Those who are familiar with Robert Crais’s work are probably fans of his Elvis Cole series. If you havent read any of his novels, you are sure to have watched some of the shows he’s written for TV - Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law. But in his latest novel, entitled The Watchman, the wisecracking Cole is still recovering from injuries suffered in The Two Minute Rule,which is why the focus (though there are multiple point-of-view shifts) of this novel is on his sidekick, Joe Pike.
The book opens in stunning fashion as Larkin Barkley, a spoiled L.A. brat remiscent of Paris Hilton who likes to drive her sportscar fast at night, has an accident where a passenger takes off running and people in the vehicle, though dazed, flee the scene. Larkin actually does the right thing and calls police, even managing to get a license plate number, but soon she is asked to testify about what she saw that night; attempts on her life follow.
Pike is pulled into the fray when he has to pay back an old debt to Jon Stone: agree to bodyguard billionaire Conner Barkley’s heir. The relationship between Larkin and Pike starts with a bang, literally and figuratively, when their personalities clash as they escape safehouse after safehouse under a hail of bullets. The story shifts to the past as we learn what has led up to the current events as well as Pike’s past.
The production of the audio book is flawless and the narration by James Daniels is excellent; the accents, pauses, and delivery of Crais’s witty dialogue makes the characters believable and authentic. If you enjoyed Crais’s previous novels, you are sure to dig all the gritty thrills of The Watchman.