Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

Synopsis: When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena's body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate.


When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.

Kindred in Death was good, just like all the other In Death books. It was a fast, easy read. She gets the case while she is not working and not on call. But she takes the case anyway, because it was a cop’s daughter that got killed and because all cops’ families run a certain amount of risk. More than families of people with less risky jobs.

Colombia’s President, Peach, was great. She’s like Eve in a lot of ways. She was more cooperative than I was expecting and I expected her and Eve to butt heads. They really didn’t.

One thing puzzled me and that’s the use of the word unsub. It was capitalized: UNSUB. The In Death books have never used it before. It means Unknown Subject. I haven’t read any other mysteries that use it, but I don’t read many mysteries so I can’t say if it’s becoming more common. The first time I heard this word was in Criminal Minds and reading it here was just odd.

Other than that, it was good. Eve had a few shaky moments when she first the girl and knew she had been raped. It brought back memories, but she put them aside and later realized the rape didn’t shake her as much it might have before. It was good. She’s getting over the childhood abuse and that’s good for her. But it means less emotional drama. Her relationship with Roark was smooth too, no drama there and I must to admit to hoping for some. It won’t last; they are bound to butt heads over something.

My favorite scene in this whole part was when she was examining Deena’s body and I am not entirely sure why. It was vivid and when I think of this book, that’s the first scene to come to mind.

Grade: B-