THANKLESS IN DEATH

Lt. Eve Dallas goes up against a spoiled kid who’s suddenly developed a taste for killing.

Lots of families get a little edgy as Thanksgiving approaches. But that’s no excuse for Jerald Reinhold to stab his mother 54 times when she nags him once too often, then to lie in wait so that he can take a baseball bat to his father. Some sons would feel pangs of remorse after murdering their parents, but Jerry just feels powerful and liberated—finally he’s become a man, the way his whiny mother always wanted him to be—and, financed by the money he’s stolen from his parents’ accounts, he considers whom to kill next. Since Jerry’s nursed a grudge against the whole world since childhood, there are many candidates, but he settles on Lori Nuccio, the girlfriend who got him two jobs he couldn’t keep but threw him out when he hit her. Killing’s too good for Lori, Jerry decides, and he devotes several hours to torturing her first. Although the kid thinks he’s invulnerable, Eve, who’s been offered a Medal of Honor and a captain’s bars for her tireless work (Delusion in Death, 2012, etc.), is close behind him. The surveillance cameras outside his parents’ house instantly make him the leading suspect, and the trace evidence he cavalierly leaves at Lori’s apartment confirms his guilt. But his skill is growing with every murder, along with his bankroll. Which of the dozens of people who’ve crossed him over the years will become his next target, and how can Eve and her squad head him off?

Considering how few complications the chase offers, Robb does a fine job of keeping up the tension. Both the cops and the killer make use of more futuristic gadgets than usual.