The Last Detective

An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel, Book 9

By: Robert Crais

Narrated by: James Daniels

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's summary

Elvis Cole is back...

With his acclaimed bestsellers, Hostage (a New York Times Notable Book) and Demolition Angel, Robert Crais drew raves for his unstoppable pacing, edgy characterizations, and cinematic prose. Now, in The Last Detective, Crais returns to his signature character, Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole, in a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of family and the burdens of the past.

Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. When she moved from Louisiana to join Elvis in Los Angeles, she never dreamed that violence would so easily touch her life - but then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, Ben disappears without a trace. Desperate to believe that the boy has run away, evidence soon mounts to suggest a much darker scenario.

Joining forces with his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, Elvis frantically searches for Ben with the help of LAPD Detective Carol Starkey, as Lucy's wealthy, oil-industry ex-husband attempts to wrest control of the investigation. Amid the maelstrom of personal conflicts, Elvis and Joe are forced to consider a more troubling lead - one indicating that Ben's disappearance is connected to a terrible, long-held secret from Elvis Cole's past.

Venturing deep inside a complex psyche, Crais explores Elvis's need for family - the military that embraced him during a troubled adolescence, his rock-solid partnership with Pike, and his floundering relationship with Lucy - as they race the clock in their search for Ben. The Last Detective is Robert Crais' richest, most intense tale of suspense yet.

Investigate another case with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

©2004 Robert Crais (P)2004 Brilliance Audio

Can't get enough

Since I read the first book in this series I cannot get enough of Elvis and Joe. The books are gripping from start to finish. Crais needs to start turning them out because I'm almost at the end of the series. I give these 5 stars.

I like the ones with Pike at the center best.

Excellent book fwith strong characters and a great narrator. It is sort of a combo or a tacitcal soldier and clever detective.

groping story with a great clunax

Robert Craig never disappoints you. one more masterpiece from him, this time actually part of his life.

Joe Pike: THE MAN!

I’ve read or listened to all the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books. Hands down, LA Requiem and The Last Detective are the Crais masterpieces. (Must be read in that order!)

This book delves into Cole’s tumultuous past, just as LA Requiem revealed Pike’s. Great character development and solid stories. If you choose to listen, you will hear James Daniels at his best - awesome narrator with a wealth of character intonations. He is exemplary.

Pike’s voice - he has it nailed!!

Elvis and Joe

Great story and unexpected ending. Characters are believeable. Pike is a unstoppable enemy and a unbeatable friend.

My 2nd Elvis Cole Novel

The main protagonist, Elvis, is generally a likeable guy who typically has a comeback for most situations. In this book, he was a little more subdued. The plot was obvious early on so there were not any twists. Still the story was fast paced and kept me interested. As in the other book I read, the author continues the switch between characters' perspectives and time periods. I'm not a huge fan of this style of writing but the author pulls it off sufficiently well.

There are times I find myself frustrated with Elvis because in some parts of the book he easily concludes what has happened which makes the reader accept his deductions with a leap of faith. Then later on he seems to miss the obvious. I'm not really sure why Crais portrays Elvis this way. I still find it hard to swallow the fact that law enforcement allows Elvis to be a sidekick on their investigations. And to compound that, he consistently contaminates crime scenes which would have to infuriate the police. This is probably one of the reasons why the author usually kills off many of the criminals, so he doesn't have to worry about the trial side of the story.

I do find most of the women characters somewhat annoying. Starkey seems odd and Lucy seems self-absorbed and dense for someone who is a lawyer. No concerns by me if Lucy permanent disappears from future books. Some of the scenes with Lucy's son Ben didn't seem like a logical way to control/manage the boy but it didn't bother me enough to drop the rating to 3 stars.

Overall, I like this series and will read more Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

Phenomenal book

I’ve been reading many detective series, Cross, Davenport, Reacher, and Bosch. I think I love Elvis Coale the most. This has been by far the best of the Coale series. This book was moving and showed sides of Elvis that make me love him even more. The reference to Bosch living on Woodrow Wilson was so cool, too. I wish all the detectives by the different authors could meet up in a story.
Loved this book and love this series!

can't ask for nothing better

love it!!!!!!!!!! want more and more and love the Arthur will keep reading more books

RACIST

RACIST JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I FOUND A NEW AUTHOR!!! How did this even make it to Publication?

Like this author

This is a good book but it's more than a couple years old. That effects the story. The performance is good