“Survivor in Death” by JD Robb (Nora Roberts)

“Survivor in Death” by JD Robb (Nora Roberts)
2005, GP Putnam’s Sons
ISBN: 0-399-15208-3

Sometimes you are just in the mood for hard, fast and thrilling. That’s what I can always count on when I pick up a book where Nora Roberts is writing as JD Robb.

A family is murdered in their beds. One was missed. Nixie is the daughter and she had invited her best friend in the world, Linnie, over for a sleep over. But, Nixie wanted an orange fizzy and Linnie didn’t want to get up. Nixie went by herself to the kitchen and that was when her world changed forevermore.

Murder was done to all the members of her family and to her best friend. Gone. Blood everywhere. Done in minutes. But, they didn’t see her. They weren’t looking for her. They took out the father, the mother, the housekeeper, the son and the daughter. Except the daughter was hiding, covered with her mother’s blood and instead her best friend had been murdered in her place.

Detective Eve Dallas takes the case and is sworn to both protect Nixie until the murderers are apprehended and find her a place to be in the world. Somehow it all got very personal as memories of the damage done to this family and to this small survivor of madness reminds both Dallas and her husband Roarke of the injustice they also experienced as children.

You get to see yet another side of Dallas, the people on the New York Police Force she works with and a tantalizing glimpse into the near future combined with tough crime fighting that will have you on the edge of your seat.