Robert CraisGenre: PI Mystery
Published: 1987
Personal Rating: 3.5/5
Yearly Count: 6
The Elvis Cole Detective Agency consists of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike with the office located in Los Angeles. A married woman enters the office and wants to hire them to find her missing husband and nine-year-old son. The investigation includes some hit or miss strategies, but then they get on the right path and find themselves immersed in the world of drugs and murder. Lots of murder.
I believe this makes my 7th Crais book. I have read 4 in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series and several standalones. This one happens to be the first in the series. Being that I headed back to the beginning, my hope was to gain some insight on Elvis and Joe, but that didn't happen. I guess the later books give enough background that the earlier books aren't required reading to understand the characters.
I did find that this one was not quite as good as others, but I still enjoyed it. There were a few things I didn't care for, but if my memory serves me right, I think further into the series some of those wrinkles are ironed out. This was not bad writing by any means, but I can see and feel the difference in his writing today versus 1987.
Love your review!
ReplyDeleteI was first introduced to this author in 2007. I look forward to reading more. :)
Being my usual rigid about series self, I'm going to be reading them in order. I've got this one out from the library and it will be my first book by him. I like to read series in order to see the progression (or not) of an author's style.
ReplyDeleteJ. Kaye ~ I really enjoyed his standalones as well. Hostage was great, then they made it into a movie. The book was much better, of course. :)
ReplyDeleteSuzi ~ I think you'll like it. You should be able to sense the progression. I read somewhere (I think B&N) that he doesn't suggest starting at the beginning, due to his writing abilities back then. :)
Joy: I am reading this one now for the challenges. I have been a fan of Crais for a while. My dad gave this to me over Christmas in a bag of books he'd finished. Pretty neat having a dad and a sister who love the same genres I do. Well, for the most part. Mysteries of most types, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI love Elvis Cole, but not as much as Myron Bolitar....
Vickie ~ I like Elvis in his later books more than this one for sure, but yes, I think Myron Bolitar takes the lead.
ReplyDelete