Payback in Death (In Death #57)

J.D. Robb

Mystery Thriller

A retired colleague’s suspicious death puts Lt. Eve Dallas on the case in Payback in Death, the electrifying new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author J.D. Robb.

Lt. Eve Dallas is just home from a long overdue vacation when she responds to a call of an unattended death. The victim is Martin Greenleaf, retired Internal Affairs Captain. At first glance, the scene appears to be suicide, but the closer Eve examines the body, the more suspicious she becomes.

An unlocked open window, a loving wife and family, a too-perfect suicide note—Eve’s gut says it’s a homicide. After all, Greenleaf put a lot of dirty cops away during his forty-seven years in Internal Affairs. It could very well be payback—and she will not rest until the case is closed.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(3.5 / 5) New York, 2061, Eve Dallas is called to investigate a colleague’s death. What looks like suicide has truly been murder.

What I love about the In Death series (a few are in my back posts), is Eve Dallas. She’s feisty, determined and works endlessly to find the truth. We get more details of the investigation than in most detective novels and Robb has a way of making it interesting. She uses her colleagues to go through info, cross off the dead ends, look in other directions and find small wins that lead to the big wins. It’s a fascinating process to read.

While entertained throughout, I did feel the chapters were very long and that the entire book was longer than necessary. The conclusion of the investigation wasn’t as shocking as some but was still interesting. And while this is in the future, there are such small references to it (prisons off planet, technology advances etc), I find myself wanting more. I recommend this series for the detective crime novel lovers!

General content summary: F words= 93, C***- 2, alcohol (multiple), f/f marriage, body found (some details), hate crime against a trans woman (death, few details), m/f intimacy (few details, x2), physical violence (fists, injuries, blood, weapon, multiple), talk of suicides (few details but multiple), talk of murders (some details).

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the copy!

The book releases September 5, 2023.

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