Fury in Death

The novel is set in a near-future New York City where Lieutenant Eve Dallas leads the Homicide Division of the New York Police and Security Department (NYPSD). The story opens with a prologue set in the summer of 2048, thirteen years before the main events. Steve Redman, a young scientist and director at the Banner-Wyst corporation, has discovered that his employers plan to weaponize his climate-manipulation project, Rainmaker, to cause droughts and floods for profit rather than prevent them. He inserts a virus into the lab's computer network to lock others out of his data, copies evidence of the conspiracy, and plans to go to the FBI. He confides in his most trusted friend and colleague, who advises him to wait and find a less confrontational solution. Redman refuses. That night, while he walks to a nearby store to buy ice cream for his pregnant wife, Ari, his apartment building explodes. Two hundred and eight people die, including Ari, their two-year-old son Luke, and their unborn daughter. Thrown by the blast, Redman experiences a complete psychological breakdown and becomes catatonic.

Thirteen years later, in September 2061, Eve and her partner, Detective Delia Peabody, close a routine accidental death before Eve catches a new case. Lawrence Chu, director of bioengineering science at Banner-Wyst, has been beaten to death in his locked, soundproofed home office. Eve's husband Roarke, a billionaire and expert civilian consultant for the department, discovers the killer remotely shut down the office security using Chu's own code, entered through a window, and relocked everything upon leaving. Amid total destruction, a family photo on Chu's desk lies facedown but undamaged, a detail Eve considers deliberate.

Interviews with Chu's widow, Rachel, his adult sons, and family friends describe the victim as a devoted peacemaker with no known enemies. Roarke uncovers a secret Cayman Islands account Chu opened thirteen years prior with a $2.5 million deposit and ongoing payments separate from his salary. At Banner-Wyst headquarters, Director of Operations Jack O'Brian is cooperative but guarded, and co-founder Jacob Wyst grows uneasy when questioned about the payments.

A second murder confirms a pattern. Dr. Ezra Dent, a longtime Banner-Wyst employee, is beaten to death in his home in identical fashion. Two family photos are turned to face the wall but left intact. Roarke discovers Dent has a matching secret account opened the same day as Chu's. When Eve returns to confront Wyst, he becomes hostile, accuses her of acting on Roarke's behalf, has her escorted out, and contacts Chief of Police Tibble to demand her removal. Both Tibble and Commander Whitney firmly back Eve. She enlists journalist Nadine Furst to apply media pressure on Banner-Wyst.

The breakthrough comes from Arleen Norse, Wyst's ex-wife and an environmental lawyer. Norse recalls that thirteen years ago, a young director named Steven Redman had a breakdown after his family died in a gas explosion, and Chu replaced him. Eve discovers Redman was declared missing six years ago after walking out of his mental health facility. She visits Redman's sister, Olivia, who believes Steve died or took his own life. When Eve reveals the financial evidence linking the explosion to a corporate payoff, Olivia demands accountability. Melody Donahue, the private investigator the family hired, shares her files and notes she always sensed something wrong at Banner-Wyst.

Dr. Charlotte Mira, the NYPSD's top profiler, determines the killer is male, extremely strong, likely chemically enhanced, and driven by vengeance fueled by grief and survivor's guilt. Eve builds on this assessment, arriving at a further insight: Redman acts not from rage alone but from a sense of duty as a husband and father.

A third murder accelerates the case. Eve identifies Carlos Cruz, a demolitions expert, as the man hired to rig the apartment explosion. Roarke traces $8 million in payments to Cruz. Eve and Roarke rush to arrest Cruz but find him already beaten to death. In a hidden panel in Cruz's office, they discover weapons, fake passports, and records of his work encoded in a trilingual cipher. Eve assigns Captain Feeney and his Electronic Detective Division (EDD) team to break the code.

Mitchell Rosenthal, a football coach and Redman's childhood friend, comes forward to reveal that Redman came to him six years ago, borrowed money, and swore Rosenthal to secrecy. Redman has recently repaid the loan in cash, confirming he is alive. Nadine's sources reveal a restricted lab at Banner-Wyst managed by Lucia Delgato, a project chief who died three months earlier in a climbing accident in Spain. Peabody discovers photos linking Delgato to Cruz, and Eve concludes Redman killed Delgato first because she ran the restricted project and connected Cruz to the bombing.

EDD breaks Cruz's code, linking Banner-Wyst payments to Cruz for the apartment bombing and two additional bombings abroad. O'Brian flees the country, and Peabody traces him to Bora Bora under a false identity. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Cher Reo secures warrants, and Eve leads a large team to raid Banner-Wyst headquarters. In the restricted lab, they discover scientists developing airborne bioweapons and continuing climate-manipulation research. Commander Whitney personally arrests Calvin Banner, the company's other co-founder, at his Long Island compound. Eve races to a company penthouse where Wyst has fled, but Redman has already infiltrated the building through air ducts and elevator shafts, climbing fifty-three floors to kill Wyst before Eve arrives.

As Eve takes the elevator down, Redman drops from the ceiling grate and attacks her. She is badly outmatched by his chemically enhanced strength. He dislocates her shoulder, bruises her ribs, and knocks away her weapons, but insists he does not want to hurt her. He explains that while catatonic, he could hear everything: His trusted friend Chu confessing that he told the company about Redman's plans, Dent remarking callously that Redman should have cooperated, and Wyst taunting him that his family died because of him. He reveals that his enhancement serum, which he calls "Fury," keeps him alive while destroying his body. He tells Eve he trusts her to ensure everyone knows the truth, then escapes through the shaft.

EDD recovers a recording from Wyst's computer in which Banner admits ordering the bombing and dismisses the casualties as irrelevant. Eve interrogates Banner, playing his recorded words. Confronted with overwhelming evidence, Banner's lawyers negotiate a plea: multiple concurrent life sentences in an off-planet prison. Eve holds a media conference speaking directly to Redman through the cameras, announcing the arrests and emphasizing that the law will hold all parties accountable.

That evening, Eve attends a housewarming party at Peabody and her partner Ian McNab's new home, where her oldest friend, Mavis Freestone, goes into labor and delivers a healthy baby girl named Adora Dee, with the middle name honoring Peabody.

The next morning, Eve receives a call from the hospital. Redman has checked himself in, in massive organ failure. He tells Eve he watched her conference, believed her, and stopped taking the serum. He has destroyed all remaining serum and its formula. He asks Eve to swear that Banner and O'Brian will pay, and she promises they will die in prison. Minutes later, surrounded by his parents and sister, Redman dies. Eve reports his death to Commander Whitney, formally closes the case, and leaves the hospital with Roarke, moving from death back toward life.