This is without question one of the best detective stories I have read in a long time. Actually, "listened to" might be better more accurate, and I admit that on numerous occasions I pulled into the parking lot only to sit for several minutes to hear the end of a chapter or section, not to mention walking around the house - "there goes Dad again in his own little world" - to hear more.This is my first Crais and the seventh in the series starring Elvis Cole and his mysterious and mercenary partner, Joe Pike. Pike's former girlfriend, Karen Garcia, has been shot dead while jogging - I have always maintained that jogging is hazardous, here's another reinforcement. Pike is an enigma; he speaks as little as possible, yet reeks of dangerous potential. The point-of-view shifts from the mysterious serial killer - Karen's death is merely the random fifth in a series of killings all using a bleach bottle as the silencer for the gun - to Pike's background (he had a miserable childhood, became a sensational independent soldier in Vietnam, and shot his partner while a policemen - all tidbits told in such a tantalizing way as to raise one's suspicion that he may be the killer).
When a second killing occurs, much of the evidence points to Joe and he is arrested. Samantha Dolan, the Robbery-Homicide cop working on the case, falls for Elvis; that ticks off Lucy Chenier, Elvis's girlfriend and attorney, who is already very angry because Elvis's loyalties seem to be with Joe at crucial moments,rather than with her. The tension rachets up several notches, leavened by Elvis's unvoiced, hilariously sarcastic wisecracks.
Excellent, hard to put down novel.
