Free Fall [Abridged] [Audiobook] (Audio Cassette)

Elvis Cole is the star attraction, the co-owner of The Elvis Cole Detective Agency. He's now 39, ex-Army, served in Vietnam, ex-security guard, has two years of college, learned to be a detective by working under George Feider, a licensed P.I. for over 40 years, does martial arts as enthusiastically as most people do lunch, and is fearless but not foolish. He's out to right the wrongs of the world as much as he is to earn a living. Elvis has a thing for Disney characters (including a Pinocchio clock), kids, cats, scared clients and rapid fire repartee. He drives a Jamaica yellow 1966 Corvette Stingray convertible, and usually carries a Dan Wesson .38 Special.

His main foil is partner, Joe Pike, an ex-Marine, ex-cop who moves quietly and mysteriously wearing shades even in the dark . . . when he's not scaring the bad guys with the red arrows tattooed on his deltoids, which are usually bare in sleeveless shirts. Although he's got an office with Elvis, Pike spends all of his time at his gun shop when not routing the bad guys with martial arts while carrying and often using enough firepower to stop a tank. Pike rarely speaks . . . and never smiles. A standing gag is trying to catch Pike with a little twitch of his lips indicating he might possibly be amused. But he's there when you need him. He drives a spotless red Jeep.

Robert Parker's Spenser is the obvious character parallel for Elvis, but Spenser and Elvis are different in some ways. Cole is more solitary, usually being alone when he's not working. Cole is very much L.A. and Spenser is ultra blue collar Boston. Cole is martial arts while Spenser boxes and jogs. What they have in common is that they're both out to do the right thing, with money being unimportant. They both love to crack wise as they take on the bad guys. The dialogue written for each is intensely rich.

Mr. Crais has a special talent for making you care about his characters, especially the clients and their loved ones. You'll want to know what happens to them. With a lot of experience in script writing, Mr. Crais also knows how to set the scene physically and make you feel it. He may be out finest fiction writer about physical movement.

I grew up near Los Angeles, and get a special pleasure out of reading his descriptions of the differences in cities, neighborhoods, and buildings in the area. He gets in right . . . and in detail. It's a nice touch!

On to Free Fall, the fourth book in the series. The title refers to what happens when you slip over the side of the high cliff of ambition and probity. As much as I liked the first three books in the series, Free Fall exceeds them.

The person in free fall is Mark Thurman, the newest member of a REACT team, plainclothes police who "monitor career criminals and try to stop them before they hurt people." His team is assigned to one of the toughest areas, the seventy-seventh division in south central Los Angeles while drugs and drive-by shootings are common forms of "entertainment." Something has gone wrong with Thurman, and his fiancée, Jennifer Sheridan, wants Elvis to find out what. She offers $40 a month for the next 50 months to cover Elvis's fee, and he graciously accepts.

Jennifer is barely out of the office when Thurman and his clod of a partner, Floyd Riggens, show up. They try convincing Elvis that Thurman has a new girl friend and hasn't told Jennifer yet. They want Elvis to butt out. Why are they going to so much trouble? Surely, there are criminals for them to be tailing rather than Jennifer.

Despite evidence Elvis finds that Thurman is messing around with another woman, Jennifer believes that he still loves her. Having known Thurman for many years, she knows he must be desperate to pretend to be having an affair. She convinces Elvis to dig deeper. What he finds are out-of-control cops, nasty criminals, and extreme danger that touches all those who are connected to them.

As the story develops, Jennifer and Mark find themselves and their love tested beyond what they would have thought possible while Elvis and Joe struggle to help them keep their heads above water.

To me, this story is a monument to the fine Joseph Wambaugh novels about the police, updated to the current time. Any fan of his will love this book.

Although this is a crime and detection novel, it's also a story about love and commitment. I don't remember another book that develops all of those dimensions nearly as well. Unlike his earlier novels where the female characters grow while the male characters stagnate or make slower emotional progress, both Mark and Jennifer develop as people making the story a fuller and more rewarding one for the reader.

After you finish the book, you might find it helpful to think about the dangers you will encounter in order to live your dreams.

Can you physically and emotionally handle those dangers when they arise?

Donald Mitchell
Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage