Demolition Angel

Rating:
Summary: OK but some glaring factual flaws
Review: This book is a page-turner despite a rather tedious heroine (her flaws could be interesting if they weren't repeated so often), with a nice twist about halfway through. It reads like a film treatment, and apparently has been snapped up. The bomb stuff is now pretty standard, but generates suspense anyway. But as a Florida native, I couldn't get past a really sloppy series of factual mistakes -- without giving anything away, there's an early incident that takes place in a library in -- according to the book at different times -- West Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties: that's three counties along the east coast south Florida! Each time the incident is mentioned it suddenly moves about 50 miles! It's as if a crime were committed in midtown Manhattan but the papers said it was at Coney Island, and therefore the Staten Island police were called in! Hey Robert, get a map and use it when you move out of LA! Such glaring errors are distracting to a few million readers, and tend to make you focus on things that aren't really crucial to the story.

Rating:
Summary: this book is da bomb!
Review: I have been meaning to pick up a book by Robert Crais for some time now. I'm glad this is the one I chose. The detail about bomb sqauds and investigatory techniques was interesting. The characterizations were great. Carol Starkey is a fascinating woman surrounded by a crew of well developed characters. By the time I finished reading Crais' tale I felt that I knew these people and that I did not want to leave them. I hope Crais revisits these characters again in the future. Meanwhile, I suggest that you pick up a copy of 'Demolition Angel' if you haven't read it yet.

Rating:
Summary: Dark. Scary. Excellent. A New Direction for Crais.
Review: I'm not going to rehash the plot of the book. It's too well-constructed to give you any spoilers, and it's too twisty to do justice to that way anyway.

What i am going to say is that this is the first book in i-don't-know-when that i was literally unable to put down. Once i got past a certain point, everything in my life went on hold until, a couple hours later, i emerged triumphantly at the end of the story.

Let me warn you *not* to expect the same sort of story Crais has been giving us so well with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike -- though there have been hints of darkness in the Pike character and in the most recent book ("L.A. Requiem"), the Cole mysteries are still pretty open, sunny stories.

Not this one.

This one is dark and closed in and twisty and it takes you down to where the worms and the bugs and the other dark things live and it shows 'em to you; Crais is working the edges of Ellroy country here, and it may be disturbing to some people (though i didn't find myself with the feeling that i'd been swimming in lukewarm slime that i usually have after reading Ellroy).

Carol Starkey, who is still trying to come to grips with having been dead for three minutes after a bomb she was working went off, is a sad, sick, brave cop who carries on because The Job is all that's left of her life. "Mr Red", the serial bomber who hunts cops, identified by ATF as the maker of the bomb that kills an LA cop to begin the story, is one of the scariest characters i've encountered in a long time. ATF Special Agent Pell, who works the case with Starkey, is almost as scary as Red.

And the world of explosives freaks and their computer interactions that we're shown is *really* scary, because they're *really* believable.

Judging by the preview for Crais's next book in the back of this paperback, he intends to continue this darker and heavier trend and to not return to Cole and Pike for a while, which is fine; after "L.A.Requiem", Pike and Cole need some time off.

If you can stand a somewhat dark and depressing setting, this is one ... good read that you ought to try.

Rating:
Summary: An Explosive Break from Elvis
Review: As a Southern California-based mystery author, I have long been amazed by Robert Crais and his Elvis Cole series. In DEMOLITION ANGEL, Crais takes a break from Elvis. Following the recent trend of many male mystery writers, he selects a female for his protagonist in this non-series novel. Unlike many men writing women, Crais creates a realistic and multi-dimensional character. Carol Starkey is a scarred woman--both physically and emotionally. Her lover was killed in an explosion, and now years later, she is still struggling to deal with her life. Booze and drugs help her get through most days. In DEMOLITION ANGEL, she finds herself involved in searching for a homicidal maniac in an investigation her life and experience has prepared her for in a way no one else's has. DEMOLITION ANGEL is an awe-inspiring novel with a true winning lead. Great book.

Rating:
Summary: MOVE OVER ELVIS COLE, BECAUSE CAROL STARKEY HAS ARRIVED!
Review: I am extremely happy to see Robert Crais break away from his light-hearted Elvis Cole novels because "Demolition Angel" was my kind of novel. No offense to Elvis Cole lovers, but I do not like to read suspense novels that have a lot of humor in them. I like to read about a lot more serious and intelligent investigators, like FBI Agent Carol Starkey. She reminds me more of like Agent Maggie O'Dell from Alex Kava's FBI novels. The beginning of this novel starts out with a bang as an unknown man leaves a bomb next to a garbage can. Starkey's friend thinks the bomb is not that serious and is not cautious enough while approaching the bomb. He gets blown to pieces. While Carol is lamenting over the loss of her friend, she gets on the case of Mr. Red who leaves bombs for people to find. As Carol investigates she discovers that the bomber could be someone fairly close to the department. This is a nonstop race all the way until the end when the seconds are ticking away. If you like HARD CORE SUSPENSE NOVELS like John Sandford or Robert W. Walker and don't like the ELVIS COLE series, (like me) then you'll love "Demolition Angel."

Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: In a departure from his excellent Elvis Cole series Crais has come up with a winner in Demolition Angel. Carol Starkey is the main character with a somewhat tragic past. Officer Starkey is put on the case to track down a bomber who is killing off members of various Depts. Bomb Squads. Crais puts in alot of action and plot twists, but in my opinion this should be a stand alone novel. Starkey does not have enough charisma to sustain an entire series. But overall an good book and should make for an exciting movie.

Rating:
Summary: The search is on for Mr. Red.
Review: This was an interesting change for me. It is the story of Carol Starkey who is a former member of the L.A. Bomb Squad. After a catastrophic explosion three years prior that left her literally in pieces, emotionally as well as physically; Starkey is placed on a case that dredges up old feelings and her demons are unleashed once again.

The elusive Mr. Red wants one thing, to make the FBI's top ten list. His modus operandi is an elite bomb that he strategically places with the name of his intended victim carved into it. Who is next on his hit list and will Starkey be able to get to him in time. Sounds simple but the plot thickens when Starkey starts to see discrepancies in how the latest bomb was manufactured and Mr. Red becomes an undaunted companion in a chat room on the Internet.

This was a good who dun it and a book the men in your crowd might enjoy as well. The author made a fine presentation of his research on bombs and the bomb squad technicians who bravely answer the call. I would give this one a 3.5. Kelsana 7/14/01

Rating:
Summary: Slow Winding Suspense
Review: A huge fan of Crais' Elvis Cole mysteries, I was a little nervous about reading something outside of that world.The story of Carol Starkey,a one time bomb technician who's now working in the Criminal Conspiracy Section at the LAPD, presents a flawed and dark protagonist. After her lover is killed and she's seriously wounded, she is still attempting to get over her loss nearly three years later. When another technician is killed, Carol is the lead investigator in what begins to look like the work of a serial bomber. At first I thought I was going to be disappointed; About a hundred pages in I was intrigued, but not finding it the page turner I hoped.But not to worry, because soon after it kicked into high gear with enough unseen plot twists that should make it a nail biting thriller when it begins shooting as a feature. (The rights have been bought.)After Crais' great "LA Requiem" he still seems to exploring the darker side of his heros, this one not having the added benefit of Elvis Cole's sarcastic wit. Still, she's a interesting character, perhaps ultimately even more so since her flaws make her that much more human.

Rating:
Summary: Psychological Profiles of Bombers and Those Who Defuse Bombs
Review: Anyone who has ever watched technicians disarming a bomb on television has probably felt gripping tension and possibly even fear. Few do not empathize with those brave people who approach bombs to make life safer for all of us. Demolition Angel is an intense exploration of the emotions and perspectives of those on the bomb squads and the warped people who make and plant these bombs. Robert Crais has succeeded in taking the reader inside the heads of those who live in a world that we would not otherwise enter and understand. Unfortunately, the book wallows in a crudity that will make you feel dirty by the time you finish reading it. I'm not sure that all of this crudity and ugliness was necessary to tell the story, and have graded the book down accordingly.

The book centers around Carol Starkey who is now a Detective-2 with the L.A.P.D.'s Criminal Conspiracy Section, who investigates bombings. Three years earlier she had been on the bomb squad. While defusing a bomb, she was severely injured and lost the man she loved. She has been trying to keep her life together since then, but has just been keeping her head above water. She smokes like a chimney, is drunk most of the time, and lives in a filthy house with no groceries. Her main connection to other people is through her shrink.

At this moment, a new explosion takes another bomb technician's life, and Starkey is in charge of the investigation. Soon, she is jockeying to keep the ATF from taking the case away from her. All the clues point to the bomber being a maniac who calls himself, Mr. Red.

The story is told from Carol Starkey's perspective and from that of the bombers you will meet in the story. The interactions are especially revealing.

The book contains a good mystery, and you will enjoy it. The character development is the thing. I was impressed that Mr. Crais could handle those who are permanently damaged by the evil and the misfortune they encounter so well. In L.A. Requiem, the evil was sublimated into incredible goodness in Joe Pike. This book is more realistic, I think.

After you finish enjoying the suspense, I suggest that you think about others who do dangerous jobs. What might their motives be? What benefits do they gain from doing their work? Why do they see the danger as worthwhile?

Challenge yourself to accomplish more than you think you can . . . and in ways that develop your character and your connection to others!

Rating:
Summary: Page turning pace; troubling protagonist
Review: Crais' screenplay writing background comes through clearly in Demolition Angel. While the writing won't win him a Pulitzer, it certainly provides a reader with good, page-turning suspense. The territory is pretty familiar stuff but he does a craftmen's quality job with it.

I won't rehash the plot but I must comment on Carol Starkey. Both my husband and I found ourselves really disliking this character. Fundamentally, Crais has gone way overboard in making her a poster girl for the walking wounded. Surely she could have be a nicely complicated heroine simply on the basis of being brought back from the dead, being horribly scarred, and having lost the love of her life before her very eyes. The chain-smoking, hard-drinking components were the worst kind of overkill. Worse than that, both of these habits occupied way too much space while doing little to move the plot forward.

Bottom-line: A book that works as a page-turner but flawed enough that I'll think twice before picking up another book with Carol Starkey as a protagonist.