P.I. Elvis Cole’s relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. Then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son Ben is staying with Elvis, the boy vanishes without a trace. When the kidnappers call, it’s not for ransom, but for a promise to punish Cole for past sins he claims he didn’t commit. With the LAPD wrestling over the case, and the boy’s estranged father attempting to take control of the investigation, Cole vows to find Ben first. But Cole’s partner, Joe Pike, knows more about this case than he has said. Pike lives in a world where dangerous men commit crimes beyond all reckoning. Now, one of those men is alive and well in L.A.—and calling Elvis Cole to war. . . .
The Last Detective: A Novel (Crais, Robert)
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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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Elvis lives! Elvis Cole that is, Crais's iconoclastic, smart-aleck L.A. PI, last seen in Indigo Slam (1997). Violent and action-packed, this eighth book in the series has less of Cole's usual wisecracking but all the intensity and convoluted plotting of his two recent stand-alone thrillers, Demolition Angel (2000) and Hostage (2001). Cole is babysitting Ben, the 10-year-old son of his lawyer lover, Lucy Chenier, when the boy is kidnapped. As Cole and his super-tough, enigmatic pal, Joe Pike, join the police in the search for Ben, Lucy's obnoxious ex-husband, Richard, arrives from New Orleans with his own investigators. At first, the kidnappers imply they're seeking revenge for atrocities Cole committed in Vietnam. Several powerful, beautifully written flashbacks to Cole's horrendous Nam experiences and his troubled childhood follow. The narrative switches between Cole's vivid first-person point-of-view and a third-person account of a brave, frightened Ben and his savage captors. As the kidnappers' deadline nears and disturbing motives surface, the suspense becomes almost unbearable. The terrible, heartstopping climax is so well written that time seems to stop. Crais combines the thriller and private eye genres into a dazzling novel that is far more accomplished than the sum of its parts.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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A silence filled the canyon below my house that fall; no hawks floated overhead, the coyotes did not sing, the owl that lived in the tall pine outside my door no longer asked my name. Read the first page
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A silence filled the canyon below my house that fall; no hawks floated overhead, the coyotes did not sing, the owl that lived in the tall pine outside my door no longer asked my name. Read the first page
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Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Makes you read through dinner. A quick easy entertaining book. Always read the pike series but Elvis Cole series just as good
By Brett Benner
Format:Hardcover
Once again Robert Crais has managed to produce another page turning thriller with the characters he started with, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. What's so great about Crais is he manages to churn out nail biting suspense while at the same time revealing more of the personalities and personal demons of his characters. For those who have never read him before, you could read this as a stand alone, but the experience is much deeper if you've read all the previous Cole novels. In this one, Lucy Chenier's son Ben is kidnapped by a man who is bent on revenge for something Cole had done in his past. Elvis with the help of a worn and recovering Joe Pike hunts him down. Fast paced with plenty of twists, my only fault with the book, is that it was over too soon.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By J. Minkey
Format:Mass Market Paperback
First of all, I've been a huge fan of Elvis Cole and Robert Crais since I read The Monkey's Raincoat. This series has been incredibly enjoyable, to say the least. The turn that Crais took at LA Requiem was probably necessary to breath new life into the series and, in fact, that was my favorite of the bunch. The problem is that I miss the lighthearted banter! The new Elvis too closely resembles the real world, a world I'm trying to escape by reading these books in the first place. The biggest flaw with The Last Detective is the simple fact that I knew who done it the minute I read the story outline prior to actually reading the book. That occured while I was reading Indigo Slam a year ago! This is the first time ever in my experience that I knew who the guilty party in a mystery was before I even read the book. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it sure is incomprehesible to me that Elvis wouldn't have been immediately aware of who done it right away too. This book was written for new readers of the series who never picked up an Elvis Cole book prior to this. I enjoyed alot of the elements of this story but couldn't get past this part. The story would have been every bit as accessable to all potential readers if Elvis would have openly suspected the bad guy right from the start and then worked to prove him culpable. When his character walks around oblivious as to who done it, especially in light of many elements of the last 2 or 3 novels that point directly at the bad guy, this story lost alot for me. It's my least favorite in the franchise.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Gripping read!
This was a fast paced thriller that is sure to be one of Robert Crais' best books. It grabbed my senses from the very beginning and didn't let up until I finished reading the... Read more
Published on Dec 12 2010 by Jordan L. Wares
3.0 out of 5 stars
Suspenseful
Elvis Cole is once again coming to terms with his life as a private eye in the streets of Los Angeles. Read more
Published on Jun 4 2004 by HORAK
5.0 out of 5 stars
A six stars writer
Definitively RC is a six stars writer, the way he explains what are thinking all the characters at the same action in the book is excellent, the way he combine the characters of... Read more
Published on April 22 2004 by Jorge Frid
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cole moves along
Robert Crais has had an arc to his career that has been interesting, to say the least. Crais started out writing cute, relatively straightforward, violent private eye novels. Read more
Published on April 2 2004 by David W. Nicholas
5.0 out of 5 stars
Action packed kidnapping tale
One of the things Crais uses to add tension in this excellent book is the use of a running timeline. Read more
Published on Mar 10 2004 by Paul Skinner
4.0 out of 5 stars
A riveting plot
One of the most eagerly awaited novels this year is the latest by Bob Crais. It is another in the Elvis Cole series. Read more
Published on Mar 2 2004 by Larry Gandle
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Crais' best
I have read nearly all of Crais' novels, and found this the least enjoyable. Not only was it very dark and lacking in humor, but the plot was simplistic and the person ultimately... Read more
Published on Jan 21 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Storytelling Masters
I've read all of Robert Crais' work in the last few months, but had put off reading L. A. Requiem and The Last Detective because I knew the relationship between Lucy and Cole was... Read more
Published on Jan 19 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not one of Crais's best
I have been a fan of Robert Crais since I was first captured by Crais's unique and enjoyable style in "Freefall" in the early 90's. Read more
Published on Jan 9 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars
Have to admit he's getting better.
Would I buy this book? Yes. Why? I came in with and admit I struggled through Voodoo River. This one is just a lot better. Read more
Published on Nov 1 2003 by Charles J. Marr
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