Sun 13 Nov 2016
ROBERT CRAIS – Lullaby Town. Elvis Cole #3. Bantam, hardcover, 1992; paperback, June 1993.
Crais is one of those writers who irritate the hell out of me. He is an excellent prose stylist, at least to my ear; witty, glib, adept at characterization, a lot of good things. So what’s not to like? Well, in his first two Elvis Cole books, it was a pair of plots that made some of Parker’s macho excesses seem restrained. I didn’t buy this one for that reason, but waited until I came across it in the library.
Peter Alan Nelson, wunderkind Hollywood director, dumped a wife and child early in his career, and now he wants them back. What he wants he’s in the habit of getting so he hires Elvis Cole to find them for him. Our boy is nothing if not efficient, so he finds her in short order in a small Connecticut town with a happy family life, a career, and a secret.
The secret involves a New York mob family and the psycho son of the Godfather himself. Things get sticky quickly, so Cole calls for his Hawk-clone, Joe Pike, and you know what happens now, and who it happens to.
The good or bad news, depending on your taste, is that nothing’s changed. Crais is still an excellent wordsmith, Cole is still wisecracking and caring, Pike is still deadly as a wino’s wake-up breath, and the bad guys are still really nasty. And once again our boys defy reality and take on the mob and win.
Of all the imitators that Parker has spawned, Crais is probably the most like him; except that he doesn’t even pay hip service to reality. He still pisses me off, and if I read his next, Free Fall, it’ll also be from the library. But if you like the kind of book he writes, nobody but Parker does it better.
Bibliographic Note: There are now 11 Elvis Cole books, and as of next year (2017), six Elvis Cole – Joe Pike pair-ups, the latter apparently having been promoted in terms of billing.
November 13th, 2016 at 9:55 pm
My opinion is that, and I don’t at all mean to be derogatory, but if I want to read a Spenser novel, I’ll probably read a Spenser novel.
November 13th, 2016 at 10:24 pm
My reaction to Crais and Cole exactly. If I want Spenser I’ll read Spenser.
November 14th, 2016 at 4:23 am
I like them both and yes I prefer Parker. But if there is room for endless husband-wife mysteries, I believe there is room for more than one buddy mysteries. Spenser and Hawk were more interesting characters but I do enjoy Cole and Joe Pike. I generally find best seller mysteries to be dull and the Crais stuff can suffer from that. But then Spenser and Hawk are more pretentious.
Crais started writing for TV – HILL STREET BLUES, QUINCY M.E., CAGNEY & LACEY, and MIAMI VICE. My favorites Cole/Pike books were L.A. REQUIEM and SUNSET EXPRESS. It helps he is centered in Los Angeles (my favorite town). He has a new one coming out in June 2017 called THE WANTED (#17 I believe).