L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Crais (Author)

Book Description

Series: Elvis Cole Novels | Publication Date: February 1, 2000

The day starts like any other in L.A. The sun burns hot as the Santa Ana winds blow ash from mountain fires to coat the glittering city. But for private investigator Joe Pike, the city will never be the same again. His ex-lover, Karen Garcia, is dead, brutally murdered with a gun shot to the head.

Now Karen's powerful father calls on Pike (a former cop) and his partner, Elvis Cole, to keep an eye on the LAPD as they search for his daughter's killer--because in the luminous City of Angels, everyone has secrets, and even the mighty blue have something to hide. But what starts as a little procedural hand-holding turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. For a dark web of conspiracy threatens to destroy Pike and Cole's twelve-year friendship--if not their lives. And L.A. just might be singing their dirge.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

More than 10 years ago, I was shocked to learn that some puerile piece of fluff had won the Edgar for Best Paperback Original, when it was so obvious to me and virtually everyone else in the Western Hemisphere that the award should have gone to The Monkey's Raincoat, the book that introduced Elvis Cole, private eye, and is to this day one of the funniest books I've ever read.

The terrific Elvis Cole series has grown through the years, each book better than the last, but nothing prepared me for the quantum leap (yes, it's a cliché, but it belongs here) that Crais has made with L.A. Requiem. It's not as funny as the other books in the series, but it's a beautifully plotted detective story, rich with police procedure, and it will keep even the most sophisticated reader at sea right until the end. And that's what elevates this book to the level of literature.

This one is more about Joe Pike, Elvis's silent sidekick, than it is about Elvis. We learn, through Pike's own eyes, how his childhood made him the way he is today. It's also about a friendship so strong that it threatens Elvis's relationship with his beloved Lucy. It is a tender but dark book--a serial killer book--but it doesn't attempt to outgross the other serial killer books on the shelf. It is funny at times and chilling at other times, making it one of the rare books that can't help but linger in the memory long after it's been read and put away. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In his eighth book about wise-cracking Los Angeles private detective Elvis Cole, Crais has expanded his narrative reach and broadened his characters' horizons to produce a mature work that deserves to move him up a notch or twoAinto Parker or Connelly country. He's done this by focusing on Joe Pike, Cole's tough and hitherto totally enigmatic partner. It's Pike who breaks in on Cole's reunion with Lucy Chenier, his lawyer/broadcaster lover who has just moved from New Orleans, to ask for Elvis's help in tracking down the missing daughter of a rich and powerful Hispanic businessman. When the girl turns up murdered in Griffith Park, it's Pike who gives a nerdy medical examiner valuable assistance; and when it turns out that the girl's death is linked to several other murders, it's Pike who is charged with killing the chief suspect. Through flashbacks to Joe's past life as an abused child, a highly motivated teenage soldier and an L.A. cop fighting to keep a corrupt partner from destroying his family, we learn more about Pike than we did in the seven previous Cole books. This new focus also allows Crais to keep Elvis's often annoying throwaway lines to a minimumAalthough more pruning could have been done with no loss of flavor. The book's scope is wide enough to include many other memorable characters, especially a rough-edged, vulnerable police officer named Samantha Dolan, plus a choice of plausible villains. There may be one too many metaphoric descriptions attempting to link aspects of the L.A. landscape with the moods and deeds of its inhabitants, but overall Crais seems to have successfully stretched himself the way another Southern California writerARoss MacdonaldAalways tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345434471
• ISBN-13: 978-0345434470
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
  • #43 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure
  • #85 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

More About the Author

Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. He was the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and four generations of police officers. He purchased a second-hand paperback of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction.

He journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as scripting numerous series pilots and movies-of-the-week for the major networks.

Feeling constrained by the collaborative working requirements of Hollywood, Crais resigned from a lucrative position as a contract writer and television producer in order to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first efforts proved unsuccessful, but upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey's Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Crais conceived of the novel as a stand-alone, but realized that, in Elvis Cole, he had created an ideal and powerful character through which to comment upon his life and times. Elvis Cole's readership skyrocketed in 1999 upon the publication of L. A. Requiem, which was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and forever changed the way Crais conceived of and structured his novels. Larger and deeper in scope, Publishers Weekly wrote of L. A. Requiem, "Crais has stretched himself the way another Southern California writer, Ross Macdonald, always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base." Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."

Crais followed with his first non-series novel, Demolition Angel, which was published in 2000 and featured former Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Technician Carol Starkey. In 2001, Crais published his second non-series novel, Hostage, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was a world-wide bestseller. The editors of Amazon.com selected Hostage as the #1 thriller of the year. A film adaptation of Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley.

Robert Crais lives in the Santa Monica mountains with his wife, three cats, and many thousands of books. Additional information can be found at his website, www.robertcrais.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exceptional Book, May 29, 2000

By 

Old Fisherman "Jim" (Orange, California USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

As with most of the reviewers, I've followed Robert Crais from the beginning and this is his best book yet.

It starts with Joe Pike's ex-girlfriend, Karen Garcia, being gunned down by the Hollywood Reservoir as she's out jogging. Karen's father, an Hispanic with huge political clout, doesn't trust the police to work the case so he asks Joe to act as an overseer to the case, and Joe involves Elvis Cole. As more evidence surfaces it looks like a serial killer may be at work and when the prime suspect is himself murdered, Joe Pike is arrested for the killing.

First, the plot is very well done. It has the requisite twists and turns and I don't think many people will figure this one out before the author wants you to.

Secondly, the writing is superb. Crais has always been a good writer in a mild breezy way, but with this book he shows us he can handle deeper emotions. This is a darker, more serious, book than his others and he handles it with aplomb. I, at first considered this series as a Spenser wannabee, but his writing has now pushed him beyond that. He is a very good writer.

Third, his characterization is rich. Joe Pike, who up until now has been Elvis Cole's spear carrier, emerges as the complex human being we've always felt he might be. Far from being the emotionless killer, we find that Joe's emotions are there but well hidden. The book does a wonderful job of explaining what made Joe the way he is. Some others have remarked that Joe is a little too unbelievable, but I don't think so. There really are men like this in the world.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I gave it five stars and I don't give out that rating lightly. You won't be disappointed.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crais at his best, December 27, 1999

By 

Kenneth Heard (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Requiem (Hardcover)

Fans of Robert Crais have seen his writing style progress with each of his Elvis Cole novels. All are entertaining, but L.A. Requiem suddenly vaults way ahead of anyone else this year and propels Crais to the top of the heap of detective writers. In fact, list Crais as one of the best writers of any fiction.

This, by far, is the best book I've read this year. And I read a lot--I own a used bookstore.

L.A. Requiem has its funny stuff, but it's darker than the rest. The book deals more with Joe Pike and his background. At times I felt like I was eavesdropping on Pike, knowing things about him he probably doesn't want us to know. Crais' portrayal of L.A. is a character of itself. The fires in the hills act as a metaphor for the conflict/tension building. The plot is great; they're searching for a killer. But Crais' use of language, thought, description really supercedes the plot.

I've always been a big fan of Crais and grab as much of him as I can. I recommend him all the time at our store. L.A. Requiem is outstanding and more readers will take notice. I can't wait for his next book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crais's Absolute Best, March 17, 2005

By 

P. Schumacher (atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have all of Crais's books except the newest one, The Forgotten Man.

And this is the best of a very good lot.

The Elvis Cole books are better than the non-Cole books (Demolition Angel and Hostage--now a major crummy motion picture).

And one reason is Joe Pike.

Pike is a mythic creation: sort of like the Eastwoodian Strong Silent Type on steroids.

This book tells how Pike got that way.

It also has a very nice turn with Who Dun It.

Read all the Elvis Cole books, but if you can only read one, read this.