Book Review- Jackie K Cooper
THE PROMISE by Robert Crais
Robert Crais has written numerous Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books and all of them have been good reading, some are even exceptional reading material. His latest novel THE PROMISE falls somewhere in between those two levels. At the start it is not a gripping story but somehow it gets its hooks into the reader and demands to be finished. And the further into it you get, the better it gets.
Cole, a private investigator, is hired to track down a missing woman. This leads him to a house on a calm street one night. Unknown to him this house is a repository for explosives and some clues to the missing woman. The police arrive and think they have it all handled. Elvis is ordered to stay away, but Scott James later thinks otherwise. James is an LAPD officer with the K-9 unit. He and his dog Maggie, a former military bomb sniffing dog, arrived with the police for an investigation of the house.
The two men exchange a few words and go their separate ways. Later James' life is threatened and he turns to Cole for help. It is a strange alliance but one that works. Cole thinks the threat on James' life and the disappearance of the woman he is seeking might be linked. So Scott collaborates with the team composed of Elvis, Joe Pike and Jon Stone.
Elvis dominates the story with Scott James character being the second lead. Joe Pike has very little to do, and it is the same with their associate Jon Stone. Still Jon Stone brings an emotional element to the story which adds the right finishing touch. Crais shows his storytelling skills by adding this final flourish.
Crais has spent many, many words describing the background of Elvis Cole in past books. This time out he does not feel a need to repeat those descriptions. New readers or previous readers with faulty memories could have used a refresher course of sorts on the who, what and why of Elvis Cole.
The start of the story is just a little bland. Cole's character doesn't grab you and neither does the plot. The various connecting stories have to gel before you begin to enjoy this story as a whole. By mid-book the reader is beginning to be hooked, and the finale is totally satisfying. So the message is don't give up at the start. Just stick around and it will all pay off. That is Crais' promise.
THE PROMISE is published by G. P. Putnam. It contains 402 pages and sells for $27.95.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com