Survivor in Death (2005)

In Death 20

In Death 20

Nixie Swisher the child who met evil and then the woman who became her hero. Eve Dallas will find those who killed a family of 5 sleeping in their beds, leaving only a 9-year old who had crawled through blood to hide until Eve finds her.

Mystery, action and romance combined for a suspenseful read tinged with compassion. ( )

Honestly there is not a lot to say here except that this is one of my favorite "In Death" books. There are a couple of scenes that I found too outrageous to be believed (the ending with Nixie), anyone allowing Dallas to take a kid to live with her and Roarke instead of having her in foster care, etc. But I found that there were some wonderful callbacks to earlier cases that Eve had worked.

"Survivor in Death" opens up on a loving and happy family being murdered in their beds. Nixie Swisher, who is 9, ends up being the lone survivor. Due to Dallas and company not knowing why the Swisher's were attacked and if someone out there may be looking to finish the job with Nixie, Nixie is then moved in temporarily with Eve and Roarke.

We actually in this book get to see how would Eve be with a child of her own (honest, probably to a fault, still loving, but not outwardly so) and we get to see how much Roarke desires to one day have children (yep plural) with Dallas. And I can honestly see how easily a child could fit seamlessly in both of their lives. Heck, if you don't think Roarke would not be a stay at home dad and or taking the kids to work with him, you have not read an "In Death" book before. I can also see Summerset happily babysitting whenever they needed him to.

We do get several moving scenes in this one (seriously have a box of tissues nearby) and I did cry a few times while reading. This book brings up a lot of memories for Roarke and Summerset (we all know that Summerset's daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered) and Summerset especially becomes more developed in this one. The scene when he is rocking Nixie to sleep and telling her about a garden...sigh. I can't even type it since I am welling up. I do have to say that I wanted to snap at Dallas a few times though. She acted like a jerk to Summerset and I was annoyed by it.

We get appearances by Mavis and of course Peabody, McNab, etc. What I thought was cool though is that we get reappearances by Richard DeBlass, Elizabeth Barrister (both in Naked in Death, #1-the case that brought Eve and Roarke together), and their adopted son Kevin (Vengeance in Death, #6)

The writing is top notch in this one I think. Robb definitely manages to hit your heart strings. The flow worked too, up until the end I thought. As I said above, I thought the ending was a bit too much to be believed. ( )

The incomprehensible murder of the Swisher family as they slept in their beds has New York Police and Security Department’s detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas stymied. The callous, professional executioners breached state-of-the-art security, wore night vision goggles, and brutally wiped out the family . . . except for the nine-year-old girl fearfully cringing in the dark kitchen.

Eve may have an eyewitness, but solving this grisly crime will take all her determination if she’s to find justice for Nixie.

The twentieth tale in the “In Death” series holds the reader rapt from the first page. There’s the strong sense of place, relatable, believable characters, a gruesome crime, a child in peril . . . all of these combine to create a riveting tale filled with relationships, characters readers know and love, and an emotional plot that runs the gamut from humorous to heart-wrenching. As always, the relationships between the characters, the romance, and the repartee all have a place in the telling of a tale that readers will find truly unputdownable.

Highly recommended. ( )