The Book Gourmet

Book reviews à la bookworm...The good, the bad, and everything in between.

 

 

Professional Reader Reviews Published

Survivor in Death by J.D. Robb

Survivor In Death - J.D. Robb

An ordinary, happy, nice and "clean" family, is killed in their sleep, their throats slashed. The only survivor is the nine-year-old daughter who escaped by a miracle in the form of the thirst for an orange fizzy, while her best friend, having a sleepover was killed in her stead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas takes little Nixie into her home, hoping to somehow jog her memory as to what secrets her parents or her brother might have had to earn such a death, but nothing pops. It looks like a random, senseless killing...But why?


The first half was spot-on, as always. The mystery was intriguing, the suspense palpable, the pace fast, and adding to the (again) non-existent personal drama was little nine-year-old Nixie, only survivor and witness of the killing of her family.
Some people argue that it would've been nice for Eve and Roarke to adopt the little girl in the end, when it seemed no one really wanted her, but to me, it's too soon for the two to become parents, adoptive or not. Neither is ready, not even Roarke, who actually wants children with Eve one day, and they know it. Still, it was a nice interlude.

It was the second part of the story that was the problem for me.
The motive turned out to be rather idiotic, slaughtering an entire family (and many others on the side) as revenge for a slight. I found it too simple and too over-the-top to compensate for the mystery/suspense at the beginning. It just didn't make sense to me, and in the end the pacing slowed down too much for me to actually enjoy the ending.