Unless something surprising shapes up as I write this, I don't think I have anything new to add to the general consensus that other reviewers have established for this novel, the first mystery in a series that features private eyes Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. If you've read Robert B. Parker's novels...
Where do I start? I want to like Robert Crais. I don't think he writes badly. I don't think he plots badly. I don't think his characters are bad. But none of them are good enough and every aspect of his work seems endemically infected with stereotypes. I picked up the Elvis Cole series on the...
ttIn his article “In the Mind of Others” (shared on Facebook by a friend; and now —surprise, surprise!— on sale online for six bucks or so; sorry I ain’t buyin’) Keith Oatley addresses the fact that psychologists, who for a long time scorned fiction, have recently revised their judgement and decl...
A more developed version of this appears on my blog, Irresponsible Reader, as part of my Reread Project.-----Many people see L. A. Requiem as the apex of the Cole series. For my money, Voodoo River is the apex of the series that began in The Monkey's Raincoat -- he's thoughtful, more meditative,...
This, right here, is the low point for the Elvis Cole series. So why, you ask, do you give this 3 stars? Am I just that much of a mindless fanboy? Well, probably. But that's not it. One's appreciation for this novel has everything to do with what you think of the clients. If you like them, ...
A more developed version of this appears on my blog, Irresponsible Reader, as part of my Reread Project.★ ★ ★ 1/2There are two stories being told by Crais in this book -- yes, interwoven and interdependent -- but two stories. The fun one involves Lucy Chenier coming out to LA for work and to see...
A more developed version of this appears on my blog, Irresponsible Reader, as part of my Reread Project.-----Elvis and Ben Chenier are hanging out for a few days while Ben's mom is out of town, Elvis and Lucy are still trying to recover from the hit their relationship took in Requiem. Ben goes o...
Hostage by Robert Crais is probably the fastest moving book that I've ever read. It is an action/crime genre with more twists and turns that you would never expect to come. Three teens Dennis, Mars, and Kevin messed up a robbery of a minimart and in their escape broke into a rich family's house. ...
I'm eternally grateful to Hugh for turning me onto this series. There was a Pike-shaped hole in my life that I didn't even know was there prior to listening to this book. Now, I can't go back to that Pike-free universe. In all seriousness, I really enjoyed this book. I totally loved Pike and Co...
Ok, a few rambling thoughts on Robert Crais. Who is this guy, where'd he come from, how'd he get so popular? Well the first thing to know is that Crais is not from California at all. He is a native of Louisiana, grew up in a blue collar family, and read his first crime novel The Little Sister ...
Robert Crais is best known for his series featuring L.A. private-eye Elvis Cole and Cole's partner, the inscrutable Joe Pike. But while I like those books, this stand-alone, originally published in 2006, remains my favorite of Crais's novels.Two thugs named Marchenko and Parsons are stricly amate...
Mace didn’t come out with the starter pistol. Leland came out instead, and brought along a short, wiry trainer named Paulie Budress. Scott had met the man twice during his first week of handler school, but didn’t know him. Budress was in his mid-thirties, and sported a peeling sunburn because he ...
We cruised the block once so that we could check out the house and the street. I said, “Does she live alone?” Cool T was sitting behind me, next to Ray Depente. “She live with her mama and sister. The sister got a pretty good job with State Farm, so she won’t be around, but the mama be there. She...
Joe Pike Pike watched Elvis Cole’s Corvette from a Shell station on the opposite side of the highway a quarter-mile from the Burger King. Jon Stone’s black Rover was on Cole’s side of the highway a quarter-mile beyond the Burger King. Whichever direction Cole left, either Pike or Stone would be o...
“Impossible. I never sleep.” “We’re back from Kyoto. Bradley wants to see you.” I had fallen asleep on the couch, watching a two A.M. rerun of It Came from Beneath the Sea with Ken Tobey and Faith Domergue. The cat had watched it with me and had fallen asleep on my chest. He was still there. I sa...
The big guy let the gun dangle along his leg but made no effort to hide it. A woman with two kids came out of a bakery across the street, saw the gun, then grabbed her kids and stumbled back into the bakery. I said, “Don’t you guys know it’s illegal to walk around with that thing?” The big guy sa...
Daniel loved fuckin’ amateurs, them being so easy to kill, but the bangers had so many people around the house, they were cramping his style. He continued downhill to the next street, then climbed into his van. Sign on the van was for something called Hero-Rooter—CALL A HERO TO SAVE THE DAY! DRAI...
He phoned Cowly to tell her what happened, but she’d already heard. She was annoyed, but not as angry as Scott expected. Cowly called him a knucklehead, and they made plans for dinner. Scott was relieved. Stiles brought him up to speed on the investigation, introduced him ...