The Promise by Robert Crais

First Line: The woman stood in the corner of the dimly lit room, hiding in shadows like a fish in gray water.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are the kind of men who keep their promises. Whatever it takes. When Elvis is secretly hired to find a grief-stricken mother, he finds himself at a house in Echo Park containing a desperate fugitive and a secretive criminal who will stop at nothing to continue his murderous ways.

LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and Maggie track the fugitive to the same house and come face-to-face with Mr. Rollins, who's just killed the man Maggie was tracking. One of Mr. Rollins' rules is to never leave a witness alive-- and Scott is the only person who can identify him.

Scott and Maggie have been targeted by Rollins. Elvis Cole has been targeted by the LAPD. (That pesky vow of secrecy.) There's only one way to survive: Elvis and Joe must join forces with Scott and Maggie to put an end to Mr. Rollins and to find the missing woman.

Robert Crais's Suspect was one of my best reads in 2015, and Scott and Maggie were the main reasons why I read The Promise. (I stopped reading the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels before Crais hit his stride.) I found this book to be another page-turner just when I was in the mood for lots of action.

All in all, I thought there needed to be a bit more from Mr. Rollins because his threats to Scott and Maggie really ratcheted up the anxiety levels. But that could've been a slippery slope. Although Scott and Maggie's scenes really played up the dog's intelligence and training, readers tend to be very touchy when danger to animals is concerned. (Almost better for the human characters to come to harm!) 

Yes, I was fully engaged in reading this book and rooting for the good guys. I would love to give it my highest rating, but when all is said and done, the characterizations fell a bit short for me. Joe Pike seemed to be an afterthought, and Elvis's wit and wisecracks were missing. Even Scott seemed subdued. Only Maggie earned all her kibble. However, The Promise still ranks high as a thriller.
   

The Promise by Robert Crais

ISBN: 9780399161490

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2015

Hardcover, 416 pages

Private Investigator, #16 Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery

Also features Scott James and Maggie

Rating: A-

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.  


 

Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais

Title: Stalking the Angel
Author: Robert Crais
ISBN: 0553286447, Bantam Books, 1992
Genre: Private Investigator, #2 Elvis Cole mystery
Rating: C+

First Line: I was standing on my head in the middle of my office when the door opened and the best looking woman I'd seen in three weeks walked in.

When Bradley Warren and his assistant, Jillian Becker, try to hire Elvis Cole to find a stolen (and priceless) Japanese manuscript, Cole isn't all that eager to accept the case. Warren rubs his fur completely the wrong way. But when Warren's young daughter is kidnapped, the P.I. puts aside his differences and starts tracking down the bad guys.

When I read the first Elvis Cole mystery, The Monkey's Raincoat, I fell head over heels for Elvis and his partner, Joe Pike. Unfortunately, while reading this second book in the series, the bloom was off the rose. The plot, the pacing, the writing are just as good, and I still love Elvis and Joe, but reading Stalking the Angel made me realize something:

The reason why I don't read many mysteries featuring the hard-boiled types of private investigators is because I have a very low tolerance for the plots.

The plots all seem to be the same. Some drop dead gorgeous broad clacks her way into the P.I.'s seedy office, bats her eyelashes, and persuades the manly investigator to do something he really doesn't want to do. There's usually an obnoxious male cretin on hand as a foil for the P.I. and his wisecracks. At least 30% of the characters are pond scum, and the P.I. hero has to have the crap beaten out of him at least once. Preferably twice.

Unfortunately (for me) the plot and the formula went hand in hand in this book. I still love Elvis and Joe, but I think this love affair just has no room for growth. And before any of you die hard fans gang up on me, let me say once more that these books are well-written and the two main characters are fantastic. Even though the story lines aren't my cup of tea and I seriously doubt that I will read any more books in the series...

...if you give me an ELVIS AND JOE 4EVER!!!! bumper sticker, I'll cherish (and use) it with pride.

[Source: Paperback Swap.]

The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais

Title: The Monkey's Raincoat
Author: Robert Crais
ISBN: 0553275852, Bantam Books, 1992
Genre: Private Investigator, #1 Elvis Cole mystery
Rating: A

First Line: "I'm sorry, Mr. Cole, this has nothing to do with you."

Several years ago people began mentioning Elvis Cole to me. Hmm...my last name, my mother's favorite singer.... I duly filed away the information. The people doing the mentioning probably thought I'd blown them off, to which I would reply: Just because I don't lay rubber the second you mention an author I might like doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Sometimes I think part of my brain is an aquifer; it takes time for some of these authors to percolate down to the Do Something Level. I finally reached the Do Something Level with Elvis Cole, and now I've got a big smile on my face knowing what I've got in store for me.

Elvis Cole is a private investigator with a shadowy partner, Joe Pike. Joe isn't around all that much, which suits most people just fine. Let's face it-- the man scares people to death, and according to Elvis, "Pike thinks Clint Eastwood talks too much." Elvis has a life that suits him just fine. A Vietnam vet, his hero is Peter Pan, and he thinks very highly of Jiminy Cricket. (So do I. Jiminy taught me how to spell encyclopedia.) I also have to admit that the Pinocchio clock he has on his office wall fascinates me. Peter Pan...Jiminy Cricket...Pinocchio...when Ellen Lang walked into his office to hire him to find her missing husband and son, I knew that I was about to embark on a rather unusual investigation. I was led to a viper's den of criminals, drugs and sex, but I feared not, for Cole and Pike were with me.

By the time I finished, I had some new friends in Elvis and Joe. (I have a healthy respect for Joe, but he doesn't scare me. Yet.) The investigation itself isn't all that complex or unusual, but it moves quickly and taught me to pay attention to small clues and subtle nuances. The real reason why this book is such a standout rests squarely on the shoulders of Elvis Cole. It's as though, once he made it out of Vietnam in one piece and decided he wanted to be Peter Pan, his decision stripped away several layers of adult apathy and cynicism. This man can eat ice cream, watch an obnoxious customer torment the counter girl...and be incapable of pretending it isn't happening. When Mr. Obnoxious is persuaded to leave, Elvis leaves his business card with the girl. "If anyone ever bothers you...let me know."

And that's the strength of Elvis Cole--he cares. If that's what happens when a person decides to be Peter Pan, I say we should all start flapping our arms and taking flying lessons. In The Monkey's Raincoat, Robert Crais has set his stage with two superb characters in Cole and Pike, and I just happen to have Acts Two (Stalking the Angel) and Three (Lullaby Town) waiting in the wings.

Now if I could only find myself one of those Pinocchio clocks....





[A word of warning: anyone who has a low tolerance of violence may want to pass on this series.]