LEVERAGE IN DEATH

4 stars out of 5

So much do I love this series - in particular, the gorgeous, filthy rich, multi-talented husband of New York Police Department Detective Eve Dallas (he's near the top of my Top 10 all-time favorite book heroes - that I carved out time in between advance review book freebies to read it. But while the plot was intriguing and here and there I was worried that Eve and Roarke might meet a fate similar to other characters in the story, much of the rest seemed a bit, well, bland compared with the many others I've read. Still, it was good enough - and moved along quickly enough - that I polished it off in fairly short order. And while it may not be my favorite of this now 47-book ongoing adventure, it certainly didn't dampen my enthusiasm for reading the next one.

The whole thing starts with a bang - literally. At a corporate meeting to seal a merger deal between two airlines, one of the executives shows up, obviously upset - and just as obviously outfitted with a suicide vest. When it blows, so do several people in the room; 11 are killed and a few others are seriously injured. What set him off, though, was something totally unexpected; his family was being held hostage under threat of violent death unless he blew the place to smithereens.

Eve is on the case, and the motive is hard to determine. Could it simply be someone opposed to the merger? Or perhaps someone who figured to make money by buying stock on the cheap following the disaster and selling at a huge profit once the merger got back on track and was accomplished?

Some clues take the team into an art world permeated with a few shady characters, one of whom meets the same fate as the above-mentioned executives as another suicide bomber - faced with a similar threat - takes over the room in big-bang fashion. Now, it appears, Eve and her team - which includes her beloved Roarke - need to speed up their investigation before someone else goes off on a bombing spree.

The usual crew all play roles here, although the flambouyantly costumed Peabody gets sprung to go to Hollywood, where a video "starring" Eve is up for all sorts of awards. That adds to the fun (although I found that whole adventure just a bit silly). Everything comes together in the end, although it wasn't particularly exciting one. But the whole thing works and is well worth reading - just don't expect to be on the edge of your seat.

Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin's Press, September 2018); 400 pp.