Chasing Darkness

May 19, 2008
Crais returns L.A. PI Elvis Cole to center stage after 2007's The Watchman
, which showcased Cole's partner, Joe Pike, though Cole doesn't wisecrack as much as usual and he has only a few scenes with close friends to reveal his warmth and decency. This one is all about plot; the story opens with a bang and never slows. While clearing houses in the path of a forest fire in Laurel Canyon, police officers find the body of Lionel Byrd, an apparent suicide. Three years earlier, Cole, working for Byrd's attorney, uncovered evidence that cleared Byrd of a murder charge. Now new evidence suggests that he was guilty of that murder and six others, two of them committed after Cole helped exonerate him. Torn by guilt, Cole plunges into his own investigation, which leads in startling directions. Established fans will enjoy a dramatic story built not on mere twists but on hard 90-degree turns. To get the full richness of Cole and Pike, new readers should start with one of the early novels.

August 25, 2008
After earning a law degree, James Daniels quit recording audiobooks, but returned to read Crais’s newest Elivis Cole and Joe Pike mystery (his previous Crais recordings include The Forgotten Man
, Hostage
, The Last Detective
, Lullaby Town
and The Watchman
). It’s a welcome return and Daniel’s no-nonsense reading elevates one of Crais’s lesser efforts and turns it into an enjoyable listening experience. Slipping back into these characters, Daniels easily distinguishes Cole’s wise-guy banter from Pike’s steely resolution, and he gives this outing’s enigmatic villain, Lionel Byrd, just the right note of weirdness. A fire unearths evidence that someone Cole helped prove innocent of murdering a prostitute six years ago may actually have been guilty—and may have killed many other women. Cole and Pike dodge bullets as they dig around to find out the truth. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, May 19).

June 1, 2008
When Lionel Byrd is charged withmurder, his attorney hiresElvis Cole. The PI corroborates Byrds alibi through a convenience store security tape, butmurders similar to the one in which Byrd was a suspect continue. Then Byrd is found in his small rental in the Los Angeles hills, the victim of an apparent suicide. Beside his body is a notebook with pictures of all the victims, taken at the moment of death. The consensus among the cops, the press, and the victims families is that Cole freed a killer. Cole stands by his work and digs in again, but this time, his goal isnt to clear Byrd, its to find the killer. The Cole novels are always thoughtful and entertaining, but sometimes a little short on mystery--usually readers know who but not necessarily why. Here the killer isnt revealed until late in the game, and its a genuine "a-ha!" moment. Mix in the usual sterling dialogue, the shadowy presence of Coles sidekick Joe Pike, and an extended appearance by former bomb squad technician and semi-pro smart aleck Carol Starkey (Demolition Angel, 2000) for an intense and very satisfying thriller. Crais is one of the very best, and this novel encompasses all of his strengths.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)