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 when he was 15. And that's all it took. Chandler gave him his love for writing. Other authors that have inspired him were Hammett, Hemingway (seems like that's true of all the crime writers), Parker, and Steinbeck (huh?).How'd he get so popular? In short: television and L.A. Requim. Robert Crais has a very impressive resume as a screenwriter for such television series as Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice (damn, I loved that show too!), Cagney & Lacey. But what hits home the most with Crais himself is his work on the 4 hour mini series Cross of Fire which is about the Ku Klux Klan and is probably more relevant to his home state of Louisiana than it is to Hollywood. Following a growing dissatsifaction of a screen writer's constraints, Crais began writing novels. L.A. Requim, which is the 8th Elvis Cole novel, is what landed him as an author that defied all genres and in it outsurpassed even the legendary Ross Macdonald.Enough about Crais, the guy's good. So, what about Elvis Cole? Naming someone Elvis had to have been a fairly deliberate decision. To me the name seems iconic, Warholish, Disneylandish, a bit theatrical if not cynical. In fact his novels and trinkets therein are suffused with cultural icons: Spider Man mug, Jiminy Cricket (latent fantasy of wanting to be Peter Pan?), and his yellow Corvette. Even his slogan seems hamstrung with Hollywood's obsession with icons: Elvis Cole is The world's Greatest Detective! But in reality there's nothing ridiculous about Cole: he's tough, honest, ponders morality and ambiguity and hypocrasies while staring out the balcony window in his office.Yes, he's cynical, a smart ass, a comic relief in many ways...but behind the seeming humor lies a Dan Wesson .38, the Vietnam War, martial arts and his biggest gun of all: Joe Pike. Joe Pike, the avenging angel, is a tool used sparingly by Crais. Use him too much and you wonder why he isn't the main character (we know Crais has struggled with this as he produced 4 separate novels featuring Pike as the hero); use him too little and you start wondering why the big guns aren't being pulled out by Elvis. What you want to do is increase the anxiety level of the reader towards the hero, not get the reader frustrated with him. Crais handles this expertly...and uses Pike to increase the anticipation in readers.The Elvis Cole novels should be considered hard boiled detectives primarily in that Crais deviates from the traditional Romantic tradition found in detective stories and crime fiction by introducing Cole as a detective with a decidedly cynical attitude towards the emotions (i.e. apprehension, horror, terror, and awe such as are found in other crime and thriller stories). And yet, we find sprinkled throughout the books insightful observations of the world as seen through Elvis's eyes. In the following passage, Elvis observes the effects of dry brush fires raging through L.A.:Picture the detective at work in his office, fourth floor, Hollywood, as the Devil's Wind freight-trains down from the desert. Though dry and brutally harsh, the desert wind is clean. It pushes the smog south to the sea and scrubs the sky to a crystalline blue. The air, jittery from the heat, rises in swaying tendrils like kelp from the seabed, making the city shimmer. We are never more beautiful than when we are burning.Like I said, it really came together following the publication of his 8th Elvis Cole novel. Pike his side kick, Lou Poitras (Cole's detective friend) gruffy as ever, shifting view points, a relaxation of Cole's zany character...it all came together following L.A. Requim. So, believe me. All in all, you will not be disappointed with the Elvis Cole series. There are a lot of these novels so sit back and enjoy! I most certainly did.As with all series reviews, this one covers all the Elvis Cole books. So if you've read this review of mine than you've read 'em all.
An old man is gunned down in an alley and his last words were that he was looking for his son, Elvis Cole. Was the old man really the father Elvis never knew? That's what Elvis is trying to find out. But will he be able to live with what he finds?Much like The Last Detective, Robert Crais digs into Elvis Cole's past with the Forgotten Man. In the wake of the events of The Last Detective, the possible appearance of Elvis' unknown father drags him out of his depression and sets him into motion. It makes for a great story. Crais had me flip-flopping on whether or not Faustina was Cole's father for a good portion of the book.Like The Last Detective before it, The Forgotten Man deviates from the old formula of Cole and Pike stirring things up until the shootout at the end and spends more time exploring Cole's past. Cole has come a long way from being a Spenser ripoff.The friendship of Cole and Pike has been fleshed out quite a bit more in the last couple books and I had to fight back some man tears at the end. While they aren't as in love as Spenser and Hawk are, I find their relationship much more believable than Cole and Lucy's. Speaking of Lucy, she's beginning to annoy me as much as Susan Silverman. Not to spoil anything but I wish she'd stop vagina-blocking Starkey and let her and Cole get together.There is one thing in recent Elvis Cole books I'm not a fanatic about and that's the increasingly frequent changes in viewpoint from Elvis to one of the supporting cast. It's not bad and actually heightens the suspense sometimes but it makes it feel like I'm watching TV. Not necessarily bad but I'm not a huge fan.That's about all I can say without giving away too much. Cole's a clever guy but not unbelievably so and I recommend his adventures, especially the later ones, to all crime and mystery fans.
What do You think about The Forgotten Man (2006)?
I didn't enjoy "The Forgotten Man" as much as the other Robert Crais novels I have read. It does well in that it continues to develop the main characters with the primary focus on Elvis Cole's backstory and emotional vulnerability. The problems I had with this book was mainly with the portrayals of the antagonist and of Carol Starkey. By having a psychopath as the villain, it seems that Crais was attempting something more along the lines of a "Silence of the Lambs" genre. However, the bad guy doesn't ever feel like a fully developed character that poses an overwhelming threat until the end. Part of this is to keep the mystery of who this person is and what he is capable of doing. The other reason is to focus on how personally involved Elivs is to the victim of the case he is investigating, at the same time giving some insight into Cole's past. The story progresses too slowly at this point until the end, which happens lightning-quick and is very entertaining. I also had the same issues with Carol Starkey as I did in "Demolition Angel". I know that Crais wants to show her as a strong, intelligent woman with demons but she comes across as overly pathetic, especially compared to the effective manner in which the lead characters (Cole and Pike) have shown their strengths and weaknesses in the other books from this series. "The Forgotten Man" is a decent read but not as good as the previous two ("L.A. Requiem" and "The Last Detective"), both of which I very much enjoyed. I am a big fan of Cole and Pike and will look forward to reading Robert Crais's other works.
—Robert Haines
Ok Thank you Mr Crais. I didn't have this one all figured out and you even got me bawling at that little twisted ending you punk! So I didn't realize how much I really love Elvis and Pike, those two grow on you like smart ass big brothers that you always want on your side. These guys have such big hearts but they're really billy badasses with semi soft gooey centers. Anyway great story I caught the connection early on (spoiler alert) with the prefaced story but really didn't register that connection until the reveal. I had a Sixth Sense ahhhhhhhhh shhhhhh moment when I really should've seen it coming but it was a goodie. I hate that I love Lucy (kindred Louisiana blood in me and love the relationship between Ben and Elvis) but can't help but want to pull for Starkey and Cole, can't help it gotta root for the underdog. That kindred spirit between them, Lucy will never completely understand the life and will always need to separate herself from it to keep Ben safe, and ultimately it's a make or break point for the relationship. Can't help it I'm team Starkey.
—Heather Young
More insight to Elvis Cole's character ... and in a sense, to the depth of his friendship with Pike, especially during the last chapters. I will get to that later.This time, a murdered man in an alley, brings Cole to look further into his past, who his father is. The murdered man claimed to be Cole's father. I love the scenes of Cole's past, the part where he ran away few times to search for his father (whom his mother said to be a "human canonball"). The case takes a different turn (it always is, isn't it) -- and one hand, it's a good twist. One the other hand ... (view spoiler)[it saddens me that Cole still doesn't know the truth about his father (hide spoiler)]
—Ami
