Survivor in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: August 30, 2005 (Berkley)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #20
Rating: 9/10

The title of this In Death book is especially fitting. A well-to-do family is slaughtered by military-style hitmen, but Lexie, a little girl escapes because she got up during the night to sneak a soda. Her best friend, sleeping over, took the hit intended for Lexie.

Lexie, the survivor of her family's cold deaths, made the story so compelling. This little girl who did everything right when professional killers is alone in the world, and looking at Eve with big eyes for justice. And we know that Eve doesn't do well with kids... She found the child, hiding in a bathroom, and seeing the little girl smeared with blood brought Eve's childhood nightmare rushing back to her on the job.

Eve and Roarke deal with a bunch of things that make them uncomfortable. Mavis is around, helping with Lexie, and at first opportunity grabs Eve's hand to touch the growing bump of her pregnancy. Most of us find experiencing that heartwarming, but Eve regards pregnancy as a time when an alien being is growing inside your belly. They have to care for Lexie as she has nightmares and asks awkward questions about death, and it gives the reader a peek into the future, when she and Roarke have kids, if that ever happens in the series.

Really good read for characters, but mystery was eh for me. There have been better.