Books

A sidekick comes out of the shadows

Readers of the twisting, taut new Elvis Cole mystery will agree that spotlighting his partner, Joe Pike, was a brilliant stroke.

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published March 11, 2007

Sometimes spinning off a popular character's sidekick is a bad idea. But Elvis Cole had better watch out: Joe Pike may send him to the sidelines.

Fans of Robert Crais' bestselling novels about wisecracking Los Angeles private detective Cole 10 so far, from The Monkey's Raincoat to The Forgotten Man don't know much about Cole's partner, Pike. That's the way Pike likes it, but readers do know he's a classic got-your-back tough guy: laconic, resourceful, mysterious and never short of firepower.

In The Watchman, Pike takes the lead, with Cole as backup. The result is a pared-down, mean, propulsive thriller with just enough tenderness for a glimmer of redemption, and just enough of Pike's history to make him even more fascinating.

The story begins with spoiled rich girl Larkin Conner Barkley (think Paris Hilton, only articulate) gunning her $200,000 Aston Martin through L.A.'s streets at 3 a.m. - with her eyes closed.

It's how she looks for angels.

What she finds instead is a silver Mercedes in her path. Unhurt in the collision, she's calling for help when the bloodied couple in the car drive away and the passenger in the back seat runs off in the opposite direction.

It might have just been one more weird L.A. story, except that federal investigators show up two days later to grill Larkin about the people in the Mercedes - and, a few days after that, heavily armed strangers make the first of several attempts to kill her.

Pike is out of the bodyguard business, but he owes a favor to Bud Flynn, his former mentor in the LAPD. Flynn has been hired by Larkin's phenomenally wealthy, emotionally distant father to protect her. When it becomes clear Flynn can't, he calls in his chit from Pike.

Larkin and Pike hate each other's guts on sight, but Pike is the kind of guy who gets the job done. This ripped-from-the-headlines job proves to involve Colombian crime cartels, real estate scams, false identity, betrayal and all sorts of people aiming to kill Larkin and Pike.

Crais, who wrote for such television series as Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice before he turned to novels, can sling razor-sharp dialogue and smoky sexual tension with the best. And just when you think this novel might suffer a sappy ending, he blindsides you with revenge that will make your blood run a little cold.

Colette Bancroft can be reached at (727) 893-8435 or bancroft@sptimes.com.

The book

The Watchman

By Robert Crais

Simon & Schuster, 292 pages, $25.95

www.robertcrais.com

[Last modified March 8, 2007, 12:16:27]