve, an hour or so after a summons--ostensibly from another veteran of the group--brought him from Rome to New York. On the body, officers called to the scene find a copy of Dallas' business card that's been embellished with a flamboyant threat to annihilate the seven surviving members of The Twelve. Obligingly inviting all seven to New York--a move you'd think would make it a lot easier for their nemesis to wipe them all out at once--Dallas soon forms a theory about the killer's identity and sets a trap to draw him out. But her plan turns into a narrow miss, upping the stakes on both sides, for now the killer knows Dallas is on to him. It's in the nature of the case that there's less mystery and detection than usual in this long-running franchise--the biggest surprise turns out to be the connection between Dallas and her quarry--but the thrills keep on coming, and the final interrogation, though highly predictable in its broad outlines, is as satisfying as ever. Forget the tangled backstory, focus on the game of cat and mouse, and enjoy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.