★ 09/21/2015
MWA Grandmaster Crais is at the top of his game in his 16th Elvis Cole novel (after 2012’s Taken). When the L.A. PI goes looking for chemical engineer Amy Breslyn, who has absconded with $460,000 from her company, Woodson Energy Solutions, he learns that Amy’s motive involves her journalist son, who died in a terrorist bombing in Nigeria 16 months earlier. The investigation takes Cole to a house in Echo Park crammed with explosives—a locale that also attracts LAPD K-9 officer Scott James and his German shepherd Maggie (the protagonists of 2013’s Suspect). At the house, a criminal mastermind eludes the team, but when the crook realizes that James can identify him, he determines to eliminate the K-9 officer. Meanwhile, the Major Crimes squad becomes suspicious of Cole, who calls on his partner, the ultracryptic Joe Pike, for help. Pike in turn enlists the talents of former Delta Force op Jon Stone, now a mercenary. The resolution of the complicated conspiracy is both clever and touching. Agent: Aaron Priest, Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency. (Nov.)
What a perfect book: It has layered, appealing characters, a riveting plot, a most satisfying ending—and a German shepherd! Investigator Elvis Cole thinks he’s finding a missing woman, but what unfolds is a case involving explosives, terrorists, betrayals, and broken hearts. Grade: A.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Robert Crais takes the most popular characters from previous novels and shakes them up in an intense and thrilling mystery. Crais delivers a master class in writing with this latest novel.”—Associated Press
“After 20 novels, Crais remains one of crime fiction's smartest and most effortless plotters. The story unfolds with supreme ease.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Master crime fiction writer Crais delivers another winner....For readers who long for character crossovers and unambiguous resolutions, this excellent thriller should fit the bill. A skillfully convoluted plot evolves ever so slowly and culminates in a satisfying finish that also successfully ties up multiple story lines.”—Library Journal
“MWA Grandmaster Crais is at the top of his game.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ 11/01/2015
Master crime fiction writer Crais delivers another winner, teaming up PI Elvis Cole and Cole's partner, Joe Pike (Taken) with LAPD K-9 officer Scott James (introduced in Suspect) and his companion, a large German shepherd named Maggie. The plot centers on a dowdy chemical engineer, Amy Breslyn, who appears to be selling 400 kilos of a highly specialized plastic explosive to terrorists. Cole unknowingly stumbles into a crime scene involving Amy as a result of his being hired by someone to investigate an unrelated matter. Appearances can be deceiving, and it takes Cole, Pike, Scott, Maggie, the FBI, and a slew of others to eventually uncover the truth. Crais deftly avoids giving short shrift to his main players while providing a deeper and more sympathetic portrait of a particular series-recurring tough guy, Jon Stone. VERDICT For readers who long for character crossovers and unambiguous resolutions, this excellent thriller should fit the bill. A skillfully convoluted plot evolves ever so slowly and culminates in a satisfying finish that also successfully ties up multiple story lines. [See Prepub Alert, 6/1/14.]—Jeffrey W. Hunter, Royal Oak, MI
Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews deliver realistic, identifiable voices for private investigator Elvis Cole and his partner, Joe Pike. When squirrelly Meryl Lawrence secretly hires them to find her missing friend, she swears them to secrecy. Even though Cole believes his client is the queen of paranoia, he agrees. The dual narrators use animated voices and a varied pace and tone to portray the shifting tensions of a complicated investigation that leads to a fugitive, a killer, a brutal murder, and enough explosiveness to blow up an entire neighborhood. The narrators also effectively portray black-ops mercenary Jon Stone, LAPD officer Scott James, and a delightful K-9 partner, Maggie, who is portrayed with a voice of her own. This time the investigators’ commitment to loyalty and justice just might get them killed. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
2015-09-23
Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole is joined by K-9 cop Scott James and his battle-scarred German shepherd, Maggie, in the search for a woman out to avenge the killing of her son in a suicide bombing in Nigeria. The woman, Amy Breslyn, is a chemical production engineer working for the government who disappeared with $460,000 in company money and a newly purchased gun. Cole is directed to a bungalow in Echo Park, where James encounters him after a man is beaten to death inside, surrounded by a stash of munitions and explosives. We learn that Amy has infiltrated the arms-dealing culture hoping to get close to people who know the identity of her son's murderers. Persecuted by the LAPD, Cole and his taciturn partner, Joe Pike, slowly unravel bad information and false identities—helped by James reluctantly at first, since he's not sure Cole isn't dirty, and then wholeheartedly after attempts on the lives of both the K-9 officer and his Afghanistan-traumatized dog (introduced in the 2013 stand-alone Suspect). After 20 novels, Crais remains one of crime fiction's smartest and most effortless plotters. The story unfolds with supreme ease, energized by the enigmatic presence of mercenary Jon Stone. James' undying love for Maggie can be a bit much, as can Crais' decision to narrate a nightmare sequence from the dog's point of view. But the book speeds along at an agreeable clip, lifted by the author's command of the setting, and those military canines do deserve their plaudits. Not Crais' deepest or thorniest mystery but another solid outing with a host of involving characters.
