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The Last Detective by Robert Crais
Features
e-book
(Adobe Reader)
Amazon.com
Don't start reading The Last Detective with much on your calendar. This tense, satisfying thriller will glue you to your chair, as private eye Elvis Cole--the star of eight previous Robert Crais novels, prior to the Cole-less Demolition Angel and Hostage--faces his toughest case: the abduction of his girlfriend's son, 10-year-old Ben Chenier, who was staying with Elvis when he was snatched. Panic at Ben's disappearance turns to terror when the kidnapper phones to reveal his apparent motive, a dark secret from Elvis's past. But the plot thickens and twists, and then twists again, as Elvis and his longtime buddy, tough guy Joe Pike, race the clock against a group of villains as sinister as they are capable. The author mixes Elvis's first-person narration with third-person sections that describe other points of view--a risky technique, but Crais makes it work. He also does a fine job resurrecting the wisecracking Elvis of earlier books while imbuing him with a new depth and darkness. This dazzlingly plotted, crisply told story is threaded with real detection (what a rarity!) and peopled by characters you can't help but care about--including Carol Starkey, the haunted bomb-squad cop from Demolition Angel, who's now a juvenile-abduction detective. Crais has long been getting better with each book, and The Last Detective continues the pattern. --Nicholas H. Allison
Reader Reviews
ELVIS COLE GROWS UP, LOSES VOICE, August 25, 2003
Reviewer:
A reader
from Santa Barbara, CA United States
It was inevitable: Elvis Cole had to grow up. And he does, in a charming yet deeply saddening way. . . . In the ninth round of Elvis Cole novels, Crais has abandoned the old wise-cracking , sarcastic voice for Cole, who now faces his greatest threat: the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend Lucy's son, Ben. Lucy has moved out to LA to be in Elvis' world, and is not a happy woman. At all. I used to live in Hell-A. I know just how she feels. To add to her misery, her ex-husband Richard, who hates Cole, is trying to break them apart with the hope Lucy and Ben will return to Louisiana. Lucy is on the verge, although isn't interested in Richard. Ben is torn. As Elvis and my fave jarhead Joe Pike, who's recovering from a severe gunshot wound to the shoulder, go a-hunting for Ben, the two are thrust into a miasma of danger and lies and deception and lies and danger. Did I mention danger? The antagonist in The Last Detective is an ex-Army dude who reeks of Ranger and D-Boy experience, a lethal combo that gets Elvis into . . . well, you'll need to read for yourself. What I miss the most is Elvis' smartassness. It attracted me to the series in the first place, and I was always pleasantly surprised and delighted to read his stories regardless of the storyline. After Crais wrote Demolition Angel and Hostage, both of which were in an equally serious tone, I think he allowed this dark tone to seep into Elvis' mind during The Last Detective. The storyline is cool, Elvis is "there," but not quite there. He seems always in a daze, walking stoically from one scene to the next, expecting Joe Pike to do all the dirty work. Oops, or perhaps "Demolition Angel" Starkey, who makes short appearances as a police officer in the Juvenile Section. And you know, with all this said, I still give him 5 stars and would award more if possible, because Crais is a great storyteller and even if Elvis did finally grow up, well, what the heck. He's still a lovable character you can't help but want to root for. And when he gets into trouble, you want to see how the blazes Joe Pike will get him out of it. Elvis, I wish you were still a kid, and I love you anyway. . . . Dean Garner Santa Barbara, CA
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