25. Survivor in Death by J D Robb (audio)

I always need a good action book to keep me awake when I'm driving by myself; and, for the most part, Survivor in Death did a pretty good job.  I like the Eve Dallas series for several reasons:  1.  It takes places in New York City in the year 2059 and some of the technology is outrageous.  2.  Eve Dallas is the ultimate strong woman, perfect cop with a heart of steel with just a touch of marshmellow at the center and a past that still gives her nightmares.  3.  Roarke, Eve's husband, is the most delicious male character ever written.  4.  The mysteries are always gripping with great details and interesting twists.  5.  The humor between straight arrow Eve and her fellow police officers keeps things from getting too serious and makes the books even better.  What I don't like is the profanity which is impossible to get away from on an audio version and the explicit sex which is very easy to skip as you see it coming a mile away. 

This particular book involves the mass murder of a family while they are sleeping.  The killers make one mistake and kill a girl who is sleeping over while the real daughter has gone to the kitchen for a snack.  When she sees the shadows, she calls the police and then hides.  Eve finds her and takes her to her home for protection when she realizes the killers will not be satisfied until the mission is completed.  When 9-year-old Nixie is taken to say good-by to her her family in the morgue, it is pretty gut-wrenching.  You don't often find that sort of emotion in an Eve Dallas book, but I thought Robb did a good job with the way she portrayed the little girl's grief and loss.  I did find the rehashing of Eve's early childhood trauma to be tedious as it is covered in almost every book.  Probably important if this is the first of the series you had read, but I would suggest starting at the first and then you might get tired of the angst as well.  I do want to give a shout-out to the narrator, Susan Erickson.  She does an excellent job with the different voices, especially Roarke's Irish accent.  With her narration, I had no problem keeping up with the story and the characters.  Rating:  4