Indigo Slam

I enjoyed the premise of three children hiring a P.I. to find their missing father, and they turn out to be in the witness protection program (the reader knows this from the beginning, so not a spoiler) and mayhem ensues. Fairly typical plot, featuring gangsters and lots of shooting and chasing. Not exactly my usual cup of tea, but enjoyable from an 'it is what it is' perspective. Better written than most of this ilk. Plus I met Robert Crais at a conference last year and he couldn't have been nicer. Did you know he is vegan?

I've read everything in this series and really liked them all...so when needing a book for a challenge I revisited them. Elvis and Joe are perfect investing partners and perfectly good friends. What should be a simple missing person case spirals out of control bringing in the Russian mafia with the Feds close on their heels. Staying alive is a struggle...saving three kids looks beyond even Cole's and the world's toughest guy, Joe Pike's abilities. Robert Crais's skill as a story teller plus two wonderful characters combine to make this a good, if not great. Elvis Cole entry. This one was written 25 years ago and it hasn't lost anything over the years.

Fast, solid ride. A great beginning, where the reader witnesses the moment three children and their father leave their home in company with the U.S. Marshals. Cut to Elvis Cole in the office, being visited three years later by said children, who want him to look for their father. It's a nice way to build the sense of anticipation for the reader, waiting for Elvis to discover and explain what happened so long ago, but it turns out that was just the surface. The Space Needle on the cover implies Seattle, and it's true, there is a section in Seattle, but it's strangely limited. Most of the time is still in L.A.

Meanwhile, on the personal front, Elvis' S.O. Lucy is negotiating for a job in Los Angeles. Although Elvis finds his attention is show more split between his relationship issues and the children's case, Lucy's situation is generally a less interesting one. I appreciate that Crais didn't go into expected territory with the ex-husband, keeping attention more on the children's missing father. I understand wanting to give your main character a personal life, but at times the situation with Lucy is just distracting. I suppose he might be trying to counter the 'lonely private eye' trope.

The case escalates fast, somewhat unrealistically and into thriller territory, somewhat similar to the plotting pattern in Voodoo Blues. I found it worked less well for me than the last book, but I still enjoyed the story. Wrangling the children and their wayward father certainly made the case more challenging. I found one of the revelations at the end (mild spoiler) explaining the father's behavior to be mildly eye-rolling, but as Crais has earned a lot of leniency from me, I ignored it. It felt like a crutch, both with the earlier actions and with resolving the case lawfully. Still, overall, a pleasant way to spend the afternoon on a cold, rainy day. Tucked up in a comforter with two dogs as heating pads and a good story--what more could one want? show less

From Amazon:

Life in the California sun suits Elvis Cole—until the day a fifteen-year-old girl and her two younger siblings walk into his office. Then everything changes. Three years ago, a Seattle family ran for their lives in a hail of bullets. Hired by three kids to find their missing father, Elvis now must pick up the cold pieces of a drama that began that night. What he finds is a sordid tale of high crimes and illicit drugs. As clues to a man’s secret life emerge from the shadows, Elvis knows he’s not just up against ruthless mobsters and some very angry Feds. He’s facing a storm of desperation and conspiracy—bearing down on three children whose only crime was their survival.

My Thoughts:

It seems that Robert Crais just show more can't write a bad or even mediocre book. From the witness protection program, to the Russian mob, to countefeiting, to child neglect.... Robert Crais throws all this into his newest Cole novel. It has a great plot and characters that are so lifelike, you immediately become enmeshed in their lives. The author never loses track of where he is going with the storyline or how he gets there. Anyone that thinks that a good mystery needs to involve serial killers, piles of bodies, and buckets of blood will soon find that Robert Crais, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, show us what an excellent crime novel is all about. show less

I almost took off one star from my rating because it was too short, but that wouldn't be fair. But it went by way too quickly, and I'm worried I'll run out of them.

It was a typical Elvis Cole story, with some help from Joe Pike, my favorite sidekick with his humorous monologues and friendly banter. And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you. But he was good at keeping the kids in line - they (along with most people) are scared to death of him.

In this book, they butted heads with Russian gangsters out for revenge, SE Asians out to drive out the communists from their country, and local counterfeiters. All in a day's work for the world's greatest detective.

Typical, yet great, Robert Crais story. The thought of Pike babysitting an obnoxious brat tickled my fancy. I really like Crais' take on justice. It's never quite what you expect.

Robert Crais has written some outstanding stuff and his other novels about Elvis Cole , the wise-cracking detective, have been good reads. Unfortunately, this isn't one of his best.

Elvis takes another case for nothing. He must not only be the World's Greatest Detective, but the The World's Greatest Detective Who Doesn't Need Any Money, too.

Here, Elvis helps three children find their lost father on the run from the Russian Mob. It's a nice twist and Crais, as always, pulls it off well.

But the children are tedious. One acts out and curses constantly. You're hoping that the mob gets him. The father is tedious. He complains from page five and I had him figured out by page fifteen. Joe is tedious. He lacks a hard, scary edge and has one show more liners that are a cross between Clint Eastwood and Jack Benny. Heavily armed.

Not a page turner and a book that would be a poor place to start what is a very well written series. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike maybe the best series around. "Indigo Slam" isn't. show less