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The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel
 
 
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The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

by Robert Crais (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Joe Pike Reluctantly Takes Charge, Mar 29 2007
This review is from: The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Hardcover)
No Elvis Cole fan who has ever enjoyed a scene of Joe Pike not smiling and not laughing will want to miss this book.

To note that Joe Pike is the strong, silent type is to be redundant for those who have been reading Robert Crais's writing about Elvin Cole and Joe Pike. How do you take someone who rarely says more than three words at a time and build a novel around him? It's quite a challenge and Robert Crais almost makes it work perfectly.

If you are new to Joe Pike, Mr. Crais does a nice job of including a little back story so this book is a standalone opportunity for you to enjoy a fine action thriller.

At first blush, Larkin Barkley and Joe Pike couldn't be more different. She's rich, spoiled, willful, attention-seeking, and impulsive. He's a man of modest means, self-reliant, self-disciplined, attention-avoiding, and carefully calculating. But as you'll learn in the story, they share demons, perspectives, and instincts to protect others.

The book opens in brilliant fashion in a hail of bullets as Joe Pike finds himself under attack soon after moving into a new "safe" house where he's taken Larkin Barkley. Who's spilling the beans? Joe decides to slip the leashes that have been placed on him, and pretty soon he's hunting prey rather than being hunted.

Then we back up and find out how a billionaire's daughter finds herself the target of pistol-packing thugs. The young Ms. Barkley likes to race her high performance sports car at high speed down the empty L.A. streets in the middle of the night. This night, however, someone else is out and about, and she crashes into them. The two people in front are dazed, but appear to have no serious injuries. Their passenger bolts and runs down the street. The couple takes off also. Larkin tells the police about everything, but it's all a mystery until a few days later when she's approached about testifying to what she saw that night. From there, murderous attacks soon follow.

Normally, Joe Pike wouldn't play bodyguard for anyone. But two moral obligations pull him into this case, and he will save Larkin's life despite her own willfulness as the only way to meet those obligations.

In the meantime, a lot about what's going on doesn't quite make sense. Joe gradually unravels the layers of deceit to reveal the true crimes. From there, the resolution rapidly develops.

Part of the intrigue of the story is that Larkin needs someone to treat her with concern . . . and not just save her life. Joe Pike finds that need more threatening than the bad guys but he bends as much as he can. But gradually, they develop a human connection that begins to work for both of them.

The book's only weakness is that the "mystery" element is a little bizarre. The story would have been more interesting if the reason for the threat to Larkin had been a little less unusual. I found myself wondering about the plot a lot in the last 75 pages rather than just being able to enjoy the story.

But the beginning is great fun. It's close to perfect. I was particularly impressed by the way Mr. Crais resisted the temptation to put in several more action scenes that would have diluted the punch of his powerful story.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Joe Pike takes center stage . . ., Feb 28 2007
By Jason Webster "An Argonaut" (CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Hardcover)
My copy of "The Watchman" arrived yesterday and I just turned the last page, sad to see it end-- I rarely finish a book that fast! Joe Pike takes center stage in this hard-boiled crime thriller. The enigmatic Pike has been a background character in the popular Crais, Elvis Cole series. Joe is somewhat forced into being a protector for a wealthy hot young heiress, who is also a big party girl (think Paris Hilton if she had a bit more brains and style). The Heiress, Larkin Barkely, is in mortal danger through a strange set of circumstances that are really no fault of her own. I don't won't spoil anything, but the villain here is as intense as any I have encountered in recent modern fiction, and he will stop at nothing to get his desired results. Pike, of course, will have something to say about the outcome. As always Crais's pacing and stylings are top notch and the author deserves his perch at the top of the thriller genre!
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