Chasing Darkness

An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel, Book 12

By: Robert Crais

Narrated by: James Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Private Investigator Elvis Cole learns that LA fires bring more than heat, they bring his old friend Joe Pike and the past. Cole’s fight to clear his name brings murder and corruption terrifyingly close to home.

It’s fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. When police and fire department personnel rush door to door in a frenzied evacuation effort, they discover the week-old corpse of an apparent suicide. But the gunshot victim is less gruesome than what they find in his lap: a photo album of seven brutally murdered young women - one per year, for seven years. And when the suicide victim is identified as a former suspect in one of the murders, the news turns Elvis Cole’s world upside down.

Three years earlier Lionel Byrd was brought to trial for the murder of a female prostitute named Yvonne Bennett. A taped confession coerced by the police inspired a prominent defense attorney to take Byrd’s case, and Elvis Cole was hired to investigate. It was Cole’s eleventh-hour discovery of an exculpatory videotape that allowed Lionel Byrd to walk free. Elvis was hailed as a hero.

But the discovery of the death album in Byrd’s lap now brands Elvis as an unwitting accomplice to murder. Captured in photographs that could only have been taken by the murderer, Yvonne Bennett was the fifth of the seven victims - two more young women were murdered after Lionel Byrd walked free. So Elvis can’t help but wonder - did he, Elvis Cole, cost two more young women their lives?

Shut out of the investigation by a special LAPD task force determined to close the case, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike desperately fight to uncover the truth about Lionel Byrd and his nightmare album of death - a truth hidden by lies, politics, and corruption in a world where nothing is what it seems to be.

Chasing Darkness is a blistering thriller from the bestselling author who sets the standard for intense, powerful crime writing.

©2008 Robert Crais (P)2008 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Little in life is as satisfying as a new Elvis Cole novel. Each installment of Robert Crais' 20-year-old series is like meeting a good friend for lunch who you haven't seen in a long time."--Chicago Tribune

All nighter

The book was a little slow at first but then picked up rapidly. So twist and turn but loved it. Narration was superb can't wait for the next book

Consistently good

Another very good book in the Elvis Cole series. Crais does a good job of keeping the listener/reader involved in the story.
The narration was also excellent. Steered away from dramatics that can get old fast.

Good story. Enjoyed the narration.

Well done. Easy to follow, even with the twists. I really liked this narrator.

Thrill a minute. Crais at his best. Wait till you see the bad guys.

You will have to travel by the seat of your pants to figure this one out.

The best

This book just continues to show that Robert Crais is one of the best mystery around.
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are classics and each book keeps getting better.

I love these books!

I have enjoyed every one of these books so far. narrator is great. story line is suspenseful.

Fast paced

Another great story. I Have become addicted to this series.
Recommend by a friend. Always a good twist

An Excellent Tale, Well Read

Another outstanding Crais novel noir.
Love these books.
Time for the next in the series!!!

Cole and Pike, great entertainment

The book starts out with the solving of 7 murders, with the suicide of the killer. That's what it appears to be anyway. But Elvis Cole, had cleared the victim from one of those murders, and won't rest until he discovers the real truth behind the suicide. Thus starts, a real murder mystery, with lots of fact finding, clues, and a whole lot of suspects.
With the combination of Cole's humor, and Pike's cameo pop-ins, it makes for a very interesting listen.
The real killer isn't all that easy to figure out either, as more evidence unfolds throughout the story, til the very end.

Nice Surprise

I downloaded this one because it was on sale. I had only listened to one other Crais novel and it was not very good (The Watchman - in that one, Pike is the lead character and Cole is the minor character).

In this one, Cole is the lead character and can definitely carry the lead, whereas the Pike character cannot, imho.

All in all, the story was good, characters good, he pulls the story together quite nicely and the narrator is good.

I almost rated it 5-stars, but reserve that for the best of the best.

This one was good - and recommended!