Cat's Cradle

This was the first Elvis Cole "series" I have read and I am hooked. Now starting with Monkey's Raincoat, I look forward to reading all the Cole novels. There seem to be a number of anti-hero sidekicks to todays PI's. Spenser has Hawk, Patrick Kenzie has Bubby for example. The character Joe Pike most reminds me of is a spitting image of Lee Child's Jack Reacher. Brutal, quiet loners. But for some reason, Pike seems a bit... Read Full Review

Robert Crais' THE WATCHMAN receives Chicago actor James Daniels' smooth and vivid narrative style as it tells of one Larkin Barkley, who is young, rich, and the sole witness to a secret federal investigation in the aftermath of a terrible accident. Her life is changed and it's up to ex-cop Joe Pike to protect her.

Around page 100, I would have rated this just 3-4 stars. It ends up as a firm 5 by the end. There seem to me to be two distinct strands in thriller writing -- character builders and plot artists. Crais is more of a plotter than a character guy; I never quite get inside his two heroes, Pike and Cole -- they seem just a little artificial. But he is superb in plotting. What begins as a routine story line weaves, turns, double... Read Full Review

Joe Pike is the epitome of crime tough guys. Nobody does it better. He was a special forces soldier before he became an LAPD cop. He took the fall on charges that shouldn't have been dropped on him and was busted out of the LAPD. He became a mercenary and a some-time private eye that paired up with the World's Greatest Detective, Elvis Cole. He has red arrows pointing forward tattooed on his deltoids because Joe Pike... Read Full Review