Purity in Death

Book 15 in the In Death series, PURITY IN DEATH by J. D. Robb, is another stellar murder mystery. Better yet, we see several relationships evolve and get to ponder several morality questions that cause tension between Roarke and Eve.

I'm always impressed by how well Ms. Robb balances developing her characters while progressing the story. In PURITY IN DEATH, she uses a mysterious group enacting vigilante justice to force Eve and Roarke to discuss deeply held beliefs that oppose one another. Unlike in previous installments where the couple would argue and fume at the other's stubbornness, they show real emotional growth and relationship maturity. Sure, they still argue. They wouldn't be a couple if they didn't have arguments. Still, it was show more nice to see them come together to discuss their different viewpoints and to have them listen to each other.

Even better, we get to see both their reactions to Mavis' news, which seriously was the highlight of the entire story. In a novel that includes serious discussions of who gets to determine guilt and whether vigilante justice has any place in a lawful society, Eve and Roarke's reactions to Mavis' news provide a much-needed comic moment.

Ms. Robb and her In Death series continue to fascinate and entertain me. The crimes Eve must solve are always engaging and difficult to guess in advance. The growth of Eve and Roarke's relationship is just icing on the cake. show less

This episode of the In Death series highlights a difference between Eve and Roarke that they are going to have to adjust to. Eve's black and white view of the law versus Roarke's moral flexibility causes some conflict between the two of them as Eve investigates a terror organization that has found a way to pass a virus into the minds of those they have judged as criminals who have escaped the justice system.

The story begins with a phone call from Officer Troy Trueheart who has answered a call for help and who killed the man who was beating a woman and who had killed her boyfriend. Eve rushes to his aide because he is one of her cops and discovers that things aren't adding up. Trueheart's stun shouldn't have killed this drug dealer show more whose target audience was school children.

When the dealer's computer is brought to EDD, it contaminates one of the officers assigned to study it which causes him to stun and paralyze McNab and take Feaney hostage before Eve manages to disarm him. Then the virus kills him. Since Eve has recruited Roarke as an "expert consultant, civilian" he gets deeply involved in trying to trace down the virus without killing himself while Eve follows the more traditional police path of investigating.

For Eve, law is god. She is especially outraged by these murders because they are being committed by people who have taken the law into their own hands. She stands for the victims even though they are not nice people. These are people who are exploiting children - a drug dealer who preys on schoolchildren, a child molester, etc.

This episode also begins to put some shades of grey into Eve's black and white view of the world and the law. She has to decided how far she can push the line without becoming what she despises. She has to make compromises for the greater good.

On the personal front, Eve's relationship with Nadine Furst, Channel 75's star reporter gets a lot of play. And Eve's best friend Mavis swirls into the story very briefly to tell Eve that she is pregnant which opens up more strange emotional worlds for both Eve and Roarke.

This was another excellent and entertaining entry into the In Death series. show less

A desperate call from Officer Trueheart brings Lieutenant Eve Dallas to the site of an officer involved death amidst the summer heat in 2059. As Eve analyzes the scene, the pieces just don't fit. While Eve tries to gather facts and help Trueheart, the EDD detective examining the dead chemie-dealer's unit suddenly goes on a violent rampage. Soon Eve's team realizes they are fighting a computer virus capable of creating organic damage to a user's brains. Responsibility is claimed by the Purity Seekers, a vigilante group targeting "child predators" whom the courts didn't, or couldn't, punish. Despite unintended, collateral deaths, once Purity's propaganda campaign is launched, New York is divided on whether Purity is composed of heroes or show more terrorists. Sensing the slippery slope Purity represents, Eve goes after the virus makers with a vengeance. Neither wealth, nor power, nor prestige will protect those who take another's life. Eve stands for the victims and views no one as above the law. show less

This episode of the In Death series highlights a difference between Eve and Roarke that they are going to have to adjust to. Eve's black and white view of the law versus Roarke's moral flexibility causes some conflict between the two of them as Eve investigates a terror organization that has found a way to pass a virus into the minds of those they have judged as criminals who have escaped the justice system.

The story begins with a phone call from Officer Troy Trueheart who has answered a call for help and who killed the man who was beating a woman and who had killed her boyfriend. Eve rushes to his aide because he is one of her cops and discovers that things aren't adding up. Trueheart's stun shouldn't have killed this drug dealer show more whose target audience was school children.

When the dealer's computer is brought to EDD, it contaminates one of the officers assigned to study it which causes him to stun and paralyze McNab and take Feaney hostage before Eve manages to disarm him. Then the virus kills him. Since Eve has recruited Roarke as an "expert consultant, civilian" he gets deeply involved in trying to trace down the virus without killing himself while Eve follows the more traditional police path of investigating.

For Eve, law is god. She is especially outraged by these murders because they are being committed by people who have taken the law into their own hands. She stands for the victims even though they are not nice people. These are people who are exploiting children - a drug dealer who preys on schoolchildren, a child molester, etc.

This episode also begins to put some shades of grey into Eve's black and white view of the world and the law. She has to decided how far she can push the line without becoming what she despises. She has to make compromises for the greater good.

On the personal front, Eve's relationship with Nadine Furst, Channel 75's star reporter gets a lot of play. And Eve's best friend Mavis swirls into the story very briefly to tell Eve that she is pregnant which opens up more strange emotional worlds for both Eve and Roarke.

This was another excellent and entertaining entry into the In Death series. show less

A vigilante group calling itself The Purity Seekers declares itself both judge and jury and creates a computer virus to target people they believe deserve death for their misdeeds. Their neurological virus causes the victim to succumb to rage and then to die. They claim their actions are not terrorism; rather, they serve the innocent.

While examining the dead man’s computer, one of the officers in the Electronics Detection Division of the New York Security and Police Department becomes infected, attacks McNab and takes Captain Feeney hostage. Can homicide detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas find the cyber terrorists and put an end to their “justice” before more people fall victim to their insidious virus? And will McNab survive this show more vicious attack?

Fifteenth in the “In Death” series, the intriguing plot delivers several unexpected twists as it unfolds. All the expected characters are on hand, along with a few from previous stories, and there is sufficient backstory for readers new to the series. As always, the strong sense of place anchors the narrative and the interaction between the characters remains a highlight of the series. The unique investigation involving the computer virus keeps the pages turning and readers, both new and returning, will find it difficult to set this book aside before turning the final page.

Highly recommended. show less

Imagine, if you will, a computer program that can be transmitted like a virus to a certain person. A virus that could not be seen by the person using the computer. A virus that could, after a few hours, so infect the person that death is most likely inevitable. A virus aimed at the worst of society that always seem to escape justice. The folks that many would like to see removed permanently in order to make things better for all. Is the ability to do that, justice or vigilantism? When others who are not the target also die, are those deaths unavoidable collateral damage or just the cost of finally achieving justice and getting rid of some very sick folks?

That is the plot behind Purity in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J.D. Robb. It is show more July 2059 and the summer is brutally hot. The soul crushing heat is driving some folks mad which is why all types of violence are up. But, the actions of one Louie K. Cogburn far exceeded what is common thanks to the heat. The small-time drug dealer was known for being calm and organized as he sold drugs to the young kids that attended schools near his Lower East Side apartment. Folks knew what he did, but proving it in a court of law has repeatedly proven very difficult over the years.

He wasn’t known for violence, but the carnage he left behind in the apartment and hallway outside of it shows that he could do it. A brutal and violent scene, that Officer Troy Trueheart, a young and good cop that NYSPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows and had worked with before, put an end to with his stun weapon. The use of the stun weapon resulted in the death of Louis K. Cogburn.

He never should have died. The fact that he did means Officer Trueheart, who was off duty and heard the screams coming from the apartment and this came to help, is now in a world of trouble. The fact that he fought the crazed man before drawing his weapon is a point in his favor. The fact that he was so shook he called Dallas first before reporting the situation to dispatch, is a definite negative, and Internal Affairs will not like that one bit.

Then there is the fact that another resident, Ralph Wooster, is dead and another has been injured. Suzanne Cohen was the one screaming and got Officer Trueheart heard and came to help.

Beyond the issue that this whole deal is way out of character for the very much dead Cogburn, there is a strange message on his computer. “Absolute Purity Achieved” in capital letters is sitting in the middle of the screen. That phrase means nothing at this point to Dallas, but it soon will as the case explodes into yet more violence. The next round is at Cop Central and puts the lives of several officers and friends in jeopardy along with her own.

Purity in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries follows the now familiar format of the last several books where there are multiple interlinked cases, politics and the media are heavily involved, Roarke is a bedroom stud when he isn’t helping her case along, and the usual head hopping in point of view. A couple of added twists for various characters are thrown in for fun, here and to create new complications/storylines for later books.

Purity in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb is another fun read that is part police procedural and part romance. It is pure escapism and with the way the world is these days, we could all use more of that.

My reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System through the Overdrive/Libby app.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022 show less

This is, if I'm not mistaken, the 17th in the series. I could very well be mistaken, however, since I messed up the order. The last book I read in this re-read was Seduction in Death. For some reason, I put Portrait in Death on my TBR pile as the next one. I started reading it, found a reference to something that happened in Purity in Death, so I put it down and picked this one up. I completely forgot about re-reading Reunion in Death. I'm not sure I will, now that I'm already out of order. I'm getting a little tired of re-reading them, to tell you the truth.

But not this one. This, I think, is one of the best of the series.

Purity in Death starts with a panicky call from Trueheart saying he's killed a man. Turns out the man had actually show more been killed by a computer virus--infected deliberately by a vigilante group called The Purity Seekers.

Ignoring the mechanics of how the computer infected his brain, this book is just jam-packed with good stuff. There's a good mystery, with some unexpected twists, there are developments in the ongoing relationships (including announcement of Mavis's pregnancy), there's an injury--possibly permanent--to one of the team, life-and-death danger to another, political intrigue, and the thought-provoking question of vigilantism.

I loved the intensity of this book, both the tension resulting from the mystery plot, and that resulting from Eve's emotions. She's come a long way in 17 stories, going from being mostly a loner with all emotions kept tightly under lock & key to a person with a lot of people in her life who she cares about. show less