Stalking the Angel

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining!
Review: This is my first Robert Crais book, after I had seen all of his work rate so highly on Amazon.com, and I had to say that it is brilliant!

Crais introduces us to ex-cop, now PI, Elvis Cole - who is very much into martial arts (with baddies) and witty one-liners with potential clients. Along with his psycho friend, they out to the streets and fight crime (along probably making & breaking their own rules as they go along).

Stalking the Angel brings us into the world of the Japanese Mafia and kidnapping. Although this can be a heavy subject, it is dealt with in an extremely amusing & entertaining storyline and you will be laughing along with Cole's antics and razorsharp dialogue.

If you are looking for a good crime/thriller novel with alot of humour and entertainment, then don't pass up Stalking the Angel!

Rating:
Summary: ELVIS+PIKE=GOOD BOOK!!!!
Review: This is the second book in this series. I liked it better than "The Monkey's Raincoat." Elvis is hired by Bradley Warren to find a book that has been stolen. As he begins his search, Mimi Warren, his daughter, is kidnapped. Or, is she. Elvis and Pike get involved with Japanese bad men. Can the book be found, can they bring the daughter back alive? Makes for a pretty good book. Hate to say so but is a little like a Parker book where Spencer would not take a young man back to his parents because he did not want to go. Elvis is a wisecracking PI, a whole lot like Spencer. However, I do believe Hawk can take Pike. All in all if you like a good mystery that is fast moving and as some surprising twists, I think you will like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Into the Japanese Underworld
Review: This is the second entry in the Elvis Cole series. It is not quite as good as "The Monkey's Raincoat", but it is still very entertaining. Elvis is deeply involved in martial arts and yoga and Mr. Crais has him mixing it up with the Japanese mafia, whose members also follow the discipline. Elvis is hired by the assistant to a high profile hotel magnate who has aligned himself with the Asian community in L.A. An ancient manuscript in the magnate's care has disappeared and Elvis is brought on to find it. Mr. Crais suffers a little bit of a sophomore slump with "Stalking The Angel". He uses some tired mystery novels cliches, many of the charcters are stock profiles. Despite some of these shortcomings, this is still an above average story and an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: get real!
Review: This novel has all the gritty realism of a late 70s network cop show: TJ Hooker meets Starsky & Hutch. The plot was painfully predictable, the characters laughably cliched and the dialog stupid, forced and irritating. Toward the end of the book, after heroes Elvis and Pike, easily blow away a half dozen oriental villans, they proceed to voluntarily and inexplicably put down their weaponry in order to engage in hand to hand combat with one final bad guy...just like on tv. I, for one, expect more from a detective novel and won't waste my time with the other Crais books.

Rating:
Summary: Stalking the Angel...great action and suspense
Review: This was much better than the first one of the series (The Monkey's Raincoat). Elvis Cole is hired to find this sacred Japanese book that has been stolen from a business man who had it on loan from a group of respected Japanese. His job becomes more than just a hunt for a book.
This is the type of book you could read in one sitting. I like Elvis much better in this book than the first one. He isn't as sleezy. The humor is witty and well timed. Joe Pike, the silent and sleek partner, is a class act. Highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Elvis on the Case of the Missing Manuscript
Review: When Bradley Warren saunters into Elvis's office, the two men clash from the beginning. But Elvis still takes his case. Seems a rare and valuable manuscript from Japan that Bradley borrowed has gone missing and Bradley feels the police aren't doing enough to find it. Elvis soon picks up a trail that leads him to the underside of Little Tokyo. But when the Warren family begins receiving threatening phone calls, the heat really picks up. Can Elvis keep the family safe and find the manuscript?

Ok, I admit, I'm not much of a hardboiled fan. But something about this series intrigues me. Probably the fact that the main character is more passionate about Disney then I am. And I really do love Elvis. His sarcasm and quips had me laughing throughout the entire book. However, it's not all fun and games. The further you go, the darker it gets. That's probably my big complaint; it just got too dark for my personal tastes. On the whole, it's a great storyline that keeps you reading until the final page with a couple nice twists. And all the characters are interesting and very real.

I certainly recommend this book to fans of hardboiled PI's. It's very well written and engaging. Frankly, even though I'm not a fan of this sub-genre, I'm thinking I may need to continue with these characters myself. They're that intriguing.

Rating:
Summary: The Yakuza Gets Taken Down!
Review: Yep, Elvis Cole tackles the scary, heartless Japanese Mafia, the Yakuza, as he attempts to find an ancient, priceless manuscript that has been stolen from the world's worst human being, a businessman probably as heartless as the dread Yakuza. That Elvis! Does he get great clients, or what? Protecting himself from the businessman's sexual predator wife and trying to protect their vulnerable, at times almost catatonic, teenaged daughter, while trying to hunt down the elusive Japanese manuscript, keeps Elvis on his toes and readers on the edge of their seats. Joe Pike, his silent (but deadly) partner, brings all the big guns into this explosive---and surprising!---finale. Excellent! Don't miss this one.