Salvation in Death starts as the Catholic burial mass of Hector Ortiz is taking place. Young Father Miguel Flores is a priest based in New York City’s Spanish Harlem district. He is a priest that is very popular and gets on very well wit both the young and the old. As he proceeds to the take part in the communion and takes a drink of the wine he falls and dies. However as Lt Dallas and her partner Detective Peabody begin to investigate and try and find out who would murder such a popular priest more hidden secrets and violent acts are revealed. Another murder also takes place in a similar manner but this time it is an evangelical preacher that is killed. As Eve and her team try to work out who is at the bottom of this they find themselves racing to find the killer.
As much as the books in the in Death series are about the relationship between Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke along with the crime that takes place, Salvation in Death on the other hand is more about the crime rather than the further development of the interpersonal relationships between the characters especially Roarke and Eve. Salvation in Death is not the page-turner that one has come to expect from J D Robb; it does pose some very exciting twists and deep, dark secrets. With a plot that involves murder and religion, it of course has its dark moments. There are also still those trademark humorous aspects that one has come to expect in this series. However, the story is a solid police procedural with the aim forever being to attain justice for those who are dead. Once again J D Robb has written a further edition to this series that will no doubt please her long-standing fans.
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Ayo Onatade