Title: Betrayal in Death Series: In Death
Author: J.D. Robb
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: March 1, 2001
Publisher: Berkley
ASIN: B000OIZV98
Detective Eve Dallas investigates a homicide on familiar grounds: her husband s hotel—and finds herself up against a murderer with a passion for the finer things in life—and death.
At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown—and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He's Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder. A hit man for the elite. Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows him well. But in this twisted case, knowing the killer doesn't help solve the crime. Because there's someone else involved. Someone with a more personal motive. And Eve must face a terrifying possibility—that the real target may, in fact, be her husband Roarke...
My rating:
A chambermaid is brutally beaten, raped, and strangled in a suite at the Roarke Plaza Hotel. The killer is quickly established, but Sylvester Yost is a killer of hire. Who would hire someone to kill a young, innocent chambermaid? But with the next body, the connection is suddenly clear. Someone has targeted people connected to Roarke and Eve fears he's targeted her husband as well.
The roles were slightly reversed in this one with Eve being the nurturing one, taking care of her husband in his grief, channeling his anger, letting him take swipes at her in his rage. It was a nice little change and rather heartwarming to observe how their relationship has changed, grown, and matured in just a little more than a year.
The initial mystery (who is the killer) was over and done quite soon, while the second part of it (who hired him and why), while longer and rather intriguing at the beginning, sort of fizzled toward the end once the true motive was revealed. I felt it was overkill, quite frankly. Too convoluted and complicated for the ultimate end goal of the "villain".
And yes, I saw through the ruse of the inside man rather early on, although that particular sub-plot ended on a satisfying note as far as friendship goes, while also providing some added gravitas and pathos to the story.
The Peabody/McNab part of the proceedings ended up being quite annoying and quite unnecessary to the main story arc, but since Eve and Roarke got along rather well in this one, some emotional and/or romantic drama was needed. It ended as it should have, with me cheering for McNab for actually standing up for himself, but Eve let me down a little for actually holding Peabody's hand instead of smacking the girl upside the head with the truth. I didn't particularly like Peabody in this one. I never particularly liked her juggling two guys at the same time without telling McNab the truth about her relationship with the LC.
While the story itself was solid and quite well-paced, the way it ended with the mystery/suspense fizzling out and the entire Peabody/McNab debacle not really gelling with the rest of the plot, I cannot say I'm satisfied with how this one panned out.
3 ½ stars
3 stars, bodyguard/military/merc/gov/cop/spy, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, sci-fi/futuristic, suspense/mystery/adventure/thriller
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