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Loading... Demolition Angel (2000)
Work InformationDemolition Angel by Robert Crais (2000)
  
None No current Talk conversations about this book.   )1   RowingRabbit | Aug 8, 2021 |   ) susandennis | Jun 5, 2020 | In Demolition Angel we get to know Carol Starkey, a tough bomb tech. After being broken, she's trying to get her life back together, survive in a male-domiated world and pretending she's okay (and greatly failing at it). Add to that a mad bomber/killer and a rogue cops and you get the thrilling read this novel is. My one point of critique: the last two pages feel too sacharin-sugar like. I understand the want to close the story, as this story seems to be intended as a stand-alone, but I feel it would have been better without the 'After' chapter and with an open ending instead. ( ) HeyMimi | Aug 14, 2017 | Starkey is hoping to be reassigned to the bomb squad but is so psychologically damaged that it is difficult to imagine her even holding on to her job as a detective. Her heavy reliance on gin and smoking to manage her stress make it unlikely that she will be able to function again as a healthy member of society. Those problems also made it difficult for me to identify with her as the protagonist. I found her compulsive smoking to be particularly distasteful. Nevertheless, I found myself warming to Starkey despite her flaws. A serial murderer known as Mr. Red is the suspected bomber but he is an enigma; his motivation is unclear, his identity is unknown, there are no known pictures of him, and his whereabouts is a mystery. The FBI and ATF believe that he sells his services as an executioner when it pleases him but several of his bombs appear to have targeted members of various municipal bomb squads for unknown reasons. As Starkey investigates the case she finds evidence that makes her question the identity of the bomber. The mystery is further deepened by the presence of an ATF agent who appears to be hiding something. “Demolition Angel” poses a multifaceted mystery that leads to a number of surprises. The ending is a bit too melodramatic but most readers will find it to be a compelling read. ( ) Tatoosh | May 25, 2017 | Like many authors with ongoing characters, Robert Crais has taken a break from his famous private eye. After eight novels featuring Elvis Cole and his loyal sidekick Joe Pike, Crais has created Carol Starkey, a bomb squad veteran now doing time as a Detective-2 with LAPD's Criminal Conspiracy Section. Three years have passed since the detonation that killed Carol's partner and lover, but she is still severely scarred both mentally and physically. She can't bear to look in the mirror, and she hasn't been with another man since David Boudreaux left her bed that last morning he went to work. She gets through the day with the help of Tagamet and alcohol. When a bomb call takes the life of another colleague, Carol begins to investigate a series of explosions that seem to be designed to exterminate bomb technicians. She soon realizes that she's "the one that got away." With the help of an FBI agent whom she loathes professionally for interfering with her job but finds attractive anyway, Carol must track down one of the most frighteningly brilliant killers of the modern age. My Thoughts: It wasn't my favorite Robert Crais book and I don't want a steady diet of it ...but a very readable offering none the less. The characterization was rather thin, and Carol Starkey is a very difficult character to like. Many of the supporting characters are barely fleshed out. Maybe the author doesn't intend to keep them around although several are in Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels. The romance between two characters is underdeveloped and unconvincing. But it was a quick read with loads of action with things blowing up. (  ) Carol420 | May 31, 2016 |
 Crais tightens the screws to the max in this white-hot crossover thriller about a cop on the trail of a serial bomber. ... [the author] spikes this predictable, foolproof yarn with so many surprises and such a masterly command of pace that you’ll find yourself checking the clock every ten pages. Make sure it’s not digital. Is contained inIs abridged in
Fiction.
Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:“Crais is at the top of his game, and Demolition Angel delivers the goods. With a bang. . . . It’s Silence of the Lambs meets Speed. . . . Crais knows how to press all the right buttons in keeping the story line taut and the action, well, explosive.”—San Francisco Chronicle Carol Starkey is struggling to pick up the pieces of her former life as L.A.’s finest bomb squad technician. Fueled with liberal doses of alcohol and Tagamet, she’s doing time as a Detective-2 with LAPD’s Criminal Conspiracy Section. Three years have passed since the event that still haunts her: a detonation that killed her partner and lover, scarred her body and soul, and ended her career as a bomb tech. When a seemingly innocuous bomb call explodes into a charred murder scene, Carol catches the case and embarks on an investigation of a series of explosions that reveal chilling intentions. The bombs are designed expressly to kill bomb technicians. Now, as the one tech who survived the deadliest of blasts, Carol is in for the most perilous fight of her life. . . . Praise for Demolition Angel “Terrific . . . explosive . . . [a] high powered thrill ride.”—The Wall Street Journal “Gripping . . . Crais piles on plot twists . . . gathering the separate threads at the end and igniting them like a string of fireworks.”—People “A powerful, self-contained novel of suspense that has the compactness, velocity, and effectiveness of a well-aimed bullet . . . This is a thriller that works on every level, a pivotal work from a crime novelist operating at the top of his game.”—Los Angeles Times “Fascinating and frighteningly believable . . . Starkey is one of the toughest characters to grace the crowded field of thriller books in a long time.”—USA Today “A flammable techno-thriller with the kind of force that knocks out windows.”—The New York Times Book Review "Packs an explosive punch. Though the pace of the book moves like a quick-burning fuse, Crais still takes the time in Demolition Angel to sketch out some memorable characters: Starkey, haunted and hollow-eyed, covering up her pain with a Bogart-tough demeanor; and John Michael Fowles (aka Mr. Red), a sociopath who gets all sorts of information from the Internet without breaking a sweat. . . . Crais keeps things wound so tight that readers will be getting paper cuts in their rush to finish this one.”—The Denver Post. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.65)
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