The Wanted

 

I've finished "The Wanted" the 17th book in his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series by Robert Crais.

Product Description

It seemed like a simple case — before the bodies starting piling up. Investigator Elvis Cole and his partner, Joe Pike, take on the deadliest case of their lives, in the new masterpiece of suspense from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author

When single mother Devon Connor hires private investigator Elvis Cole, it’s because her troubled teenage son Tyson is flashing cash and she’s afraid he’s dealing drugs. But the truth is devastatingly different. With two other partners in crime, he’s been responsible for a string of high-end burglaries, a crime spree that takes a deadly turn when one of them is murdered and Tyson and his girlfriend disappear.

They stole the wrong thing from the wrong man. Determined to get it back, he has hired a team that is smart and brutal, and to even the odds, Cole calls in his friends Joe Pike. But even they may be overmatched. The hired killers are leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. A few more won’t make any difference.

About the Author

Robert Crais is the author of twenty previous novels, sixteen of them featuring private investigator Elvis Cole and his laconic ex-cop partner, Joe Pike. Before writing his first novel, Crais spent several years writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice, Quincy, Baretta, and L.A. Law. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues, and one of his standalone novels, Hostage, was made into a movie starring Bruce Willis. His novels have been translated into forty-two languages and are bestsellers around the world. A native of Louisiana, he lives in Los Angeles.

Product details
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (Dec 26 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399161503
ISBN-13: 978-0399161506

My Review:

3.5/5

The Promise: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel (An Elvis Cole Novel)

I've finished "The Promise" the 16th book in his Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series by Robert Crais.

Product Description

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are joined by Suspect heroes LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie, in the new heart-stopping thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Robert Crais.

Loyalty, commitment, and the fight for justice have always driven Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. If they make a promise, they keep it. Even if it could get them killed.

When Elvis Cole is secretly hired to find a grief-stricken mother, he's led to an ordinary house on a rainy night in Echo Park. Only the house isn't ordinary, and the people hiding inside are a desperate fugitive and a murderous criminal with his own dangerous secrets.

As helicopters swirl overhead, Scott and Maggie track the fugitive to this same house, coming face-to-face with Mr. Rollins, a killer who leaves behind a brutally murdered body and enough explosives to destroy the neighborhood. Scott is now the only person who can identify him, but Mr. Rollins has a rule: Never leave a witness alive.

For all of them, the night is only beginning.

Sworn to secrecy by his client, Elvis finds himself targeted by the police even as Mr. Rollins targets Maggie and Scott. As Mr. Rollins closes in for the kill, Elvis and Joe join forces with Scott and Maggie to follow a trail of lies where no one is who they claim -- and the very woman they promised to save might get them all killed.

About the Author

Robert Crais is the author of many New York Times bestsellers, most recently Suspect and Taken. This is his twentieth novel. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details
Series: An Elvis Cole Novel
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; First Edition first Printing edition (November 10, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 039916149X
ISBN-13: 978-0399161490

My Review:

4/5

Suspect [Hardcover]

I've finished "Suspect" by Robert Crais.

Product Description

The explosive new masterpiece of suspense from the #1 New York Times – bestselling author.

LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left him enraged, ashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty — until he meets his new partner.

Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before losing her handler to an IED, her PTSD is as bad as Scott’s.

They are each other’s last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie. What they begin to find is nothing like what Scott has been told, and the journey will take them both through the darkest moments of their own personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.

About the Author

Robert Crais is the author of many New York Times bestsellers, most recently Taken, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Sentry. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition first Printing edition (January 22, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399161481
ISBN-13: 978-0399161483

My Review:

One night LAPD officer Scott James is left for dead and his partner Stephanie is killed which has left him feeling angry, guilty and he's about to explode.

Maggie is a ex-military work dog who was injured in the line of duty and lost her handler Pete in Afghanistan. 

8 months later Scott is reassigned to K-9 division and he hooks up with Maggie who also suffers from PTSD.  They both work together to overcome their disabilities and to learn to work together and trust each other.  I really enjoyed the strong bond that grows and strengthens between them as Scott investigates to uncover who were involved in Stephanie's murder.

I really enjoyed Maggie's point of view and how she would all she could to protect her Alpha/pack even give up her life if need too.  It was very informative to read about all the excessive training the K-9 went through and the commitment .

4/5

Taken [Hardcover]

I've finished "Taken" the 15th book in his Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais.

Product Description

When the police tell a wealthy industrialist that her missing son has faked his own kidnapping, she hires Elvis Cole and Joe Pike - and Cole soon determines that it was no fake. The boy and his secret girlfriend have been taken, and are now lost in the gray and changing world of the professional border kidnappers who prey not only on innocent victims but also on one another - buying, selling, and stealing victims like commodities. Fortunately, the kidnappers don't yet know who the boy is, but when Cole goes undercover to try to buy the two hostages back, he himself is taken and disappears. Now it is up to Pike to retrace Cole's steps, burning through the hard and murderous world of human traffickers . . . before it is too late.

Product Details
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (January 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399158278
ISBN-13: 978-0399158278

My Review:

A young Latina girl and her boyfriend are kidnapped by a band of bandits along a Mexican border.  These bandits prey on other criminals because they won't go to the police.  The main theme of this book is about bajadores who steal immigrants bound for the United States.  This kidnapping people organization is often ignored problem along the Mexican border.

Elvis Cole is hired by the mother of the kidnapped woman to rescue her daughter. Cole soon discovers what has happened to her and he enters into a risky and dangerous arrangement with a Korean organized criminal. It's a desperate move and Cole knows it.

When the plan backfires Cole is kidnapped by the bajadores Pike must come to his rescue.  He is backed up by fellow mercenary Jon Stone and he holds nothing back to get his friend back when he follows the trail the bajadores leave in their wake.  He finds out the FBI is also on the hunt for Cole and Pike is on the race to find him before they do and Cole's secret identity is blown and they make a mistake.

This book was very tense at times, fast paced, well researched and well written.  The bajadores are very cruel in their dealings with their victims.

I loved Jon Stone and hope to see him in future books!

5/5 

The Sentry (Joe Pike Novel) [Hardcover]

I've finished "The Sentry" the 3rd book in his Joe Pike series by Robert Crais.
Product Description

The extraordinary new crime novel from the New York Times bestselling author.

Dru Rayne and her uncle fled to L.A. after Hurricane Katrina; but now, five years later, they face a different danger. When Joe Pike witnesses Dru's uncle beaten by a protection gang, he offers his help, but neither of them want it - and neither do the federal agents mysteriously watching them.

As the level of violence escalates, and Pike himself becomes a target, he and Elvis Cole learn that Dru and her uncle are not who they seem - and that everything he thought he knew about them has been a lie. A vengeful and murderous force from their past is now catching up to them . . . and only Pike and Cole stand in the way.

About the Author

Robert Crais is the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award. He is the author of many New York Times bestsellers, most recently The First Rule.

Product Details
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1 edition (January 11, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399157077
ISBN-13: 978-0399157073

My Review:

Storyline:  The Sentry opens with a prologue featuring a truly creepy and scary killer in New Orleans in 2005.

Then in the present day, Joe is at a gas station when he sees two men swaggering into a sandwich shop. Their body language tells Joe that the men are up to no good.

He enters the shop to see what's happening. He finds the the two men are beating the shop owner and showing no sign of letting up. Joe takes out one of the attackers and the other runs away.

The police arrest the attacker who Joe took down but later that night someone throws a can of paint through the shop window.

The owner's niece, Dru Rayne, asks Joe to help. Joe learns that the gang is trying to shake down the store owner for protection money. Joe approaches that gang leader and obtains the man's assurance that the hostilities toward the store owner will desist.

Joe believes that he has removed the threat and he and Dru enjoy a coffee break and visit. Dru tells him about her past and shows him a photo of her daughter. This hints that it could be the start of a romantic affair.

The next night, violence escalates. Some enters the store and creates havoc and a sign is painted on the wall, "I am here."

Joe recruits Elvis Cole to help him out who in turn recruits Lucy Chenier and her private investigator in the case.

Characters: Joe Pike is a noble ex-mercenary, ex-Los Angeles Police Officer and a man who cares for the less fortunate or abused. He's very popular with readers for his His courageousness and nobility.  He never worries about himself and will be in the middle of a fray to protective people he cares about.

Elvis is in a dark place at the moment with the events that has transpired in recent times (ex:  he lost the Lucy Chenier the women he loves and her little boy - though they are still friends).  I really love the way he treasures Joe as a long time friend and confidant and doesn't really like killing people which makes him cry.  

Romance:  It really looked like it was start of a romance between Joe and Dru but she's not who he thinks she is and that killed the romance between them.  He was really attracted to her and I know it hurt him when he found out who she was and what she was.

Killer(s):  Daniel is a hit man who is the creepiest and scariest killer Robert Crais has ever created.  Man is he very disturbing and I'm sure gave most people nightmares (he likes to play and torture his victims and make them suffer and then go for the final kill)!

4/5