Elvis Cole is a tough guy private eye – but not too tough. He actually has a soft inner core that makes him slightly less hardened than many protagonists of the hard-boiled genre. Yet, he's hardly a cream puff. In fact, he'll kick ass, if need be. And he has a sardonic sense of humor that makes him reminiscent of Robert Parker's Spenser, except he's in Los Angeles.

Cole has a partner, Joe Pike, who's stoic (to say the least). Hard to read behind his ever-present sunglasses, Pike plays even-more-badass sidekick to Cole's good-hearted, but tough, main character. What's going on inside Pike's head and how he got that way is part of this story.

The plot's set in motion when the young and beautiful Karen Garcia (Pike's ex-girlfriend, it turns out) goes missing and is found murdered in cold blood. The girl is from a wealthy family, whose patriarch hires Cole and Pike to find her, then to monitor the police investigation into her death. The cops aren't happy about having to work with Cole (and extremely unhappy about working with ex-L.A. cop Pike, so Cole ends up being the point person), but the murdered woman's rich father pulls political weight. So Cole gets assigned to work with female detective Samantha Dolan, who's as icy as winter in Minnesota toward Cole. At least, at first. But, of course, that changes.

Meanwhile, Cole manages to turn up and follow more leads than the police, due largely to the investigation being led by a detective named Krantz, who lacks street smarts (and the guts to go with them), but advanced through the ranks primarily by kissing rear and political finagling. Bureaucratic business as usual.

For more, to go: http://mysterycrimefiction.suite101.c... ( )

This is the book that got me hooked on Crais and Elvis Cole.

This one gives us some insight to Joe Pike who is now added to my list of favourite male characters. In my own crazy world, it would be heaven if Joe Pike and Jack Reacher formed a kickass Justice League with Repairman Jack, Archie Goodwin, and Sam and Dean Winchester. ( )

Not extraordinary, but an enjoyable, quick read ( )