The First Rule

Not too bad if you like espionage novels. Occasionally, First Rule would get a little confusing during the most intense moments due to numerous underdeveloped characters. If you like NCIS, you will love this book, and it is not nearly as gruesome as Child's Jack Reacher.

If revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, someone forgot to tell Joe Pike. "One of his guys", a former mercenary named Frank Meyer, and his entire family plus their young nanny are brutally slaughtered by an active L.A. home invasion gang. Meyer, ten years out of contract soldiering, had seemingly left the life behind and reinvented himself as a successful businessman, whose toys and waistline stood testament to his new lifestyle. This gang operated with pretty good intelligence, and its previous hits had been of truly bad guys. The police want to know: was Meyer still in the game, but working the dark side? Pike wants to know the answer but whatever it may be he is determined to track down and kill those responsible. Whatever else Meyer may have been, Meyer was one of his guys. So using people he trusts and developing sources well outside law enforcement, Pike goes on the hunt. It is a wild, bloody and raucous business. Leads turn quickly into body counts, but Pike, like any good commander, soldiers on. Joe Pike is an iconic character, strongly reminiscent of movie leads, like Clint Eastwood's early westerns or Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series, who pursue personal justice through valleys of evil and depravity. I suspect that we will see Mr. Pike on the big screen soon. This is too good a story not to put it in the can. When that occurs, cold or hot, the dish will be very tasty indeed.

Mr. Crais' Elvis Cole novels rank up there with Michael Connelly, John Sandford, and Nelson Demille's works when at their best. His Joe Pike novels go a step beyond. The only criticism I have is I finished it in one day and have to wait for the next one. Keep up the good work Mr. Crais.

It took two nights to polish off this thriller - and it was well worth the lost sleep. Robert Crais built the quirky private investigator Elvis Cole into a solid franchise. Along the way he invented Joe Pike. Pike is a loner, his emotions traverse a very limited range. He needs little sleep. He needs little food. He is a lethal mercenary and a former cop. In short, Pike is barely one-dimensional. But in the capable of hands of Robert Crais, Pike is a nightmare to the evil-doers who murdered his friend and family. The action starts with a home invasion and the execution of a man, his wife, two children and a nanny. Pike hears about it quickly because the man, Frank Meyers, is an old comrade, one of Pike's boys way back when in their mercenary days. Frank The Tank they called him. Pike begins sniffing around. Joe Pike is a man of action with little regard for the small details of the law. And Crais has him barreling along at full speed in very short order, seeking justice for his friend . . . and the answers to a growing pile of questions. I don't like giving story details in reviews of mysteries and thrillers: everything, I think, should be kept between the covers so that the author's desire to surprise the reader and intrigue them is honored. Why, after all, should you read the book if someone has already told you the story? Suffice it to see that Crais brings an international angle to this one and some of the baddies are from across the ocean and are indeed bad. Crais's story line is good. Pike seeks vengeance on behalf of an old friend. Pike's old mercenary buddies are called upon to play cameo roles, along with pals still on the police force and, of course, the guy who started it all, Elvis Cole. All of the characters in this story are pretty thin, but Crais is so skilled at keeping the action moving that it never matters. Yes, there are some holes in the plot, big ones as a matter of fact, but they don't matter either. There is no let-up in the action. "The First Rule" is truly a page turner. (By the way, the title refers to an alleged rule in a list of 18 rules for Russian criminals.) Pike is never burdened with deep thinking or, for that matter, much thinking at all. Crais just lets events unfold for the most part and describes them. Crais is an excellent writer. Joe Pike is not a character who is going to stick in your mind, but he's fun to keep company with as he exacts the price that must be paid for harming one of his friends. A great read for action fans - and a terrific climax. Jerry

What a way to start the year: with a first-rate Joe Pike revenge novel. Crais has said that the `first rule' is to not make Joe Pike mad. In the novel, the `first rule' is that of the Serbian gangs against whom Pike will wage war: don't let family get in your way; the gang is your family. The gang (or one member of the gang, using a local crew) kill one of Pike's former team members from his days as a mercenary along with his wife and children. As the story develops, it appears that the real reason for the home invasion/multiple murder was to secure the infant child of either the murderer or his arch-enemy. In the course of the story Joe functions as the child's temporary guardian. Thus, the story is all about family, something that Joe lacks. His family is the collection of his brothers-in-arms and when one is killed the plot takes off. Elvis is here as well, but principally for his skills in detection. There are no wisecracks in The First Rule, only deadly promises. It's very reminiscent of Wyatt in Tombstone: "Tell `em I'm coming and hell's coming with me." The relentless search for Frank Meyer's (Joe's friend) killer ends in a complex narrative, with Joe pitting the killer against the mob enemy he is attempting to displace. ATF officials are there as well, for the mob enemy has 3,000 freshly-minted Chinese AK-47's to peddle and Joe has persuaded both the killer and his enemy that he (Joe) is functioning as an apparent go-between prepared to betray the other. The resolution is not completely satisfying (at first), but then comes the kicker ending, which is delicious. This is a fast-paced, lean story featuring one of the most attractive figures in contemporary crime writing: former cop, former soldier, former soldier of fortune, gun-store owning Joe Pike. One of the bad guys describes him as the sort of enemy you don't want to have. Needless to say, this proves to be very true.

The First Rule begins a few minutes before a brutal and bloody home invasion in which an entire family is killed. Crais gives such complete characterizations in just a few lines, we are stunned by the violence and understand private detective Joe Pike's grief and outrage when he finds out one of the victims used to work for him as a mercenary. Pike promises he will find the perpetrators and make sure they are punished. The remainder of the book follows Pike as he skirts the law, outwits the police, confronts some really bad guys and makes good on his promise. The story twists and turns as Pike finds out the truth behind the tragedy. Crais' tight plot and stark words make The First Rule thrilling in every sense of the word. Spot on characters, vivid imagery and non-stop action make this one a real page-turner whether Pike is smashing a gangster's plasma TV to extort information, or lulling a baby to sleep. Laconic, principled and disciplined, Pike is a strong hero and balances the more flamboyant Cole. Somehow I've completely missed Robert Crais' Elvis Cole books up to now, but I'll be remedying that as soon as possible.