Book Review-Older Books 14

Divided in Death, by J.D. Robb.  Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, January 2004, 357 pgs.

The setting is New York City.  The year is 2059.  The future is rampant with air buses, stunners in place of handguns, and computer technology only dreamed of by today’s hackers.

Reva Ewing, an employee of Roarke Enterprises and past agent for the Secret Service, who took a bullet for the President she protected, is now a suspect in a double homicide.  Eve Dallas is New York City’s top cop and in charge of the investigation.  She also happens to be married to the owner of Roarke Enterprises, a company currently developing shields for super viruses, as part of a government contract.  When Dallas comes on the scene of this double murder, she finds that Reva had a very good reason for homicide.  Lying tangled among the bloody sheets are her husband and best friend.  But the picture is just a little too perfect, and Dallas is never one to be led around by the nose.  She soon finds that at the same time the husband was being killed, his security and computers were being violated in another part of town.  The fried computers just happen to resemble the virus that Roarke and his company have been preparing for and Reva as the head of research and development played a major role.  Is this just a crime of passion or could it be espionage?

As the case develops and new information comes to light, a top secret government agency seems to be implicated, bringing new dangers to an already delicate investigation.  And as Dallas never treads lightly and more bodies surface, toes will be stepped on and politics take a back seat.  New information is uncovered regarding this agency and it touches on Dallas’s past, causing a rift in her marriage, to a degree that may be insurmountable.  This only adds strife and pressure to see an end to this case. 

J.D. Robb, otherwise known as Nora Roberts, has done it again, keeping Dallas and Roarke an intriguing and passionate couple I love to spend time with.  This is the first Robb novel in hardback, and it is a winner.