New York to Dallas

New York to Dallas is the latest book in JD Robb’s best selling In Death series. From the inside cover flap.~

JD Robb presents an intense and terrifying new case for New York homicide cop Eve Dallas, one that will take her all the way back to the city that gave her her name-and take you deeper into the mid of Eve Dallas than ever before.

It was one of Eve Dallas’s earliest takedowns, back in her uniform days. A monster named Isaac McQueen had been abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. Thanks to Eve, he wound up where he belonged, removed from civilized society in Rikers. But he’s not behind bars anymore.

After his escape, McQueen has two things in mind. One is to take up where he left off, preying on the young and innocent-when necessary, with the help of a female partner, all too willing to be manipulated and to aid and abet his crimes. His other goal: to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago, now a high-profile lieutenant in the NYPSD and married to one of the city’s richest men.

Commanding Eve’s attention with a chilling and brazen crime, McQueen sets off the chase-forcing Eve down a road marked with blood and tears, a road that eventually leads southwest to Dallas, Texas, the home Eve fled long ago. And each new twist brings her closer to the harrowing memory of when she wasn’t a hardened detective but a vulnerable girl just like McQueen’s innocent prey. As her husband, Roarke, tries to rescue her from the nightmares that claw at her mind, and her partner, Peabody, doggedly works to support her, Eve must confront-and call upon-the darkest parts of her own soul in order to survive.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the In Death series is one of my most favorite series ever! There have been a few of the books that I didn’t love, but overall I love the series. There have been a couple of books in the series that never really connected for me. That being said, New York to Dallas was a winner to me. I felt like Robb went back to her old school ways with this book.

Eve Dallas is forced to re-visit her past in New York to Dallas, and there is nothing her husband Roarke can do to protect her this time. I really think NYTD was the most intense book in this series to date. Eve is taken back to her very first takedown from when she was in uniform. The McQueen takedown is the one that got her started on the path to detective. Now McQueen has escaped from prison and he wants Eve to be his grand prize. Of course, first he must start up his collection of young girls, and he once again has an older woman to help him kidnap those young girls.

With Eve’s past, I knew going back to Dallas would make for a very emotional journey. Being in Dallas again always brings back memories for Eve, and it doesn’t help that McQueen kidnaps and rapes young girls. There is huge revelation for Eve while she is in Dallas. I totally saw it coming, but it still was extremely emotional to read. Luckily, Roarke knows his wife and has Dr. Mira come to Dallas to help Eve through this latest ordeal.  We didn’t get to see Peabody and Feeny as much with this book, but they were still in the background through much of the book. I liked many of the cops Eve worked with in Dallas, but was very happy once the case was over and they were heading back to New York.

I was very scared that by changing the book name from an “In Death” book to New York to Dallas might mean the end of the series. I’m really glad to say this isn’t the end of the series. Was a great next book in the series and probably one of the most emotional books I’ve read in this series.  Next up in the series is “Chaos in Death” novella set to be released in October.