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 off to play outside while Elvis is on the phone with Lucy, and then he doesn't come back. Elvis gets scared, finds his video game laying in the brush below Elvis' house. It's not too long afterwards that they get a call -- the boy didn't get lost, he didn't run away -- he was abducted.The investigation gets into full swing fairly quickly -- Elvis calls in some favors from the police to help. Here we meet investigator Carol Starkey (from Crais' Demolition Angel) who vacillates between appreciating Elvis' investigatory skills and being annoyed with him. Lucy's ex comes in, pushing his investigators into the investigation, trying to push Elvis out and generally making life difficult for him. Richard clearly has an Elvis-shaped chip on his shoulder and uses this circumstance to throw dirt on his ex-wife's new love. It seems that Ben's kidnapping is related in some way to what Elvis did in Vietnam, and both the reader and those involved in the investigation learn a lot about something that Elvis thought he was done talking about. On the one hand, I'm still liking Lucy less and less for more of the same that I complained about last time. But that's not to say I disagree with her -- when she tells Joe Pike that the way he and Elvis live isn't normal. I don't like the way violence follows you; you and him. I've known police officers all my life, and none of them live like this. I know federal and state prosecutors who've spent years building cases against murderers and mob bosses, and none of them have their children stolen . . . I am normal! I want to be normal! Are you so perverted that you think this is normal? It isn't! It is insane!. She's right. But . . . well, see what I said last time. I sympathize, but I still don't like her any more.Now, this isn't just a manhunt for the kidnappers -- there's plenty for Elvis to investigate, a few twist and turns and -- of course, secrets unearthed and a decent helping of violence. The emotional toll these events take is worse than anything else, all things considered. Although the focus is on Elvis and the search for Ben. We do learn a little more about Pike (no problems between he and the LAPD this time). We get a different explanation for Joe's need for order and cleanliness than I'd surmised from Requiem, but it's probably a combination. I'm only talking about it so much because for so long it's what little we knew about him -- he liked his Jeep spotless and everything immaculate. Joe displays his typical loyalty to Elvis here -- it's typical for him, it's out-of-place in today's world on the whole. He even takes on a debt that sets up a future book, a detail I hadn't really paid attention to until now, but it was a huge move on his part.John Chen returns -- and is again helped to gain a bit of the spotlight he so craves, but he's got skills of his own (and is probably learning a good deal from Joe and Elvis). He's still a not good guy, really, but you can't help but like him. I had a brief moment of fan-boy excitement when everyone's favorite Vietnam Tunnel Rat turned LAPD detective puts in a cameo. It really helped lighten the oppressive mood. It was nice to see him in these pages, it was nicer still that it happened when it did.This is the most intense, fastest-paced Elvis Cole novel yet. It's all forward momentum (see Pike's tattoos). Part of this -- maybe a large part of this -- has to do with the fact that it's a kidnapping case, every minute counts. It certainly doesn't hurt that every chapter leads off with "X Hours, Y Minutes" since the kidnapping. This is really great stuff here. Even though I remembered why the various villains were up to their villainy, seeing it revealed to Elvis still got me riled up as it was intended to, and though I knew how both the kidnapping and related stories wrapped up, I was still glued to the pages, turning as fast as I could. Which is the sign of a master of suspense writing -- that even when there's no suspense, the reader is still reacting as if there was.
This is a very uneven effort by Robert Crais. There are some great things about the book, and others that are not very good. On the negative side, Crais does what a lot of authors seem to want to do these days, shifting from first person to third person, back and forth. Maybe some readers enjoy that, but for this reader, it creates a feeling of swerving from one voice to another. This gets exacerbated at the end of the book where Crais shifts viewpoints among the different characters. It is confusing and would have been better told from just a straight third person narrative. Still, it is good to see Crais taking chances and experimenting, even if this one didn't work.The mystery is not much of a whodunnit. As soon as a particular character appeared, early on, I figured out the rough sketch of the plot. So, if you like to be surprised with an amazing plot twist that leaves you shocked, this is not the book. On the positive side, Crais has come up with some great adversaries for Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in this book. The villains are part of a shadow world that must exist, but one which not many people think about much. Their histories and actions are pretty well thought out, and when the time comes for a showdown, they put up a great fight.If "L.A. Requiem" was the "Joe Pike" novel, this is the book where we get to know Elvis. We learn about his childhood and army experience, all of which richly adds to his character. Carol Starkey from "Demolition Angel" makes an appearance, along with the criminalist, John Chen. Most fun of all is the appearance of Detective Harry Bosch, from Michael Connelly's novels. Crais and Connelly do include each others' detectives in their work from time to time, and the scene with Bosch is well done, although Bosch is never named.The ending is just fantastic, although all of the voice and character switching detracts from the action. It is worth the sub-par mystery plot just to get to the slam-bang finish. So all in all, a good effort and worth the time to read.
What do You think about The Last Detective (2004)?
Worth it just to learn more about the internal machinations of Joe Pike's mind and to see Elvis at a true all-time low point. It's easy to see Elvis as the superhero of this series, and it's refreshing to see that he has the capacity to lose his cool and royally fuck up. It's a truly thrilling read that delves into the pasts of both protagonists. Learning more about Elvis's time in Vietnam and Joe's fucked up childhood is always awesome. The stakes are high, the villain is scummy to the core, the twists come fast and hard, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. This book also introduces the ex-bomb-squad badass Carol Starkey (from Demolition Angel) into the series, and I absolutely loved her and Elvis's banter throughout. I didn't read many of the books that preceded this one, but I might recommend doing so because there are some important events regarding Elvis and Lucy that are explained beforehand.
—Paul
#9 in the LA PI Elvis Cole series.LA PI Elvis Cole series - Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. When she moved from Louisiana to join Elvis in Los Angeles, she never dreamed that violence would so easily touch her life -- but then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, Ben disappears without a trace. Desperate to believe that the boy has run away, evidence soon mounts to suggest a much darker scenario. Joining forces with his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, Elvis frantically searches for Ben with the help of LAPD Detective Carol Starkey, as Lucy's wealthy, oil-industry ex-husband attempts to wrest control of the investigation. Amid the maelstrom of personal conflicts, Elvis and Joe are forced to consider a more troubling lead -- one indicating that Ben's disappearance is connected to a terrible, long-held secret from Elvis Cole's past.
—Ed
Race-against-time thrillers always start at a disadvantage with me, and that disadvantage doubles if it's because there's a child in peril. But Crais pulls it off here, largely because he takes the opportunity to show us more than shootouts and car chases. His exploration of Cole's military service is both haunting and moving, and how the events of the book change Cole's relationships with those he loves is a whole lot more true to life than you typically find in such books. Cole's not as funny here as he normally is, but you get a much closer look at his world.
—Jessica
