The Watchman by Robert Crais

In Joe Pike, "the world's greatest detective's" enigmatic and stoically
violent sidekick of the "Elvis Cole" novels, the talented Robert Crais
has created one of most intriguing characters in contemporary popular
fiction. But with the wisecracking Cole still mostly sidelined from
injuries suffered in "The Forgotten Man", Pike takes center stage in
this well plotted, fast moving crime drama.



With his red-arrowed forearms "going forward, never back", Pike, to
repay an old debt, reluctantly takes on the task of protecting Larkin
Barkley, a spoiled LA society brat drawn with shades of Paris Hilton,
right down to the rat-dog-in-the-purse detail. Returning home from late
night revelry, Barkley t-bones a Mercedes full of the wrong people, and
in a convoluted twist, ends up as a witness under protection. But when
it becomes clear that the folks who'd prefer that Barkley not testify
are deadly serious, Joe Pike gets the job of keeping the pouting
debutant safe and sound.



As always, Crais' prose is witty and fast moving. Joe Pike, who is
about as chatty as Mount Rushmore, is cleverly contrasted against
Larkin's tantrums. And Elvis Cole, while taking care not to swing the
spotlight too far away from Pike's solo debut, throws around enough of
his patented one-liners to keep his hardcore base smiling. But if the
bond that builds gradually between Joe and Barkley stretches the bounds
of credibility just a bit, this is, after all, fiction, and besides,
Crais does a masterful job of building the sexual tension and creating
- perish the thought - the hint of a soft side to Pike's impenetrable
persona.

The two minute rule by Robert Crais

Two minutes, in and out, that's the rule for robbing banks in this
page-turning action ride around L.A. from bestseller Crais (Hostage).
Break that rule, and you can end up like Marchenko and Parsons, dying
in a violent shoot-out on the streets, the fortune from their string of
heists deeply hidden. Max Holman certainly knows the time limit better
than most. Dubbed the "hero bandit" by the press, he got caught during
a robbery after he stopped to perform CPR on a bank customer who had a
heart attack. About to leave prison on parole, the 48-year-old Max
hopes he can establish contact with the son he never really knew, now a
cop. When Max's son is murdered, suspected of being in a ring of dirty
cops seeking the Marchenko and Parsons loot, Max needs to know the
truth. The only person he figures can help him is Katherine Pollard,
the fed who nabbed him, who's now ex-FBI and a struggling single mom.
The perfect odd couple, they keep this novel personal and real as it
builds to an exciting twist on the bank-robbing rule.

Hostage by Robert Crais

The title of Crais's fiery third thriller (after L.A. Requiem and
Demolition Angel) can refer not just to the two sets of innocents held
at gunpoint in the story but to the reader, who will be wired tight to
the book. The novel launches with a familiar (as familiar as Demolition
Angel) premise: a soul-scarred cop here, former L.A. SWAT hostage
negotiator Jeff Talley, now chief of police of smalltown Bristo Bay,
Calif. plunges into an assignment that forces him to confront his
demons. The devil clawing Talley's brain is the dying gaze of a young
hostage he failed to save in L.A. Now three outlaws two lowlife
brothers and a homicidal maniac have, after botching a
robbery-homicide, taken refuge in a swank house in Bristo Bay. At their
mercy are the family's dad, whom they've knocked unconscious, and his
teen daughter and preteen son. The whopper of a complication is that
the dad serves as bookkeeper for Sonny Benza, West Coast mob kingpin,
and Benza will do whatever's necessary to retrieve the incriminatory
records secreted in the house before the cops storm the place. The
narrative ticks with suspense as Talley negotiates with the three
outlaws, and as they and the kids they're holding respond with panic,
fear and courage to the escalating tension. It snaps into overdrive as
Benza and his goons snatch Talley's wife and daughter, holding them
ransom for the records; the flow is marred only by a couple of cheap
turns obviously devised for the silver screen. Thriller vets will have
seen a lot of this before, but every virtuoso is allowed variations on
a theme, and Crais, with his record and with the smart suspense offered
here, has proven himself nothing less. (On-sale date: Aug. 7)Forecast:
Crais sells more with each title, and this will prove no exception. A
15-city author tour will enhance his visibility, as will forthcoming
film versions of Demolition Angel and of Hostage, which has already
been bought for Bruce Willis and MGM; Crais is writing the screenplays
for both films.

The forgoten man by Robert Crais

The Forgotten Man opens with Elvis’s being awakened
from a fitful sleep in the middle of the night by a phone call from a
police officer who asks him to come downtown and identify the body of a
murder victim. The officer tells Elvis that just before the man died he
said that he was Elvis’s father and was looking for Elvis. Elvis had
never known his father and was not sure if his mother even knew his
father’s name. The police officer who discovered the body tells Elvis
that news clips about Elvis’s heroic rescue of Ben were found on the
dead man’s person.

Demolition angel by Robert Crais

Like many authors with ongoing characters, Robert Crais has taken a
break from his famous private eye. After eight novels featuring Elvis
Cole and his loyal sidekick Joe Pike, Crais has created Carol Starkey,
a bomb squad veteran now doing time as a Detective-2 with LAPD's
Criminal Conspiracy Section. Three years have passed since the
detonation that killed Carol's partner and lover, but she is still
severely scarred both mentally and physically. She can't bear to look
in the mirror, and she hasn't been with another man since David
Boudreaux left her bed that last morning he went to work. She gets
through the day with the help of Tagamet and alcohol.

very different from the Elvis Cole series, and very well written. A very enjoyable read.

Indigo slam by Robert Crais

Elvis resorts to warm-hearted patronizing when young Teresa "Teri"
Haines tows her snotty 12-year-old brother Charles and sweet
nine-year-old sister Winona into his West Los Angeles office. Teri
announces that her decision to hire Cole comes from her library
research of old newspaper articles that praised him. She located him
through his Yellow Pages ad and is ready to pay cash for his time.
Clark Haines, the kids' father, has been missing 11 days. Haines
travels often, and their mother died five years earlier in a traffic
accident, so the children are used to being on their own. But this
extended disappearance has them worried.
While Cole's immediate inclination is to report the Haines kids to
Children's Services, he is impressed by Teri and agrees to consider the
job.

I have tried to read these books in sequence and I must say, although you could read them in any order and still enjoy them, some of the jokes are more apparent when read in sequence for example I love the old man at the airport that crops up in a coupl eof the books. The feeling of deja vu that Elvis experiences is similar to a reader that has read the books over a longer period of time, and would be missed if read in the wrong order.

Sunset Express by Robert Crais

When a wealthy LA restaurateur is arrested for killing his wife, his dream defense team hires PI Elvis Cole to investigate. The defense claims that Police Officer Angela Rossi planted the murder weapon at the scene. The evidence Elvis finds seems to support that theory until his doubts begin to mount and he digs deeper to find the truth with the help of his sidekick Joe Pike and his visiting friend, Louisiana attorney Lucy Chenier. Mystery fans will appreciate the writing, action, and distinctive supporting characters which highlight the vivid California setting with just the right amount of LA cool.

Voodoo River by Robert Crais

Los Angeles private eye Elvis Cole is hired by a famous television star
to find her biological parents, and is drawn into a frightening web of
deceit and danger when he discovers that the long-ago adoption was kept
secret for a very good reason.
I am really going through his books at a fair pace at the moment, and I must say, they are getting better and better. As I write this I am reading Sunset Express, the next in the series, and I *need* to order some more for the Easter break or I will be climbing the wall.

Free fall by Robert Crais

Elvis is back. No, not that one . . . the good one, the one who's
fun to read about. Elvis Cole, Los Angeles private eye, returns in the
fourth installment of a series in which there is way too much time
between installments. Jennifer Sheridan wants Elvis to find out what's
bothering her fiance, Mark Thurman, an undercover cop with an elite
LAPD unit. Jennifer is certain it's not another woman, but Thurman
himself tells Elvis the opposite. Elvis breaks the news to Jennifer in
a hilarious restaurant scene, but she convinces him to stay on the
case. Inevitably, Jennifer's suspicions turn out to be more than
wishful thinking. Take the Rodney King case and put this spin on it:
the guy with the camera was more interested in blackmail than justice.
Pretty soon Elvis and his borderline sociopath partner, Joe Pike, are
up to their smoking guns in renegade cops and angry gangs. Crais, who
also writes for television ("L.A. Law," "Hill Street Blues"), has
created a series hero who is tough, witty, resourceful, and even
romantic. Let's face it: we all want to be Elvis Cole when we grow up.

Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais

This is the second entry in the Elvis
Cole Los Angeles Private Investigator series. I guess this should be
more appropriately referred to as the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. I
read an interview by the author in which he stated that he didn't
suggest reading the books in order, as the recent books are much more
indicative of his style and the characters. In spite of that, I have
elected to read the books in order, and I am glad that I have. This
novel dwelves even further into the odd relationship between Pike and
Cole. Pike is at ease killing bad guys, or making Cole breakfast.


The mystery here, or case, involves the Japanese mafia, and one
very dysfunctional family that hires Cole to locate a missing Japanese
treasure. The story was enjoyable and the characters are outstanding.
The wise-cracking Cole had me laughing at several times as I read.
While Pike in all his stoic glory is a delight. This book really focues
on the true ambiguity that sometimes exists between right and wrong and
the good guys and the bad guys.

I also feel that the series is developing along the lines of the inspector Montalbano books in that there is more and more detail when describing food and how Elvis enjoys them.

Monkey's raincoat by Robert Crais

This is the first entry in Robert Crais' Elvis Cole series and is a
great read. Crais is a former TV writer who wrote for Emmy Award
winning series such as L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues. In Elvis Cole,
he creates a charcter who, on the surface, seems to be just another
wise cracking private eye, but is actually so much more. Along with his
perpetually sunglassed partner Joe Pike, Elvis owns a P.I. Agency in
Los Angeles. Pike is quite interesting as well. He says little and
lives life according to a strict code of discipline. He reminds me a
little bit of Clint Eastwood from his spaghetti western days. The book
opens with Elvis meeting with Ellen Lang & her friend Janet. It
appears that Ellen's husband Mort has kidnapped their son. Elvis
reluctantly takes the case and what appears to be a routine case of a
missing person turns into something much bigger. Through many twists
and turns involving small time Hollywood agents and actresses, he
eventually comes face to face with a Mexican crime lord, who is a
former bullfighter. He thinks Elvis has his missing cocaine and the
story ends with Elvis searching for the cocaine and a showdown in the
crime lord's compound. Crais weaves many interesting characters into a
fast paced, humorous tale. The book contains the right amount of twists
and turns to keep you on your toes, but not too many as to seem
implausible. He reveals just enough about Elvis & Pike for us to
get know them, but leaves somethings about them uncovered, so they can
be explored in future books.