APPRENTICE IN DEATH

5 stars out of 5

I really, really didn't want this one to end. Yeah, it's a bit of same old, same old - but for the most part, therein lies the attraction. I may be counting wrong, but I think this is the 43rd book featuring New York police lieutenant Eve Dallas. Set in the not-all-that-distant future - 2060 give or take a few -  it's always interesting to learn about the technology (the ability to "program" meals into a machine that spits them back at you at exactly the proper temperature and wands that sweep away bruises is a bit mind-boggling).

And then there's Roarke. Who can resist the hunky, richer-than-God Irish former criminal who's now married to Eve and is a police consultant? Certainly not me; the only downside is that the criminals Eve and her team must deal with almost always end up targeting Eve or someone close to her, and every time I start a new book I'm terrified something bad will happen to him.

As this starts, Eve is called in when three people - a young girl, a doctor and a teacher - are shot and killed at an ice-skating rink in Central Park. There's no apparent connection among them, and it appears that the shots were made by a sniper from a considerable distance away. It's clear the killer is exceptionally skilled, but beyond that there are few clues. Enter Roarke, who uses his special talents to create a computer program that narrows down the possible location from which the shots were fired.

Zeroing in, Eve's team finds the place, discerning that there were two people involved - most likely one older and the other a much younger boy or girl. As they ponder what that could mean, another sneak attack takes even more lives. Now, time is of the essence; it's a virtual certainty that the killer or killers aren't about to stop any time soon. As the investigation continues, the unsettling thought strikes Eve that she and the killer share a number of experiences that shaped who they have become. 

One of my concerns in recent books is that Roarke's wholehearted devotion to Eve was beginning to cross the line from supportive to controlling. Not so here. Yes, he still "takes care" of her - making sure she eats and rests when she should but won't if left to her own devices - but they've returned to a more give-and-take, equal partnership kind of relationship. And that's a good thing.

Here's another: I won't have to wait an entire year or more to read the next one. Echoes in Death is scheduled for release on Feb. 7, 2017. Count me in!

Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb (Berkley, September 2016); 382 pp.