Tag Archives: Robert Crais

Robert Crais goes to the dog with ‘Suspect’

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If you know Robert Crais, you probably know him from his series of Los Angeles-based crime novels about private eyes Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Crais has ventured into non-series books a few times, but most of his novels have revolved around smart-aleck Cole and cool and deadly Pike. Interestingly, Crais has thrown a few change-ups even in the Cole and Pike series, making Pike the lead in some and Cole the lead in others.

“Suspect,” Crais’ latest book, focuses instead on Scott James, an LAPD uniform officer who, as the story opens, is preparing to leave his Adam patrol car and partner, Stephanie, for a department management fast track.

At the same time, Crais introduces us to Maggie, a smart and loyal German Shepherd patrol dog in the Marines in Afghanistan. Maggie and her handler are ambushed by insurgents. Her handler – the Alpha in her pack – is killed and Maggie is seriously injured.

At the same time, Scott and Stephanie have the misfortune of rolling up on a deadly ambush in LA’s mean streets. A carload of shooters kills several people and then train their guns on Scott and Stephanie. Scott is badly wounded and Stephanie is killed.

A few months later, Scott and Maggie are paired up in a LAPD K-9 training program. They have a lot in common: Both lost their partners and both suffer from PTSD.

Most of “Suspect” follows Scott and Maggie as they become a pack and work to recover from their traumatic experiences. As the two are training to be K-9 partners, Scott also pushes along the investigation into the ambush that left his first partner dead.

Like the best crime drama heroes, Scott isn’t afraid to take risks by pursuing suspects and potential witnesses to that fateful night, even risking trouble with the police brass. And like the best crime drama heroes, Maggie is brave and fiercely loyal to her new pack.

There’s not a lot of similarity in tone, but some readers might find “Suspect” reminiscent of Spencer Quinn’s novels about detective partners Chet and Bernie. In Quinn’s books, Chet narrates the entire tale from a dog’s point of view and there’s considerable humor. That’s not the case here, even though some chapters are from Maggie’s POV. If the Quinn books sound too cute, I can assure you they’re really not. And Crais’ story definitely is not.

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I won’t spoil the ending, obviously, but it’s possible that Crais might give us another tale of Scott and Maggie. Their return would be most welcome.

Elvis (Cole) lives in ‘Taken’

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Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Spenser and Hawk. There are some pretty amazing duos in crime fiction. I’d put Elvis Cole and Joe Pike right up there with the best of them.

Cole and Pike, the creations of crime novel author Robert Crais, return in “Taken,” Crais’ latest book about the cool Los Angeles detective and wiseguy Cole and his man-of-few-words-but-lots-of-deadly-action partner Pike.

Crais has played change-up a bit in recent books, sometimes concentrating more on Pike and less on Cole. In “Taken,” the author splits the story pretty evenly between Cole and Pike with a little attention paid to Jon Stone, Pike’s equally deadly but much more flamboyant associate.

As usual, Cole is a practical but noble example of the classic “knight for hire” crime novel character. Here he’s hired by a LA businesswoman to find her college-age daughter. Cole quickly determines that the daughter and her boyfriend have been taken by ruthless criminals who prey on human traffickers and the undocumented immigrants they smuggle into the country.

The twist in the story is that Cole himself gets taken by the bad guys and it’s up to Pike and Stone to get him back.

Crais, like Robert B. Parker did with his Spencer books, makes his protagonists immensely likable. Although Pike is quiet and mysterious, Cole is a flippant hero, needling the bad guys in his efforts to push them into mistakes.

It’s hard to imagine that Crais has been writing about Cole and Pike since 1987. He’s written 15 books about the two as well as some stand-alone novels that have fed into his series.

While the last few books haven’t had the punch of the first several, Crais has deepened our understanding of Cole and Pike — particularly Pike — and fleshed out their personalities. While the books might not carry the emotional weight of the early entries in the series — especially now that Cole’s relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier seems to be on the back burner — they’re still absorbing, entertaining reads and time spent with familiar characters.