Purity in Death

Book 88 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from December 9 - 14

Purity in Death by J.D. Robb

Book 15 of the In Death series

Summary (via Goodreads)

Louie Cogburn had spent three days holed up in his apartment staring at his computer screen. His pounding headache was unbearable--it felt like spikes drilling into his brain.
And it was getting worse. Finally, when someone knocked at the door, Louie picked up a baseball bat, opened the door, and started swinging....
The first cop on the scene fired his stunner twice. Louie died instantly. Detective Eve Dallas has taken over the investigation but there's nothing to explain the man's sudden rage or death. The only clue is a bizarre message left on his computer screen.
ABSOLUTE PURITY ACHIEVED
And when a second man dies under near-identical circumstances, Eve starts racking her brain for answers and the courage to face the impossible ... that this might be a computer virus able to spread from machine to man....

My Opinion

Maybe this line was supposed to be sexy but I found it unintentionally funny: "He was rock hard and desperate to mate".

I always read series in order but I really recommend doing so in this case.  The personal stories (such as everyone caring about the team member who was injured in this book) are an important element.

Maybe it's because we're always presented with the story from the cop's angle or maybe it's because the scumminess of the victims wasn't really played up but I didn't feel the moral questions some of the characters did about whether Purity is right or not.  However, it did capture some of the gray areas around making deals with certain criminals to catch "bigger" ones and how to justify it when not all the bad guys go to jail.

I got the worst headache about halfway through reading it.  Was it subliminal after reading so much about people having the worst headaches of their lives before dying?

Sometimes in these books you know either the 'why' or the 'who' and sometimes you're guessing until the end.  In this book we knew the 'who' and the 'why' and it was the most frustrating because they couldn't quite catch them yet because of legalities or because they stayed a step ahead for too long.  

A Few Quotes from the Book

" "Most people are, academically at least, barbarians." Morris smiled when she looked at him. "Easy to say 'Off with their heads' when you don't have to stand in the blood and have that head roll between your feet. A little of it splatters on them, they start calling for a cop."

   "I don't know, Morris, sometimes it splatters on enough of them, and they get a good taste, they turn it into a mob." "

" "Before we leave this topic, I'll tell you one more reason I did what I did this afternoon."

   "Because you like to show off?"

   "Naturally, but that isn't what I was going to say. I did it because whatever else I feel or believe or don't, I believe in you." "