Concealed in Death
“All superb storytelling aspects combine to make Concealed in Death another intellectually engaging and emotionally satisfying novel. Loyal readers will finish Concealed in Death eager for volume 39.”
This, the 38th volume in the Eve Dallas futuristic police-procedural romance series, can perhaps be considered the Christmas edition.
That’s not to say it’s full of silver bells and Santa Clauses. Christmas itself has little to do with the plot. Instead, it’s a backdrop to the story that subtly affects it. This time, there’s no violence against the characters, and they interact with more sentimentality and love than usual.
The violence is reserved for the victims. But here too its effect is softened: Everything occurred in the past. Eve’s husband, Rourke, discovers a dozen wrapped bodies cached in the walls of a building he has bought to renovate. They have been there for fifteen years.
This delivers to Eve a very cold case just when the world outside gets cold, too. So the story is tightly focused on investigation. Nevertheless, it involves not only her colleagues but also her loved ones—an overlapping group—because it digs deep into the street life of troubled youth who fall through the cracks of the system.
In Eve’s world of New York City in 2060, social institutions haven’t progressed far beyond their state today. They are still underfunded and understaffed, impaired by bureaucracy, and overwhelmed by the number of people who need help. And there’s always a bad apple in every bunch—in this case wolves hiding among the lambs.
Eve and Rourke were both children who fell through the system’s cracks, she in the U.S. and he in Ireland. Their brutal backstories have colored many a volume in this series. Those experiences, however, allow them to see through smokescreens and confusion to the likely causes of murder. Eve’s particular ability to find “the ugly pieces to the puzzle of the world . . . [and] put them where they belong” leads her inexorably to the killer.
Crucial links in this case are provided by Eve’s best friend, Mavis. She was a street urchin who overcame a nightmare life to become a superstar. Without the facts of her life, and insights provided by this troupe of characters-who-overcame-hardship, the murders would remain unsolved and justice never delivered on behalf of a dozen lost daughters.
Personal triumph is a theme throughout the series. Ms. Robb explores it from many angles, and uses it to motivate or bias her characters in each adventure. This gives them compassion and perspective that keep them believable. As the series advances, Eve and company continue to evolve.
Evolution applies to romance, as well. Eve and Rourke find as much appeal in each other while growing closer through her cases as they did during courtship. Their crime-solving and time-management abilities also serve their love affair, in that they somehow find time for a few passionate rolls in the hay during the frenetic pace of every investigation.
All superb storytelling aspects combine to make Concealed in Death another intellectually engaging and emotionally satisfying novel. Loyal readers will finish Concealed in Death eager for volume 39.