Blurb....
When quiet Ellen Lang enters Elvis Cole's Disney-deco office, she's lost
something very valuable - her husband and young son. The case seems simple
enough, but Elvis isn't thrilled. Neither is his enigmatic partner and
firepower Joe Pike.
Their search down the seamy side of Hollywood's studio lots and
sculptured lawns soon leads them deep into a nasty netherworld of drugs and sex
- and murder. Now the case is getting interesting, but it's also turned ugly.
Because everybody, from cops to starlets to crooks, has declared war on Ellen
and Elvis.
I
read this first Crais book probably a year or two after it was first published
in 1987. Robert Crais was one of a new breed of writer I wanted to get into
when I made the reading jump from the horror genre into crime fiction. Crais
along with Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke opened my eyes to
a different kind of fiction and a far different kind of life on the streets of
America than I was used to living in sleepy Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.
Whilst
my reading has mainly remained in the crime zone, for the past 20 years, with
the odd foray elsewhere, I kind of neglected Crais and his creation Elvis Cole.
I still acquired new Crais books along the way, but can’t say that I ever made
the actual jump into opening the damn things and getting stuck into them. Cole
with his sometime sidekick Joe Pike appeared in a series of 12 or so books,
before Pike was given his own showcase by the author. Vaguely recalling the
enigmatic Pike, and wanting to read more about his exploits, the OCD within me
dictated that I re-visit the first Elvis Cole and start again back in late 80’s
LA.
Cole
is an interesting enough protagonist in this book; a private investigator for
hire, a military background having served in Vietnam, an exponent of some form
of martial arts, a practising yoga fiend, wise-cracking mouth, a bit of a loner
with only a couple of friends; Pike and Portias – a detective with the LAPD. Crais
at time steers Cole close to the stereotypical PI of the genre, but manages to
infuse enough depth to the man to allay any concerns that he’s a cardboard
cut-out. Cole’s drink of choice seems to be beer rather than the obligatory bottle
of bourbon stored in the lower desk drawer.
Crais
entertains with his first book, whilst Cole predictably gets to the bottom of
the mystery and achieves a resolution of sorts for Ellen; the book was good
enough to withstand a second reading 20 plus years after I first cracked its
spine. Good enough for me to follow straight on with the second book in the
series – Stalking The Angel.
4
from 5
I
bought my copy new 20 plus years ago, pre-internet days from some long lost
High Street outlet.
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