Innocent In Death by J.D. Robb

Innocent In Death by J.D. Robb

My Rating: 10 *'s

Description: The death of history teacher Craig Foster devastated his young wife, who'd sent him off to work that morning with a lovingly packed lunch. It shocked his colleagues at the Upper West Side private school. And as for the ten-year-old girls who found him in his classroom in a pool of bodily fluids, they may have been traumatized for life.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas, of course, is more hardened to murder cases. And this is clearly a murder case. That lovingly packed lunch was tainted with deadly ricin. And Mr. Foster's colleagues, shocked as they may be, have some shocking secrets of their own. It's Eve's job to get a feel for all the potential suspects, and find out why someone would have done this to a man who seemed so inoffensive, so pleasant...so innocent.

Now Magdelana Percell - there's someone Eve can picture as a murder victim. Possibly at Eve's own hands. The slinky blonde - an old flame of her billionaire husband, Roarke, from his days on the wrong side of the law - has turned up in New York, and she's anything but innocent. Unfortunately, Roarke seems blind to Magdelana's manipulation, but not to her shapely figure and flirtatious ways. And he insists that the occasional lunch or business meeting with her is nothing to worry about...and none of Eve's business. Eve's so unnerved by the situation that she finds it hard to focus on the Foster case. Still, she'll have to put aside her anger, jealousy, and heartbreak, for a while at least - because another man has just turned up dead, and the case is taking some strange turns and hitting some frustrating dead ends.

Eve knows all too well that innocence can be a facade. Keeping that in mind may help her solve this case at last. But it may also tear apart her marriage.

My Thoughts: I'm not sure if WOW sums up effectively the reactions and feelings this book brought out of me. This installment so far has to be the most shocking out of the entire series. Eve has seen her share of the evil in the world. She has lived through it and survived it and brought so many of the perpetrators of evil to justice. The identity of this villain comes as a major shock and surprise to everyone around Eve, but not Eve. Nothing shocks or surprises her when it comes to the evil in people. But she maintains a cool head and goes after the killer with cunning and direct precision that left me impressed with her skill and reeling in surprise at the same time.

Equally impressive is the way Eve deals with a woman from Roark's past whose intentions are not as friendly and innocent as she would like us to believe. Eve shows a very human and vulnerable side of her while trying to understand her emotions and deal with the situation so it doesn't destroy her marriage. I especially enjoyed that Somerset and Eve were on the same side for a change when it came to this situation. Fans of this series will continue to appreciate the witty sarcasm and insults exchanged between them as well as the humor at Eve's discomfort around Mavis's baby.