L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels)
by Robert Crais
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert CraisEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: German (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-02-01
ISBN: 0345434471
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels)
Book Review: The Best Elvis Cole Novel I've Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Many readers consider LA REQUIEM to be the best in Robert Crais's "Elvis Cole" series about a private detective working in LA. Having read this book, and the seven Cole novels that preceded it, I'm inclined to agree.
Crais is an unusally good writer of prose, but he is rather formulaic in his storylines. If you read his first seven Cole novels, they are all novels that follow a distinct pattern, and Crais rarely strays outside those lines. The result is usually an entertaining read, but a somewhat predictable one, with Elvis Cole serving as an invulnerable, wisecracking superhero.
With LA REQUIEM, Crais adopts a riskier approach, and jettisons much of the sophomoric humor that dominated the earlier Cole novels. The tone of this novel is darker and far more serious. Instead of Cole narrating the entire book, the reader is exposed to multiple perspectives. The supporting characterization is less cartoonish and more complex. Cole is also far more emotionally vulnerable in this novel, and his sidekick Pike becomes much more three dimensional as his backstory is fully revealed. The result is a crime novel that is richer and more satisfying than anything Crais has done before.
LA REQUIEM is an excellent read, although I wouldn't rank it along with the very best, like Thomas Harris's RED DRAGON, Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER, or Michael Connely's THE POET. Whatever his strengths, Crais just can't match the emotional depth of those great writers. Still, this is an excellent thriller, and it proves the point that Crais is one of the strongest writers in the genre.
Summary of L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels)
The day starts like any other in L.A. The sun burns hot as the Santa Ana winds blow ash from mountain fires to coat the glittering city. But for private investigator Joe Pike, the city will never be the same again. His ex-lover, Karen Garcia, is dead, brutally murdered with a gun shot to the head.Now Karen's powerful father calls on Pike (a former cop) and his partner, Elvis Cole, to keep an eye on the LAPD as they search for his daughter's killer--because in the luminous City of Angels, everyone has secrets, and even the mighty blue have something to hide. But what starts as a little procedural hand-holding turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. For a dark web of conspiracy threatens to destroy Pike and Cole's twelve-year friendship--if not their lives. And L.A. just might be singing their dirge.
Robert Crais (Free Fall, Monkey's Raincoat) returns with his eighth Elvis Cole mystery, L.A. Requiem, a breakneck caper that leaves the wise-cracking detective second-guessing himself. Cole's partner, the tight-lipped, charm-free Joe Pike, gets a call from his friend Frank "Tortilla" Garcia. Not only is Garcia a wealthy businessman, he's a political heavyweight and father of Karen, Joe's ex. Frank sends the gumshoe duo out to find his girl, but the boys are beaten to the punch by the men in blue: Karen is found in a park with a bullet in her brain. The two stay on the case, but when another murder points to Pike as a suspect, things take a turn for the worse. The boys on the force are all too willing to put Pike away--he has a checkered past. When Cole attempts to save Pike, he finds a lot more than he bargained for.
Crais's knack for snappy dialogue and clean-cut scenes bespeak his former days as a writer for the award-winning Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law: "Krantz's mouth split into a reptilian smile, and I wondered what was playing out here. He said, 'I want this man questioned, Lieutenant. If Pike here knows the vic, maybe he knows how she got like this." Pike said, 'It won't happen, pants.' Krantz's face went deep red, and an ugly web of veins pulsed in his forehead. I moved close to Pike. 'Is there something happening here that I should know about?'"
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