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The Promise  By  cover art

The Promise

By: Robert Crais
Narrated by: Luke Daniels, MacLeod Andrews
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Publisher's summary

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are joined by Suspect heroes LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie, in this heart-stopping thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike keep their promises. Even if it could get them killed...

Elvis Cole is hired to find a woman who’s disappeared, a seemingly ordinary case, until he learns the missing woman is an explosives expert and worked for a Defense Department contractor. Meanwhile, LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his patrol dog, Maggie, track a fugitive to a house filled with explosives - and a dead body. As the two cases intertwine, they all find themselves up against shadowy arms dealers and corrupt officials, and the very woman they promised to save may be the cause of their own deaths.

©2015 Robert Crais (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Promise

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    2,698
  • 4 Stars
    1,268
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

All Robert Crais charaacters are in this novel!

It's an Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel, but Jon Stone, LAPD detective Scott James, and K-9 Maggie are also key characters. Even the FBI plays a role. Cole and Pike are private detectives and the book is set in Los Angeles as usual. Maggie is the hero. The book involves terrorism, specifically terrorists trying to get 200 killograms of C4 explosive.

Robert Crais is not, in my opinion, one of the best crime writers, but he does have interesting characters and his novels are worthwhile. His strength is in character development which adds to the interest. The Promise is among his best books.

Narration is excellent.

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Promise

Sequel to The Suspect, good story. funny in parts, good characters and of course the Marine Dog Maggie. I've been waiting for the sequel , it was worth the wait. I hope there are more to come. Both books won't disappoint .

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

"They Call K-9 When They Need Superpowers, Woof!"

Where does The Promise rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
The amazon reviews were right on, THIS is a good listen. Fast pace with a lot going on from 3 different view points. If you have trouble following different points of view, then take some relaxing time to enjoy this book. Elvis is back, and is joined my by heroine Maggie. Her partner Scott is caring i.e. "next time I will have to bring OUR sunglasses"

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
yes as author took all his good elements from previous books and was able to incorporate these elements in a different path and make it work for his fans.

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews – was your favorite?
I am pleased with these readers paired together, Great Job and smart of producers! Luke has evolved greatly into Elvis and MacLeod did a fab job with Maggie's starring role book that this was a natural. McLeod's may have an AKA reads?

Any additional comments?
I am a long time fan of author and have all the Elvis and Pike solo stories (a must own, The Watcher read by my fave James Daniels). All of the author's books read by James Daniels are great. Audible, you need to get them as they are the best.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really Good Book

First, the plot has more twists and curves than Shirley Temple's ringlets. Second, these are characters whom the author has developed over several books, so it's heavy on action rather than exegesis. (Be prepared, however, for a remarkable response by one character.) Third, like the best crime/mystery/detective writers, among whose ranks he stands so high, Crais conveys a profound sensitivity to the frailty of human nature and the often tragic nuances of human behavior. probably more in this book than in some of his previous. Fourth, in this book at least Crais manages to escape the tendency of many noir writers to end on a bleak note. I was smiling when this one ended.Finally, I loved reading more about Scott James and Maggie. Their connection, several millennia of mutual need and mutual trust, is way more interesting than reading about the pampered breed du jour with which many crime writers accessorize their characters.

Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews were great the the delivery of the story

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

More Scott and Maggie, please!

First, I love both these narrators, but there was no reason to use two. Elvis Cole's voice was all wrong. But that wasn't the worst. The worst was that both narrators read all the voices as the characters met. Thus you have one version of Cole's voice when it is his chapter/POV, and then you have the other version of Cole's voice when it is Scott's chapter/POV. That's just insane.

I thought I was going along just fine until about 2 hours from the end, when Cole figures it all out. From that point on, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't remember who was who, and what the point was. I mostly get it now that its' over, but it wasn't fun.

Cole is supposed to be the great hero, but if it weren't for Pike and Stone, he wouldn't get far. And in this book, Oliver, I mean, John Stone smoothly sweet talks the lady of interest into solving the whole thing. Then he solves her original problem just as smoothly and leaves her a lovely note. Why are we bothering with Cole when this guy is around?

Suspect, the book that introduced Maggie and Scott is so much better than any of the Elvis Cole books. The prologue had me in tears! That's what I would like more of.

I know Elvis Cole has a huge following, but I think this is not so top-notch as some of the others. The story is still strong, just not as strong on the characters as some of the others.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I Promise - Nine Hours is Way Better than Five

After a long difficult 18 hour listen I looked for a shorter story as my next audible adventure. Robert Crais has always delivered an enjoyable page turner so my decision was based on a five hour abridged version of his latest book, The Promise or the full length nine hour journey.

I opted for the full nine hours because none of the Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and Scott James books have ever dragged. And how many times do you get characters that can be found in great separate series all under one roof.

This book was entertaining from the first scene. I enjoyed every minute of the adventure which included typical Elvis Cole humor mixed in with mystery and suspense. If you are a dog lover and an Andy Carpenter fan, there is a great story here that includes a police dog retired from the military and his handler Scott James.

The five star narration duo of Luke Daniels and Macleod Andrews worked well with the story shifting perspectives between Elvis Cole and Scott James.

I never researched the abridged version of this book, but I have one question. How did they ever decide what needed to be removed? I wouldn't take out a minute and looked forward to each workout, long drive and house cleaning that could provide an excuse for plugging in the earphones.

If you have just endured a long tedious book like me, make this your next listen.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Time to put Elvis and Joe out to pasture

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. Robert Crais has been a terrific writer for a good twenty-five years. Initially, the characters Elvis Cole and Joe Pike were funny (well, Cole, anyway: Pike hardly said anything), and the first narrator was Patrick Lawlor. Mr. Lawlor was perfectly suited to reading these books. He was quietly funny, calm and not shrill or hysterical. Mr. Crais has suffered (?) from the successful writer's trap: he is being strongly encouraged to push out one book after another, and the quality of his writing has slipped noticeably. If you really want to enjoy Crais's work, read the first books, like Stalking the Angel and The Monkey's Raincoat. These, and others, are just great to read. I remember one day in the '80s when I was sitting outside a bookstore, reading Crais and laughing out loud. A woman came over and asked what I was reading, because she loved humor in writing, and it is hard to find. Now, thirty or more years later, the books have declined noticeably, even though Crais's readership has grown significantly. As I have remarked elsewhere, Mae West once said that "too much of a good thing is wonderful." Perhaps for her. For me, I am sad that Mr. Crais's skills have eroded to the point at which I just don't care what happens to Elvis and Joe. I know that Crais has written several stand-alone books, but I haven't liked them. One of them, clearly movie-ready, was so full of slam-bang- burning house, children endangered, unimaginable villains: you get the point. Overload.

Has The Promise turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, although I probably won't read another Robert Crais book. He has clearly exhausted these characters, and his attempts to invent new ones have not been so great. Scott James and his wonderdog Maggie are a good try, but as for me, I prefer human-to-human relationships. There is more room for, uh, development of these relationships, whereas with a dog...well, you get the point. Even if both Scott and Maggie have PTSD from suffering through the wars.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews ?

It is easy to say Edoardo Ballerini, but actually I feel that his amazing skills are just not suited for material like this. Maybe the guy who reads Dennis Lehane's books.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I might, even though I didn't like it much. It would be interesting to see who gets cast as Cole and Pike. You might be able to throw out a lot of this book, be left with two hours of movie material, and if the casting is good, and the director is good, who knows?

Any additional comments?

Nope. Read the early books if you want to be happily entertained.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great characters, good plot, but unbelievable

What did you like best about The Promise? What did you like least?

The characters are engaging...who can not enjoy the Elvis-Joe Pike relationship. But not in a million years did I believe the plot device of not informing the authorities of the collection of bomb making equipment...not on Elvis' part and certainly not on the part of the canine officer who, for the sake of some bargain made, gives up his dog...no way. Very dumb. I had a hard time listening to the end because I thought the whole plot became very contrived and not in the least believable.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The relationship between the various law enforcement authorities was interesting and the information about the way that the dogs function.

Any additional comments?

Unbelievable.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narration spoiled it.

I enjoy Robert Crais. At first I tried to ignore the weird voices created by the readers for various characters but ultimately couldn't. Returning this book. Will read in print.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Robert Crais at his best !

I'm a long-time fan of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, and this book made me happy. Elvis and Joe, joined by Scott James and his dog Maggie, (from "Suspect") and Jon Stone, mercenary & associate of Joe Pike. What a great cast and a thrill-ride of a story. Excellent narration, especially by Macleod Andrews.

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6 people found this helpful