Customer Reviews

The First Rule (Elvis Cole/Joe Pike Series)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Robert Crais has created one of the genre's favorite character sets: Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. The first several books focused on Elvis, but with "The First Rule", Crais has now published his second "Joe Pike" novel. The action is constant, the pace is quick, and the plot is good. Crais has selected the Serbian Organized Crime mobs to set this story. One of Pike's long time friends and family are murdered like animals and Joe Pike takes this personally. From there you can guess how the pace and action rip ahead.

Elvis Cole is called on to help as are a couple of other characters that Crais has used in the past. But this is mostly a Joe Pike story. While there are some twists and turns, the plot moves along towards a somewhat believable conclusion. We learn a little about the Serbian mob and how they are accumulating wealth in America, but there is little depth to this novel.

In this book, Crais has taken out any of the filler. There are no underlying themes, no further character development on any of our favorites, and no attempt at humor - a Crais trademark for the Elvis Cole stories. I vacillated between a three star or four star rating for this book, but moved it to four stars because I enjoyed the book - as quick a read as it was. At 305 pages, it is good for a couple of hours on a plane or to while away the afternoon. I am a little disappointed in Crais as the last several books have been very average without his trademark snide humor and camaraderie between characters. This book could have been Joe Smith and Elvis Jones instead of Pike and Cole. There is very little that ties them together in this story. It is difficult to rate this book without matching my expectations to the story that is delivered. I expected more and wanted more, but the story delivered is good, just not what I wanted.

Robert Crais is one of those authors whose new books -- especially in the Elvis Cole series -- send me rushing to the bookstore or to Amazon. There's nothing necessarily unique about Crais' storytelling or his protagonists; just skilled writing, tight plotting, and a corny but endearing private detective (Cole) who answers his phone "the world's greatest detective."

Cole is a character in "The First Rule," but a rather minor character. The main focus is on Cole's sidekick, the taciturn but lethal Joe Pike. Pike is basically superhuman -- he doesn't seem to need much sleep, he's lethally accurate with guns or his body, he doesn't talk much, and he's always there to help Cole out. In small doses, he's an effective character. But he's hard-pressed to carry a book as the main character.

To be clear, this is not the first time that Crais has used Pike as the lead -- see also "L.A. Requiem." Like that book, this one is a story of revenge. An apparent home invasion gone wrong leaves Pike's former mercenary colleague Frank Meyer and his family dead (appallingly brutal, but nice to see Crais actually have the guts to write a nasty scene rather than be safe and saccharine by having the family members somehow get away), and Pike is out to take care of the killers. Along the way, Pike has to dodge the police (one officer says to Pike that it's a wonder someone who's killed as many people as he -- Pike -- has remains free), the federal Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms department, and an emotionally hardened Serbian prostitute and her protector. As might be expected, much mayhem results.

Because Pike is so powerful, there actually isn't much tension in this book. It's like Steven Seagal in the movies; invincibility can be boring. What's worse is that Pike is so uninteresting as a character. He has no wants, no weaknesses, no connections other than to his former "crew" and to Cole, so what we're left with is a methodical tracking of the killers, interrupted occasionally by cliches like the deadly man who would hospitalize anyone who took his sunglasses off, but lets a 10 month old baby play with them.

I've loved Joe Pike from the moment we first met him. His deep flaws make him intensely interesting...but.... in this latest outing he seems to have become less realistically human and more auto-hero. Pike is Cole's foil and was strong enough to carry a book only when we deep dove into his miserable and formative childhood. Without sufficient use of Cole's wryness as a complement, Pike morphs into Jack Reacher. A great shame. Crais is one of the better writers in a sea of formula - driven dreck. Come back Elvis - and bring Joe with you as Tonto - he's just not complex enough to be the masked man, I fear.

The First Rule begins a few minutes before a brutal and bloody home invasion in which an entire family is killed. Crais gives such complete characterizations in just a few lines, we are stunned by the violence and understand private detective Joe Pike's grief and outrage when he finds out one of the victims used to work for him as a mercenary. Pike promises he will find the perpetrators and make sure they are punished. The remainder of the book follows Pike as he skirts the law, outwits the police, confronts some really bad guys and makes good on his promise. The story twists and turns as Pike finds out the truth behind the tragedy.

Crais' tight plot and stark words make The First Rule thrilling in every sense of the word. Spot on characters, vivid imagery and non-stop action make this one a real page-turner whether Pike is smashing a gangster's plasma TV to extort information, or lulling a baby to sleep. Laconic, principled and disciplined, Pike is a strong hero and balances the more flamboyant Cole. Somehow I've completely missed Robert Crais' Elvis Cole books up to now, but I'll be remedying that as soon as possible.

I'm a fan of Robert Crais and have read all his crime novels. He's a very capable crime writer, and I normally find his writing style quite intense and gripping. But his most recent book, THE FIRST RULE is far from his best.

The major flaw with THE FIRST RULE is the lack of decent characterization. None of the characters are fleshed out, and few of them are likable. The main character is a borderline superhero who is never truly in any danger. Most of the storyline consists of one action scene after another, with little emotional undercurrent. The result is a rather superficial reading experience.

Still, Crais is a skilled craftsman, and this novel is much better written and researched than your usual crime novel. THE FIRST RULE isn't a complete waste of time, and it does contain some exciting moments. But overall it doesn't hold up to the high standards of Crais's usual work.

If you're new to Crais, my advice is to instead read his first novel MONKEY'S RAINCOAT instead, or his best novel LA REQUIEM. Those are probably the best places to start.

If revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, someone forgot to tell Joe Pike.

"One of his guys", a former mercenary named Frank Meyer, and his entire family plus their young nanny are brutally slaughtered by an active L.A. home invasion gang. Meyer, ten years out of contract soldiering, had seemingly left the life behind and reinvented himself as a successful businessman, whose toys and waistline stood testament to his new lifestyle.

This gang operated with pretty good intelligence, and its previous hits had been of truly bad guys. The police want to know: was Meyer still in the game, but working the dark side? Pike wants to know the answer but whatever it may be he is determined to track down and kill those responsible. Whatever else Meyer may have been, Meyer was one of his guys.

So using people he trusts and developing sources well outside law enforcement, Pike goes on the hunt. It is a wild, bloody and raucous business. Leads turn quickly into body counts, but Pike, like any good commander, soldiers on.

Joe Pike is an iconic character, strongly reminiscent of movie leads, like Clint Eastwood's early westerns or Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series, who pursue personal justice through valleys of evil and depravity. I suspect that we will see Mr. Pike on the big screen soon. This is too good a story not to put it in the can. When that occurs, cold or hot, the dish will be very tasty indeed.

This is only the second book by Robert Crais that I've read and the first in his series featuring Elvis Cole and/or his partner Joe Pike. As such, unlike some reviewers who feel that The First Rule is a bit of a disappointment relative to some of the other books in the series, my first experience with this series is a very satisfying one. Overall, I found the plot (which involves members of organized criminal gangs of the former Soviet Union) moves along at a very brisk pace and is filled with action, the characters are believable and multi-dimensional, and Crais's writing style is crisp, direct and engaging. I'll soon find out if I'll feel that The First Rule is not as good as some of the other books in the series, as I definitely plan to get on the Crais bandwagon.

Whew. Reading "The First Rule" is like being sky-dived into someone's adrenalin rush. Pike's friend and ex-member of his mercenary crew (handpicked by Pike) is shot dead as is his entire family and the nanny. Slaughtered by a home invasion team. Pike is determined to find the killers and treat them in the same lethal manner as they treated his friend. All right, there is a certain inevitability about this type of story (does anyone think Pike will not succeed?) but there is plenty of suspense along the way and some clever plot twists as well. A maximum velocity page-turner for sure.

I have been a Robert Crais fan since THE MONKEY"S RAINCOAT. He has written three of the finest crime novels I've ever read: THE WATCHMAN, THE TWO-MINUTE RULE, and the classic L.A. REQUIEM. This book is not in their class. He takes a great opening, and an interesting premise, and it all sort of deflates toward a weak conclusion. One of the most interesting details is never explained. Joe Pike is softer at the end of this novel than in any other book in the series, and it weakens the character. It's a fast read, and will hold your interest. It may even keep you in suspense at times. There is an absolutely terrific scene at a trailer park. I wish the rest of the novel had that caliber of writing.

In The First Rule, Joe Pike Crais's version of Jack Reacher hunts for a murderous arms dealer responsible for killing an old friend of his (this time its personal).

The story very much reads like a Jack Reacher novel. There isn't much tension to be found in the fight scenes as Pike is such a macho-hero we can never believe he might loose, and the dialogue grates after a while as too stand-offish and on occasion too much racial stereotyping.

But if you are a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, than this is the sort of thing for you, personally I found it all a little old. Too many devious woman, uninteresting bad-guys and strangely out of place baby jokes for me.