Chasing Darkness (Elvis Cole)

The setup is classic, and once Crais opens the door you can never look away. The beauty of recurring characters is that you don't have to explain their history, nor does the reader need to know the details. Just knowing that there is history makes them part of the atmosphere that envelops the story and gives it greater tension. Starkey, Pike, Crais uses their unspoken backstories to lubricate the plot that moves brilliantly from twist after twist and into suspense.

The premise is gruesome: A serial killer has been preying on women. The police believe they've caught the killer. The man claims his innocence and his lawyer hires Elvis to check out the alibi. The alibi is bullet-proof and so the man is released. Elvis is confident that he's prevented a miscarriage of justice though this means the killer remains loose. The case is closed. The police are angry - believing that Cole cleared a killer but Elvis is OK with that in his confidence in the man's innocence.Several years later the man is found dead by apparent suicide with a photo album full of pictures that could only have been taken by the actual killer. The police say "Aha! We were right!". But Elvis can't believe the man he cleared the real killer. The police are happy to accept the circumstantial evidence found with the body as sufficient proof of his guilt and are willing to close the case, blaming Elvis for the victims who were killed after the man he cleared was released. The families of the more recent victims blame Elvis too. So Elvis begins his own investigation to confirm whether he missed something the first time or whether the real killer has framed the dead man.The answer will surprise you and the adventures of Cole and Pike along the way make this book an enjoyable read equal to any of Crais' previous books in this series. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and found it difficult to put down.

I am a big fan of Robert Crais. He has a long list of best sellers that feature detective Elvis Cole and his friend and helper Joe Pike. Michael Connelly is perhaps the best writer of police procedurals and detective fiction. Crais is a close second. Crais book "Hostage" was particularly good and made into a movie. Also recommend his books that featureJoe Pike such as "Sentry." Chasing Darkness is a good read but not his best work. In this book Cole, an ex LA cop, now private detectiveinvestigates an apparent suicide of a man Cole had previously cleared of a murder charge. The man is found withpictures of a number of dead women and Cole is tagged by police with keeping a serial killer on the streets. Cole is confident that his previous investigation was correct and that something is fishy with the suicide. Cole eventually finds the surprising real killer thru solid gumshoe work and there was definitely darkness discovered. I gave the book a three star because I was not invested in the characters as much as in his other books. That said it was a good read. I am constantly trying to find good detective novels and keep coming back to Connelly and Crais.

It's really difficult to summarize this book. It's about a man who was found dead and was in possession of pictures of seven dead women. Assume he was the killer. Cole had done an investigation when the dead man had been accused of the murders and he had a solid aliby which got him off. Other women had been killed after Cole help get him released and now Cole felt guilty that he had let a killer off to kill again. The story is a great one. Read it.

I'm not a hardcore fan of Robert Crais because this was the first book I read by this author. That said I was nervous as to whether this book would be worth the time invested, and it definitely was just that. My first impression of Elvis Cole was that he was witty, and passionate, also he was not afraid of a fight wether verbal or physical. This story grabbed my attention from beginning to end and took me through a series of twists and turns then left me satisfied with the surprising ending. Although this may not be his best work I certainly enjoyed reading this. I'm not going to go over the plot because you can learn that from reading the summary I am just recommending this book to anyone looking for a short mystery and an introduction to the Elvis Cole franchise.The characters had a tough attitude that made them interesting , and the dialogue complimented the story well. I will continue reading stories from this author. Although this was a great book it was short, and left a reader with a few unanswered questions. Again this was the first book I read from this author and it did not disappoint.

I'm giving this all five stars even though, reading other reviews, I realize I might not do so if I'd read other books in this series. I got it at a reduced price as one of Kindle's daily specials, which is a good place to try out unfamiliar authors if the reader reviews and the book's excerpts don't warn me off. As it is, I've added Crais to my short list of authors to hunt for more of (Kate Atkinson is another who comes to mind).Certainly there's background information one can only guess at (e.g., who's Pike? I'd decided he must be a very large, stereotypically black ex-cop - but I see from Wikipedia that he's ex-Marine Corps). Doesn't matter all that much. The writing flows well, and Crais is very good at establishing the various LA-area settings. I guess maybe I prefer too little character info to too much, which you get when an amateurish writer makes his characters gaze in the mirror and describe themselves.

What can I say? This is another great Robert Crais book, he just gets better as time goes by. It is also not as dark of the last few Cole/Pike books have been and deals more with a new case than what has happened in their lives previously.Here we see them investigating the death of a serial killer. The problem is that Cole had cleared him of one of the murders 3 years before. The LAPD are blaming him for the following deaths but he maintains his intial findings were correct.As he looks for answers things just get more and more complicated and people who could help are being killed. Paperwork goes missing from police files and, after declaring that the killer is dead, the LAPD seem to be investigating something and not telling anyone, including those in the force.We have returned to a more care-free Cole with references made to his quirky side - the Mickey Mouse phone and Pinnochio clock making welcome returns. We also see more of his sarcastic wit materialising.Pike is Pike. The supreme figure of primtive manhood that is always there, not letting anything ruffle him but gazing impassively at events that go on around him.I really wish that we could have more than one book a year. That 12 month wait between books is very difficult. Yet I never want him to descend to Patterson thinness and poor quality. This year I've even rationed myself to stop me reading the entire book in a day.Buy it and see what you may have missed.

This is Elvis at his best, righting wrongs and standing up for the little guy. The story starts with Elvis being accused of helping a murderer to escape justice. What’s worse is that the same man goes on to kill two more victims. Is Elvis responsible for their deaths? He has to find out, and so do we.

It's refreshing in these days of 400+ page crime thrillers, often padded out beyond their optimum length, to find a nice compact 273 page novel by a major writer.But then again, Robert Crais is not your average crime novelist. He has the gift of setting a scene within a very short paragraph, and can easily sketch a memorable, living, breathing character in only a few lines. The upshot of this is that he crams an awful lot of plot into a relatively short space and this helps the action move at a cracking pace.I'll not provide a synopsis - you can see one above, all I'll say is that while `Chasing Darkness' is by no means the best entry in the Cole and Pike series, it's still got plenty of good twists and the reader simply speeds through it. The prose is, as always, lean and spare and contains no excess wordage anywhere. This is the mark of all great American crime writers, and Crais is up there with the very, very best.My one criticism is that it would have been nice to have had a bit more of Joe Pike in here - but then he did have a whole novel to himself last year with the excellent `The Watchman'. So `Chasing Darkness' is largely Elvis's show as he once again manages to out-think an entire police department and turn up vital information they've overlooked.Although the murders he's investigating are harrowing and would be really dark in an other's hands, there's still plenty of light and shade. I particularly enjoyed the interplay between Cole and Carol Starkey, a homicide cop who moved from the bomb squad a while back after a long period of physical rehab (I would refer you to `Demolition Angel').If you're a complete newcomer to Robert Crais, please be assured that you can read this without having caught the preceding books in the series. All you need to know is that Elvis is a private detective operating in LA. He has a wisecracking style (as do ALL private dicks! - but don't let that put you off!), a taciturn, hard-as-nails ex-marine sidekick named Joe Pike, and his office has a Mickey Mouse phone... oh, and the office tends to get trashed quite a lot!All in all this was a very enjoyable read and is recommended to anyone who likes a good crime thriller

This is only the third Robert Crais book I have read. His books are difficult to find in UK bookstores, so I have bought them online.Chasing Darkness is set in the Los Angeles area and the author, like Michael Connolly, appears to have a native's knowledge of LA that brings the place to life.His characters are believable and the story itself, though basically straightforward, is exciting and gripping. It's a 'who-done-it' trying to find a possible serial killer. Just as you think you know something, the story twists and casts doubt and reveals new possible suspects.I cannot praise Robert Crais high enough. In my opinion he is a top five author, along with Lee Child, Michael Connolly and David Baldacci. If I have a criticism, there are perhaps a few more characters in the book than need to be. Sometimes it is difficult to remember who they are and what they do. But the story comes together well and all the characters play their part in a superb story.This is one of those books that you just do not want to end. That must be a high enough recommendation. It is a book to save after you have read it, so you can go back two or three years later to read and enjoy again. You can't say that about all books! Just get it.

I read this book in two sittings, I really liked it. I am of course a big Robert Crais and Elvis Cole fan, I have read them all, and pouncing on any new installment in the series is a must do. Reading the new Elvis Cole adventure is liking having news from a friend who has dropped out of sight for a year. Now to this one: the story is neither worse nor better than previous ones, it has all it takes to make you have a good time. The ending will not smash you up, meaning the book will not go to the firmament of "top 10 best thrillers in history", but it is a very well told tale from a good author, featuring the heroes we like. And that's what I expect from Robert Crais, and that's what he consistently delivers. Again this time. So this one is again recommended. Thanks a lot to Robert !