<i>Bonded in Death</i> marks the 60th entry in the <i>In Death</i> franchise and it definitely lives up to, and may surpass, the previous 59. We’re skillfully taken back to the beginning of the end of the Urban Wars and to a dedicated group of twelve who are part of the Underground, centered in London. Fast forward to September of 2061 when a retired Italian cybersecurity man boarded a plane from Rome to New York, responding to a message from a comrade from those days, calling on an oath The Twelve had made after they were betrayed. Within minutes of landing, he’s dead, killed by a gas that has long been outlawed but that was often utilized during the Urbans. Left between two of his fingers? A fascimile of Eve Dallas’ card and a message that makes clear that killing Wasp was just the first attack meant to wipe out those of The Twelve who remained.

Knowing that Summerset had been a medic during the Urbans, Eve thought to tap him for information on that time period, only to discover that he was, in fact, one of The Twelve. Messages go out to the other remaining members and before she can blink, Eve’s home is turned into a safe house for a group of former Underground operatives. Characters come to life quickly and completely and the perpetrator of this latest tragedy is quickly identified. The most obvious suspect, unfortunately, died five years ago in a Manchester prison, where he was serving a life sentence for war crimes committed during the Urbans. Threads are located and carefully pulled and tugged, utilizing not just our usual cast of detectives and e-geeks, but a group of former spies who haven’t lost their skills. With their help, Eve fleshes out a profile of our killer and begins hunting him down ruthlessly.

In an effort to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that many things happen during the course of the story. Bombs are diffused, handguns are shot in public, innocent bystanders are almost taken out, and a young boy ends up kidnapped and held by our villain. Eve, however, with the help of her usual crew and the addition of the remainder of The Twelve, weaves those threads together to form a complete picture of the bad guy. And, in the end, with help from her entire team and the Commander, manage to take the suspect down. We get a brief visit with Nadine at the beginning and an even briefer update on The Big House Project (almost ready for move-in!) but most of the story focuses on the work being done to track down our killer with information coming out about the Underground and what each of The Twelve did then and how it relates to the now. The story was thoroughly engrossing and beautifully crafted. Summerset becomes even more well-defined as we find out more about his past, his wife, and his work during that turbulent time in history. I can’t wait to see what J. D. Robb has in store for #61!.

This was a wild roller coaster ride. High impact velocity. This is a very case centric book. This book is Eve Dallas at her best. She was hard hitting and fully locked on catching the murderer. I enjoyed how she systematically went through all the clues. We learned so much more about Summerset and his life before he met Roarke. This case has given Eve and Summerset a better understanding of each other. This is one of my favorite In Death books. JD Robb did an outstanding job of writing as to honor and celebrate the publication of her 60th In Death book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Bonded in Death, book 60 in this series, is by far my favorite book.
I've been reading this series since 1998, and Eve Dallas never disappoints me.
In this book, someone is targeting The Twelve, a group of comrads from the Urban Wars.
The group consists of people Dallas knows, so once again this becomes personal.
I love watching Dallas process her thoughts, her character is so well done, that I can picture her sitting at her desk, feet up, having a coffee, and wondering who stole her hidden candy bar.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.
I'm happy to recommend it to other readers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read Bonded in Death by J. D. Robb.

This is a series that continues to surprise, and never gets stale. J.D. Robb is THE master of character development with a cast of the most well-loved characters being written today.

Bonded in Death gives us some history regarding Summerset, who he was in his younger years, and the amazing group of people he had as "chosen family" - back in the day, and still.

One of my favorites in this series.