Customer Reviews

Indigo Slam

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For me, the mystery of Indigo Slam is why it was out of print for years. Originally published in 1997, it didn't come out in paperback till 2003 (and the hardcover disappeared), while other later Crais novels (including another Cole book) did the usual hardcover-to-paperback cycle and remained on the shelves. Whatever the reason, it's here now and it's really good.

Elvis Cole, self-proclaimed World's Greatest Detective, is hired by three children to find their father. Motivated more by conscience than money, he helps them. When it turns out that the father is on the run from the Russian mob, Elvis starts getting in over his head. Fortunately, there is his laconic partner Pike to watch his back.

Mystery fans will see a certain similarity between the Cole books and Robert Parker's Spenser. Both feature wise-cracking tough private eyes with mysterious but generally good-hearted partners. Unfortunately, over the years, I found Spenser getting unlikably smug and self-righteous, while Cole remains a pleasure to read about. And both Cole and Pike are much more well-developed than either Spenser or Hawk, neither of whom even reveal their full names (the single-named hero is a bit of a tired gimmick nowadays...Richard Stark's Parker is forgiven because he's been around since the mid-60's).

You don't need to have read other Elvis Cole novels to get into this one; Crais makes it easy to get right into things. For fans of the private-eye novel, you'll find this - like all the other novels by Crais - delightfully entertaining.

I've really enjoyed Crais' Elvis Cole series -- especially LA Requiem -- but Indigo Slam was a disappointing, even boring read. The book starts well enough with an intriguing story about three kids abandoned by their father. Crais ruins the book by solving the mystery quickly in the first half of the book. That leaves about a hundred pages for utterly unbelievable shootouts and a farcically complicated end-game designed by Elvis. Are we supposed to find the notion of multiple shoot-outs believable? Is Elvis immortal? Can he in fact be killed? You could skip the final part of the book -- I skimmed it.

It was plant day in Los Angeles, at least that what Private Investigator Elvis Cole calls the day of the month that he waters his dying plants. Elvis isn't good with plants. Anyway he's busy caring for them when Teresa, Charles and Winona Haines walk into his office. They want Elvis to find their father. Elvis doesn't work for children, so he sends them away. However, after they leave he realizes that he's screwed up. The kids were obviously in trouble, had come to him for help and he'd failed them. He rushes downstairs in time to see fifteen-year-old Teresa pull away from the curb. He dashes to his car and follows, thinking that the girl, who is too young to drive, has a lot on her young shoulders.

He decides to help the children and Teresa pulls a wad of hundred dollar bills from her purse, but he tells her he won't take money from her, she insists and he accepts two of the bills and leaves, thinking it'll be an easy job. But as usual in a Robert Crais detective thriller, things are not always as they seem.

Elvis goes to the print shop where Charles Haines, the errant father, works and finds out he was fired because the boss caught him shooting up. The kid's father is a junky and that's the last thing Elvis wants to tell them. From the phone bill he learns Charles called Seattle several times, so he flies up there on his own nickle, asks questions and is kidnapped, beat up and almost killed by Russian mobsters who want to know why Elvis is asking question about Charles, who's last name by the way isn't Haines, but Hewitt. Fortunately he's saved at the last minute by U.S. Marshals who want to know the same thing.

Elvis figures out that Charles had flown the coup from the federal witness program. That he was a big time counterfeiter and that some very bad guys want him dead and that they'll kill anybody who gets in their way. Fortunately, Elvis has his pal, the quiet and broody Pike to watch his back.

And thus it begins, the twists and turns of a Robert Crais novel where, as I said above, nothing is as it seems. Just when you think you've got a handle on the story it takes a quick right turn and you're slapping yourself upside the head, murmuring, "Why didn't I see that?" INDIGO SLAM, like every book Robert Crais has written, is a five star read, one that won't let you sleep, eat or go to work until you finish, it's that good.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Robert Crais breathes new life into the wisecracking PI genre with his Elvis Cole series. What at first looks like a Spenser clone, becomes fresh and satisfying with Crais' guidance. Cole and his partner Joe Pike find themselves as nursemaids to 3 kids whose father has flown from the care of the witness protection program. What looks to be a case of finding a deadbeat drugged out lowlife takes a turn when the father turns out to be a bit different than Cole's image of him. The fight to save the family brings Cole into conflict with Vietmnamese expatriates, the Russian mob, the Witness Protection Program and the US Treasury. It leads to an exciting chase at Disneyland which guarantees that this book will never be made into a Disney film and a stunning conclusion which puts the family in extreme jeopardy. Write on, Mr Crais, write on.

It starts out simple enough. A 15-year-old girl and her two younger siblings hire Elvis Cole to find their father who has been missing for eleven days. The situation becomes extremely complicated from there. If you were to plot this story on a graph, it might end up looking like a spider's web. But Crais makes it work. This book was originally published in 1997 and reissued in 2003. It's a fast and entertaining read.

Does anyone not love Elvis Cole? This is one detective that comes across as a human being -- nicely drawn touches in the narrative that result in both interesting stories and a protogonist that you really care about.

In this entry in the continuing adventures of Mr. Cole, we find three children hiring him to find their missing dad. Turns out the missing dad is also being hunted by thugs he previously worked for. Meanwhile, the hero's girl friend is effectively fighting a mean ex-spouse. All of this adds up to a very nice afternoon's read. I recommend this book.

Crais' Elvis Cole series does not have a weak link. This was another typically strong effort. Although you need not have read prior books in the series, it would not hurt to know the characters. The author does ot leave his characters stagnant but continues to make them grow so you feel you know them personally.

In Elvis Cole, Crais somehow combines the hard-boiled LA private eye of the old-time genre with a character who possesses sympathy and a sense of humor. All his characters are believable. With the exception of his partner, Pike, there are never any superhuman efforts.

In Indigo Slam, Crais has woven a terrific plot with twists that just keep coming. Not only does the mystery plot twist and turn, but so do the characters. Until the very end, the reader never really knows about either the plot nor the characters.

If you are an ardent reader of this series (as I am), you will be pleased to know that this is one of the better ones. If you have never read the series, be ready for some very enjoyable mystery reading.

I have purchased many Robert Crais novels and finally got a chance to start reading some of them. I could almost kick myself for waiting this long. Crais has a great detective noir style similiar to Spillane and Hammett. However in this story the client is not a woman looking for her husband, but a group of young children looking for their lost father.

Crais' main character P.I. Elvis Cole takes on the case to find the missing father. He figures it will be a quick easy job not knowing what is in store for him. The kids claim that the father is gone looking for a new printing job. However Cole finds out that the father is not what the kids claim. The journey takes Cole on a wild trip with encounters with drug dealers, Russian mobsters, Vietanesse rebels, and crooked U.S. Marshals. The story also ends up in Disneyland a great place to end a story with three kids.

Crais is a pure joy in this novel. His characters of Cole and partner Pike are closely related to Robert Pearker's Spencer and Hawk. The kids are very well written, and all three are different instead of cardboard cutouts, which is how most kids get portrayed in this genre. I highly recommend this one and look forward to much more.

Robert Crais is a highly skilled crime writer, and I think his "Elvis Cole" series is well worth reading. Unfortunately, INDIGO SLAM, the seventh novel in the series, is a flat and uninspired installment.

INDIGO SLAM starts out quite well, with three young children hiring Cole to find their missing father. But it doesn't take Cole very long to find out where he is, and all the mystery of the plot soon evaporates. The last two thirds of this book is pretty much a lot of action, mostly at the expense of characterization.

Cole doesn't have much at stake in the storyline, and you ever really worry about his safety. I also didn't really care for the father at all, and his three children are little more than stereotypes. In the end, I cared little for how things turned out for them.

Crais is ultimately a formulaic writer, albeit a very solid one. Still, INDIGO SLAM contains a bunch of scenes and situations that are pretty much identical to earlier installments of this series. Reading this novel is a bit like watching a TV show in its final few seasons, when it's way past its prime. My advice is to skip this novel, and try earlier Cole books like FREE FALL, LULLABY TOWN, or VOODOO RIVER.

Finally got to this one in the Elvis Cole series; although I do not know why it was passed over both by starting with Voodoo River, then recent entries and finally jumping on the back trail, a familiar process when I discover an intersting writer. This leads to treasures but also disappointments. This novel is neither. It has a solid plot, although I think one of the final twists is really unnecessary for the conclusion and may be a gratuitous slap at Feds. Pike is simply too shadowy and it is clear that Lucy's ex-husband is being set up for a role in a sequel. As ususal Crais has a strong sense of place, smooth construction and an eventful plot. I rather like some of the wit and joking of Cole and enjoy his irreverent attitude, but I do think the writer pushes it just a bit. The novel does not get bogged down in the technicalities of detecting, lawyering, or policing - a problem in many "thrillers" today. All in all, a good read for a rainy Sunday.