RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "ELVIS & PIKE SAVE THE KIDS FROM THE COMMIES!"

books:


	• Indigo Slam: An Elvis Cole Novel (Elvis Cole Novels) Robert Crais Hyperion Books, 1997 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 49 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "ELVIS & PIKE SAVE THE KIDS FROM THE COMMIES!"

This is another installment in the classic ongoing Elvis Cole and Joe Pike detective series. The story starts off with a three year flashback to a rainy night in Seattle as Clark Hewitt and his three children are being clandestinely extracted from their home by Federal Marshals. Gunshots are fired and one of the Marshals is killed. As the family is whisked away in a van, the then twelve-year-old eldest daughter Teri holds her trembling Father tightly and feels his shaking ease.

Three years later as Elvis sat in his Los Angeles office talking on the phone to his girl friend, the door opened and three children walked in. The oldest of the children said: "Mr. Cole, my name is Teresa Haines. This is my brother Charles, and our sister, Winona. Our Father has been missing for eleven days, and we'd like you to find him." Teri is now two months shy of being sixteen, Charles (one of the great characters in the story) is twelve, and Winona is nine. Charles is already creating problems by touching Elvis's Jiminy Cricket statuette and like every person who has ever entered this office, from FBI agents to lawyers to killers, is taken aback by Elvis's Pinocchio clock that hangs on the wall above the file cabinet. "The clock has eyes that move from side to side as it tocks and is a helluva thing to watch." Despite being only twelve years old, anytime Charles didn't like what he was told, or just didn't like an individual in his vicinity, he would cough and say "assh*le". Or cough and say "pri*k". Or cough and say "eat me". They had looked Elvis up in the phone book and chose him because his ad said "confidential investigations".

It turns out the kids Father is involved with counterfeiting, and after becoming a witness against the Russian mob entered the witness protection program. That was the reason for the multiple last names and his disappearance. Elvis develops a paternal fondness for the kids and takes the job despite the fact that he is losing money from his very first investigative flight to Seattle. The case winds up involving the Federal Marshals, Secret Service, Treasury Department, the Russian Mob, Vietnamese Revolutionaries, dope dealers and numerous other luminaries on both sides of the legal fence. This book is never dull with the combination of unknowns at every turn, the reader is also blessed with the author's non-stop parenthetical humorous thoughts and comments going on in Elvis's head. And throughout this epic tale, you can always count on Charles's "coughing-vulgarities" and twelve-year-old un-restrained machismo, whenever he appears in his "award-winning" supporting role. This is a non-stop fun ride from start to finish!

for more information click here

A review of the audiobook

While not as action-packed as "The Last Detective" (which follows "Indigo Slam" in the series, but I've not read a single one of them in order so why start now?), this is a strong book. Lots of smart comments, action and twists and turns, although the very last twist was so obvious that only the clinically brain dead couldn't see it coming. But, that didn't lessen the overall value of the book for me.

The audiobook is read by David Stuart who captures the voice of Elvis Cole perfectly. The entire book lasts about 7 hours.

for more information click here

Elvis is in the building and we win again...

Mr. Crais knows how to write. If you enjoy detective suspense as a genre, you'll like this book. It has all you could want, a likeable hero, a fascinating sidekick, several emotionally appealing protagonists, some characters that fall into a gray love/hate area, and two different sets of antagonists, each scary-bad in totally different ways.

What starts out as a simple missing person case that should have been a snap, turns into a nightmare of complications, including three children desperate to avoid Child Protection Services, counterfeiting, the Russian mob, and the Federal Witness Protection program. At the same time, our hero's love life, seeming so rosy in the beginning of the story, becomes instead a bad dream, with the ex-husband creating an epic and nasty power struggle for control of his child and former wife. The action is fast, intricate, and the pages keep turning while time slips away.

The lead character, Elvis Cole, and his sidekick, Joe Pike, are extremely appealing characters. They are variously clever, witty, charming, stoic, morally upright, and very good at what they do. This is one of their best outings so far. Thank you, Mr. Crais.

for more information click here

Another winner for Robert Crais

Excellent story another Elvis Cole and Joe Pike detective agency winner, along with sad family plot about widower father and his three childen. Keeps you on your toes front start to finish

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The seventh novel featuring the wise-cracking Los Angeles private eye pits Cole against counterfeiters and the U.S. marshals as he attempts to track down a major figure in the criminal underworld. 75,000 first printing. $250,000 ad/promo. Tour."

hot