In Gated Prey Eve Ronin is back in full force, pitting her black and white worldview against the infinite shades of gray synonymous with Los Angeles county.
In the third installment of this series, we see one of our favorite female protagonists continue to butt heads against the power structure and politics of the LASD. Despite being on the job for a limited time, Eve has proven herself a fast learner as she battles for survival both on the streets and inside the walls of the Sheriff’s Department.
To put a stop to a series of violent home invasions within the gated communities of Calabasas, Eve and her ‘oh so close to retirement’ partner Duncan Pavone set up a rather expensive undercover operation. Unfortunately it spills out into the street, endangers the general public and comes to a violent conclusion. When there is pressure from the top to call it a win and close the case, Eve pushes back as her intuition continues to tell her there is more to the story. What she lacks in experience as a detective, she makes up for in sheer will and doggedness. Her political savviness is also becoming finely tuned as she deftly maneuvers in and around the ambitions of the power players around her.
In this book, Goldberg does a fantastic job of balancing the pacing and drama of a traditional police procedural, while also weaving in the subplot around a potential TV show of Eve’s life and her (in)famous rise. For me, the tv pilot situation moves the story along in this one compared to being a drag in the previous book Bone Canyon.
This is going to be a must read series for me year after year. Eve is such a badass character who will stop at nothing to see that justice is done. I particularly enjoyed seeing continued growth of her self awareness and willingness to take advice from the small group of trusted individuals she surrounds herself with.
I can’t wait to see where Lee takes this series. He has really developed a fantastic character and the craziness of Los Angeles and Hollywood should give him enough material to keep this series running for a long time.
Follow Todd on Twitter or contact him via the site.
Purchase Gated Prey
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)
Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen
