Sunset Express (1996)

I read one of this Elvis Cole series way back when and was not impressed enough to try another but this paperback landed in my hands when I was between books so I thought I'd give at least the first 50 pages a try. I ended up enjoying it thoroughly! Private detective, Elvis Cole, is hired to help out high profile lawyer Jonathan Green on a high profile case. The case gets tricky and the story gets very very good. Now, I'm going to have to go back and find the rest of the series and catch up! ( )

Elvis and Joe are dealing with a high powered Lawyer in this one. He is protecting a person accused of murdering his wife.
His goal is to convict a female cop who is a friend of Joe. This novel has a different ending than his usual ones. ( )

Looking for Hard Copy, in decent condition, at reasonable price ( )

This is my first Robert Crais novel, after having to return a previous attempt to the library - stupid overdue fees! For Sunset Express I was well prepared, I bought a copy so that I would definitely have the chance to read an Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery. A very worthy investment.

While I'm indifferent about some of the characters in the novel, Elvis is a great narrator and has just the right amount of wit and humour. Robert has certainly crafted an interesting series of investigative twists, while at the same time retaining a level of reality. I really did enjoy this book and will be picking up the rest of the series soon.

On a side note, Robert's style of writing is similar to the style I am pursuing in my writing. A serious novel with wit and humour, while also avoiding some of the neatly tied up ending cliches. From what I've read in Sunset Express, I'd be very pleased to have my WIP first novel, Overturned Stone, be comparable to Robert's work. ( )

Gosh, Robert Crais! I really want to like you, but after lots of books in and it still feels like gawky blind dating rather than true love. I should be really digging these Crais novels, but I’m not. A smart-aleck gauntleting detective with a mean-as-hell friend is something that I can’t get enough of in other books. But something just isn’t coalescing here. From Crais first novel, I thought that Crais was doing a west coast version of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels and that feeling continues here. It isn’t Crais’ fault that I’m reading these over many years after he wrote them and that they seem dated in a lot of ways to me; having said this, there are still just too many clichés for me to overlook in this. Plus, Elvis is just such a dogged know-it-all that he tends to get on my nerves. Characters like Marlowe, Spenser or Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie can be wise asses and tough guys, but it feels like Cole can’t let the mildest thing go by without trying to act like a comic at karaoke night. What saves this book Cole’s quick jokes. So quick, he had me laughing like crazy a few pages in. That's pretty darn quick.

NB: According to BL/GR/LT this is my 400th/396th/394th book review. I believe BL is correct. ( )