Review: Connections in Death (In Death #48) by J.D. Robb

Print Length: 384 pages

Publisher: St.Martin's Press (February 5, 2019)

From Goodreads.com: Homicide cop Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke, are building a brand-new school and youth shelter. They know that the hard life can lead kids toward dangerous crossroads—and with this new project, they hope to nudge a few more of them onto the right path. For expert help, they hire child psychologist Dr. Rochelle Pickering—whose own brother pulled himself out of a spiral of addiction and crime with Rochelle’s support.

Lyle is living with Rochelle while he gets his life together, and he’s thrilled to hear about his sister’s new job offer. But within hours, triumph is followed by tragedy. Returning from a celebratory dinner with her boyfriend, she finds Lyle dead with a syringe in his lap, and Eve’s investigation confirms that this wasn’t just another OD. After all his work to get clean, Lyle’s been pumped full of poison—and a neighbor with a peephole reports seeing a scruffy, pink-haired girl fleeing the scene.

Now Eve and Roarke must venture into the gang territory where Lyle used to run, and the ugly underground world of tattoo parlors and strip joints where everyone has taken a wrong turn somewhere. They both believe in giving people a second chance. Maybe even a third or fourth. But as far as they’re concerned, whoever gave the order on Lyle Pickering’s murder has run out of chances…

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Unfortunately, this felt more like someone else writing an In Death book than it does  J.D. Robb writing an In Death book. This again, this has been an ongoing theme with some of her more recent books. Its hard to tell if the author is just losing some steam (after all we are 48 books into this world she has created), or what is going on. 

This story begins with Eve meeting Crack's lady at a party, so immediately she wants to run her. I get being concerned for your friends, but he's a big boy (literally). After talking to Roarke, Eve finds out she's also about to be made head psychologist for their new children's home. She's also got a brother who is a recovering addict. Or so it appears. Until Rochelle finds her brother dead of an overdose in her apartment. 

It is here that things start to take a slow turn into a downward spiral. Its not that the overdose is merely staged, much like the murders that take place after are also staged, its how painfully obvious it is not only who is behind things, but how ridiculously stupid they are about it. Its hard to believe that these people are criminals of any sort as much as they botch even the simplest tasks. There is also an almost overwhelming amount of "suspects" added into this story, to the point even I had trouble keeping track of just who was who. 

There are some interactions between the main players that seem genuine to the original books, interactions that I found profoundly enjoyable, and I feel like it was those interactions kept this from completely feeling like a different author has taken over writing these books. 

Overall, if you've not read any of the prior novels, you are likely to be confused by the ins and outs of the relationships, so I would pick one or two of the older books to read first. If you are a fan of this series, chances are you will either love it, or like me, wish we could go back to the days when things were more in depth, and the killers harder to find. 

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                            Connections in Death is available from Amazon.com