Brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi

Betrayal in Death is the 12th installment of the futuristic In Death series by Nora Roberts written under her pseudo name, J.D. Robb.  It takes place in New York in the spring of 2059.  There have been many advances in technology, lasers are the weapons of choice, there are virtual reality units in just about every home and if you want to shed a few pounds just head to the local salon and buy a body sculpting treatment.  But one thing hasn’t changed; man’s desire to kill man.

Eve and Roarke are hosting a celebration at the Palace Hotel to honor celebrity, Magda Lane’s upcoming auction of all her memorabilia of her career.  The proceeds will all go to a charity foundation she has created.

But while everyone downstairs is having a grand time, a hired killer is upstairs taking care of business.  Beating, raping, and then killing an innocent maid that comes to clean his room.

The killer is quickly identified as Sly Yost a known hit-man that nobody has ever been able to apprehend.  He is suspected of over 40 murders in his lengthy career.  But in this case knowing the killer is only part of closing the case, Eve also needs to find out who hired him and fast as it becomes obvious that Roarke is the intended target.

This is another book that I liked, but it wasn’t fantastic.  The storyline was interesting and the case, especially the first murder really hit home with Eve taking her back to her horrific childhood.

I did struggle with remembering who a couple of the characters were throughout the book though as they were always mentioned by their first name and then all of a sudden were addressed by their last name or vice versa. It left me trying to figure out what I missed.  But once that was figured out the book was pretty straightforward.