This is an intense police procedural story. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is a fierce a determined protector of the innocent. The plot moves quickly as Eve and her team hunts a killer targeting teenage girls. The cast of characters are varied, colorful and interesting. The author keeps the reader turning the pages as clues pile up and the killer is eventually revealed.

Death, suspense, action, and drama immediately pull readers into Random in Death by J. D. Robb (pseudonym for Nora Roberts). This well-written futuristic police procedural is set in New York City (NYC) in the summer of 2061 and features Lieutenant Eve Dallas with the NYC homicide police department. Sixteen-year-old Jenna Harbough has finally gotten parental approval to watch her favorite band play live at a club. Her idol Jake Kincaid catches her eye while she’s on the dance floor. It’s the best night of her life. Minutes later she stumbles outside and dies. Eve is called to the scene. Was Jenna targeted specifically or was she a random victim?

Time spent with Dallas, Roarke, Delia Peabody (Eve’s partner), and Eve’s colleagues is always entertaining. The main characters are compelling and three-dimensional. Eve is honorable, honest, has strong moral principles, and has a strong sense of duty to victims and their families. Her need to serve and protect comes through in every book, but the underlying impetus for this is best understood by reading this series in order. As always, the interactions between Eve and Roarke are enjoyable and bring a different facet of Eve’s personality to light. It’s fascinating to see how Eve’s mind works getting a better and better picture of the killer. I enjoyed seeing Peabody continue to take on more responsibility in this story line as well as Detective Jenkinson. Readers get to see a bit of the private lives of Peabody and her significant other, McNab. Additionally, Nadine Furst and Jake Kincade share more of the limelight in this novel.

It is amazing that after fifty-eight books this author can still use prose to elicit a strong emotional response from readers. The novel has a deeply involved plot that is thought-provoking and tragic. Robb weaves humor into her novels, providing levity to offset some of the more serious and grim aspects of the story. She brings strong characters, great plots, wonderful relationships, and excellent pacing to the series. Woven through the novel are threads of caring for others, standing for victims, friendship, relationships, ego, justice, leadership, love, respect, and trust. Additionally, there are themes of murder, shock, denial, grief, power, rage, dominance, punishment, arrogance, and much more.

Robb is an excellent storyteller who combines a creative plot with suspenseful scenes, lots of solid police investigation, and some action. The writing is fluid and the ever-present threat that was looming kept me rapidly turning the pages. Besides the investigation, Dallas’s solid investigative techniques and her relationships with her friends and colleagues drive the narrative. It has the right balance of mystery, police investigation, romance, and creative twists.

Overall, this novel was a twisty tale with great characterization that kept me engaged throughout the story. If you enjoy engaging near-future police procedurals, then I recommend this series. This is the fifty-eighth book in the In Death Eve Dallas series and I have read all of them up to this point. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

St. Martin’s Press and J.D. Robb provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for January 23, 2024.

4.25 Stars 🌟

58 Books in and I'm still excited every time I see a new book come out. That just boggle's my mind. But Ms. Robb/Roberts does not disappoint.

One of the things that I think makes this series so compelling is the relationships that have been built between the MC's and all of the secondary characters. We, as readers, have tagged along as we watched Eve Dallas go from a new police officer who kept everyone at arms length, to the brilliant and compassionate person she is now. Despite Eve's bafflement, she now has Roarke at her side and a circle of friends that seems to be growing. Seeing Peabody and McNabb, and now Nadine and Jack....these are the things that takes this series to a higher level. But, I digress.....

This case is not one of the best cases, but it is still interesting. There is that feeling of rushing against the clock that does seem to build as everyone knows that the killer is going to kill again. I do love the cases where Roarke has a bigger role and this is one that he decides to push his things aside in order to help her where he can. Not much more to say without spoilers other than the bad guy in this one is a true psychopath and he is written in a way that gave me chills...but, no spoilers.

As usual, it was over too soon and as excited as I was to start it, I was doubly sad that it was over. So, the wait now begins for Book 59. Isn't it crazy to say that??

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

WHAT a THRILLER! It's been a few years since I picked up a JD Robb - still does not disappoint.
Eve is called to the scene of a club - a famous rock band performing for their old neighborhood. A young, talented girl injected with a massive amount of drugs. No reason. No sense crime.
The next night - it happens again. No connection. Random.
I love Roarke and Eve, Peabody and McNab and all the other characters. They are like old friends.

I like this book more than the last few. It is more emotional and a little different than the standard criminal. I have noticed that the theme iof entitled, arrogant, I’m smarter than you males shows up in a lot of these books as the killer(s). It makes me wonder. #RandominDeath #NetGalley

I love this series! This one was so intense given that the victims were younger but when Eve is on the hunt there is no doubt she will be the victor. These books just seem to grow with characters but I love how it just honorably mentions and still delivers the story. It’s been awhile since I picked up a book in this series but it took no time to get lost in one! Five stars! This is one timeless series!

I received a complimentary copy to read and this is my opinion!

In Random in Death, J.D. Robb takes readers on a riveting journey into the heart of darkness as Lieutenant Eve Dallas faces a sinister serial killer. The story unfolds with Jenna's tragic fate, injecting urgency into Dallas's pursuit of a murderer armed with a lethal mix of substances and infectious agents. The 58th installment in the In Death series reinvigorates the narrative with a relentless pace, intricate character development, and fresh plot elements, such as the exploration of infectious agents and drugs as murder weapons. Robb skillfully balances the evolving relationships of the characters with a meticulously crafted plot, resulting in a gripping blend of suspense and character-driven storytelling. Fans will find the familiar ensemble cast as authentic and engaging as ever, while newcomers can delve into this standalone thriller that showcases Robb's mastery of the crime and police procedural genre, offering a thrilling and satisfying reading experience.

5/5 star! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down. I ended up reading it in one sitting. Random in Death is book #58 in the In Death series and it did not disappoint. It was typical J.D. Robb. This book is released January 23, 2024. Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and J.D. Robb for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Random in Death pits Eve against a murderer who thinks they are smarter than everybody including the cops set to take them down. This is going to take the skills of everyone on the case. Nobody likes it when a child is murdered so heinously. This book is a perfect example of why this series can continue without getting stale.

I enjoyed this book. I love the character development that has happened for these characters in the series, but I feel like this one was action-packed and didn't have as much talk of the relationships. It was still enjoyable.

Overall while I still LOVE this series, I think that it's time to wrap it up. I felt like I had read this plot before, and it's time to give the characters their happy ending.

I've been reading about Eve Dallas and Roarke for a long time.
Eve is a strong character, no nonsense, strong in her role as lieutenant, but due to her past childhood, she also has some doubts about herself. Roarke is the perfect man for her, strong, determined and loves Eve more than life.
In Random in Death, someone is targeting young females, injecting them with a deadly combination that will take them down in minutes, making them suffer, humiliating them, and exciting him to no end.
As Eve, Dallas, Roarke, McNabb, Feeney, and all the rest work to find out who the person is, I'm always impressed with how she connects the dots, and I'm always so happy to read a new book in this series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

This is the 58th in a series and still excellent. I was bought to smiles and tears while reading Random in Death. I think it is the kindness amid the evil, the good people with love along with the bad filled with hate that make the book and series work, Many recurring characters join Eve in her investigation

With Random in Death, #58 in the in Death series, Eve, Roarke and all our favorite characters return with another page turning mystery. In this one Teenage girls are being killed with a stab of a needle in the middle of large crowds, and our team must find the killer. Each novel has a focus on Eve, Roarke, and Peabody with various other team members taking on a more meaningful role depending on the story. In this one we get to see more of rock star Jake, Nadines significant other.

Although I have enjoyed each and every one of these stories, the last few were not as quiet as compelling to me, but this one felt more like the earlier ones when I just had to keep turning the pages to find out what happened. As always I think these books could stand on their own, but would be better if you started from the beginning to get to know all the characters and watch them grow, which I know can be quite a project since there are so many. Its definitely worth it though if you like to escape to homicide stories set in the near future, with the same wonderful characters and a married couple who work together through more than 50 books.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for this e galley for an unbiased opinion.

A solid installment, as always, but the incel character (is there a good way to do an incel character?), is so flat it's almost silly.

I was sooo freaking excited to get an ARC of this book! My absolute favorite series, love Eve and Roarke so much. Another great installment of a great series and I highly recommend this book!!

I enjoyed this book. It was really fun to read. It was full of suspense, romance. And a lot of sense of humour.. I'm not much of a fan of science fiction, but I love the ones that J.D. Robb writes. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

Random in Death by J. D. Robb is easily read as a standalone or as part of the ongoing In Death series. May be enjoyed by futurist thriller fans, this book moves quickly through the crimes and the resolution. Entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for providing an early copy of Random in Death by J. D. Robb

With 58 Eve Dallas episodes written and celebrated, some readers may wonder if there is anything left in this compelling and engaging series of police work in 2060s New York City. As a reader of the series for over ten years, an audiobook fan and listener to Podcast in Death, this newest J. D. Robb/Nora Roberts effort will continue to hold the reader's attention from the opening scene to the final page. While the plot appears similar to a few of Eve Dallas's earlier encounters with murderers, the continued development of the characters that readers have come to personally bond with make this a "must read". For example, the Nadine and Jake story line takes an endearing turn at a time of grief and sadness. Another strong plus is nearly all the supporting characters make some kind of appearance including Agent Teasdale and Marlo Dern.

The presence of teenagers as both perpetrator and victims in a gruesome case of teenage girls randomly injected with a heroin mix causing death lead Eve to enter a world of language, fashion and entertainment that she is unfamiliar with; of course, these factors will not keep Eve from developing her razor-sharp theories and methods for apprehending the criminal.

I never fail to point bookstore browsers looking for a new detective series to the In Death shelf and encourage them to give Eve Dallas a try. From Naked in Death to this latest episode, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is a "forever" figure in policy work.

Great book!! Wow very chilling!! This book had a bit of everything! It had high suspense, Action, intrigue, mystery, murder, serial killer, revenge, a great who done it, great plot twist, great police work, and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle!! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

I'm a shameless JD Robb/Nora Roberts fan, so it's not a surprise that I continue to love each installment of this series. Is it more of the same? Yes. But that's why I love them! The mystery is interesting and detailed in each book, side character stories are developed, and I enjoy the near-future setting. I'm here for a good time, not expecting something revolutionary.