Review: New York To Dallas-JD Robb

Title: New York To Dallas

Author: J.D. Robb

Release Date: September 2011

Publisher: Penguin

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Rating: 5 Hoots

Reviewer: Krystal

Isaac McQueen is a savage pedophile who just can't quit. Now that he's escaped from New York's Riker Island, he has only three goals: Stay free; continue his perverted attacks; and wreak revenge on the cop who brought him down: Eve Dallas. J.D. Robb's 33rd futuristic In Death novel promises to take readers deep into the mind and heart of Eve Dallas than ever before.(Goodreads)

Review:
This book is yet another excellent novel in the In Death series. Eve Dallas is an NYPD officer who had captured and imprisoned pedophile Isaac McQueen. However, the antagonist of the story escapes…and seeks revenge against Dallas specifically. The story is complicated by Dallas’s past, a past filled with abuse and punishments. Dallas has moments where she re-experiences how she felt as a child which will evoke strong emotions in the reader, the mark of a good writer. Dallas slowly gathers up the pieces of her past, learning what really went on when she was eight. She figures out that her father, too, was a monster…and that she killed him to prevent him from committing more crimes. This book is very high energy and emotionally charged, the plot takes off from the point at which Dallas realizes McQueen is hunting her.
Dallas is a strong female character. There aren’t too many strong female characters in mystery and action novels, female readers will enjoy this book even more because of that quality. Dallas is likable as well; the reader will be rooting for her throughout the novel. She is courageous, intelligent, and compassionate-all of the qualities one could hope for in the protagonist of a book. The antagonist, McQueen, is portrayed as an evil, greedy, conniving pervert. The author clearly did research into this aspect of the book, his character is very believable. He utilizes information about Dallas’s past that he figured out and/or learned in jail against her. There is another secondary antagonist, one that emerges slowly in the novel, the reader will learn that he comes from Dallas’s past and is returning to haunt her. The secondary characters are not focused on very much, but they work well to round out the novel. The majority of the secondary characters function as Dallas’s support system, helping her through the sordid memories of her past.
The emotions that the main character in this novel feels are raw and intense. The plot is unusual, but very well detailed and thought out; the events are fast-paced and exciting. This book is recommended to adults.