"outstanding futuristic police procedural thriller"

In the year 2059 two intruders break into the home of the Swisher family, killing the parents, the son, their daughter's friend, and their nanny. The daughter Nixie survived because she went downstairs to get a drink and hid when she saw a man kill her nanny and saw the men go upstairs to kill her family and friend.

When New York Police and Security Department Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner Detective Delia Peabody arrives at the scene, Eve deduces that one person remains unaccounted for amidst the tragedy. She searches the home until she finds Nixie hiding in the bathroom. She feels that the frightened traumatized little girl remains in danger so she brings the lass home with her to keep her safe until she can bring the animals that did the heinous crimes to justice. When a social service worker is snatched in daylight, Eve knows the killers are on the move so she sets a trap that backfires with two officers dead. Now the entire department wants these killers caught preferably dead.

Once again J.D. Robb provides an outstanding futuristic police procedural thriller that is loaded with action but contains the author's usual dose of romance. Readers will enjoy observing Eve and her billionaire husband Roark deal with hardened criminals without a second thought, but are deathly afraid of Nixie. SURVIVOR IN DEATH is one of the better books in a terrific series because Eve seems more vulnerable as she feels her latest assignment is the worst ever because it involves children and she struggles to relate to a child who has lost everything. Ms. Robb is one of the best writers of inter-crossing mystery, romance, and science fiction into top quality tales.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 7, 2004

The newest in the number-one New York Times-bestselling In Death series featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Roarke. Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb returns to the New York City of 2059—where Dallas will struggle to solve the murder of a seemingly ordinary family and to protect one small, terrified survivor.

Summary

The members of the Swisher family were murdered in their beds with brutal, military precision. The state-of-the-art security was breached, and the killers used night-vision equipment to find their way through the cozy, middle-class house. Clearly, Dallas is dealing with pros. It seems the only mistake they made was to overlook the nine-year-old girl cowering in the darkened kitchen.

Now Nixie Swisher is an orphan—and the sole eyewitness to a seemingly inexplicable crime. Kids are not Dallas's strong suit. But Nixie needs a safe place to stay, and Dallas needs to solve this case. With her partner, Peabody, back on the job—and her husband, Roarke, providing the kind of help that only he can give—Lieutenant Eve Dallas is running after shadows, and dead-set on finding out who's behind them.