Publishers Weekly
★ 07/11/2016
At the start of bestseller Robb’s exceptional 43rd Eve Dallas thriller set in a near-future New York City (after Brotherhood in Death), three ice skaters are shot dead at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Adding to the difficulty of the murder investigation is the weapon used—a tactical laser rifle with a range up to two miles. Eve’s team swings into action, as does tech-genius husband Roarke, in an effort to locate the firing site and to determine whether all the victims were random or one or more were targeted. On discovering the sniper nest, they realize that there are two people responsible for the shooting, and there will be more attacks; the second soon follows in Times Square, where four people die, including a cop. Feverish police work manages to identify the killers—a mentor and his trainee—and the race is on to stop them. Robb is in peak form as she blends intense action and clever twists with a stellar cast headed by the indomitable Lt. Eve Dallas. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Apprentice in Death
“Exceptional...Robb is in peak form as she blends intense action and clever twists with a stellar cast headed by the indomitable Lt. Eve Dallas.”—Publishers Weekly
“Outstanding...Robb does her usual amazing job delivering not only a complex police procedural, but also exploring the factors that can lead to the development of a killer. No one does futuristic suspense better than Robb!”—RT Book Reviews (4 ½ stars, Top Pick)
More Praise for the In Death series
“Robb is a virtuoso.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“It’s Law & Order: SVU—in the future.”—Entertainment Weekly
“J. D. Robb’s In Death novels are can’t-miss pleasures.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben
“Anchored by terrific characters, sudden twists that spin the whole narrative on a dime, and a thrills-to-chills ration that will raise the neck hairs of even the most jaded reader, the J. D. Robb books are the epitome of great popular fiction.”—New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane
NOVEMBER 2016 - AudioFile
In 2050, Lt. Eve Dallas and her team are racing to find a sniper who strikes seemingly unrelated victims in the heart of New York City. Narrator Susan Ericksen easily moves between narrative and dialogue, creating easily distinguishable voices for the likable characters. Eve and her husband, Roarke, are as cunning as the criminals; plus, they have unlimited resources to catch evil doers. In addition, Officer Peabody often steals the show with her earthy humor and good instincts. Ericksen's voice for Eve is strong and decisive; Peabody’s is distinctive and suits her character’s combination of dark humor and occasional innocence. Overall, Ericksen's performance is engaging. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-07-20
Lt. Eve Dallas, of the New York Police Security Department, celebrates January 2061 by tangling with an unusually well-organized mass murderer. Make that murderers.There are actually two people behind the sniper killings of three skaters at Central Park’s Wollman Rink. The older of them lays plans, gives directions, and sets a limit on the number of targets; the younger one, after briefly arguing for more victims, obediently pulls the trigger. When a New York cop is among the five fatalities in a second shooting spree in Times Square, the case becomes more personal. Eve, who, in an improbable but satisfying bit of detective work, has already located the East Side hotel room where the killers set up shop for the first round, now theorizes that most of the victims are camouflage for the targets they really wanted to hit. Unlike real-life spree shootings, which are depressingly resistant to such neat and tidy explanations, these two episodes, and a third, even more bloody massacre outside Madison Square Garden, fit Eve’s bill exactly, and it’s a real pleasure watching her identify and track down the mastermind and his apprentice. At that point, however, the breathlessly paced story seems to run out of steam, and the last movement, in which Eve plays legalistic games with the two perps she’s captured—the only truly memorable characters here apart from the heroine—to ensure that both of them will remain in prison for the longest possible sentences, seems a mite overlong itself.Not much state-of-the-fantasy-art high-tech this time, and no wonder: shaken readers will instantly recognize the contemporary American landscape, filled with trigger-happy vigilantes and the firepower they need to make themselves famous, beneath the futuristic trappings.
