I blow hot and cold on Robert Crais. He can always be counted on for a solid detective story, and when I'm looking for a solid detective yarn, I know I can count on his LA-based Elvis Cole series to deliver. But he's no John Sandford or Michael Connelly. I don't yearn for his books, the way I do theirs.
His latest focuses not on Cole, but on his sidekick, Joe Pike. The story is good, but Pike himself is a caricature. Pike learns from some cops that an old friend, fellow mercenary Frank Meyer, has been killed in a home invasion, along with his wife, young boys, and the nanny. The cops think Frank must have been involved in something nefarious, because the crime fit the pattern of six previous home invasion/murders where the victim was also a criminal. But Frank lived a clean life, or so Pike thinks. He sets out to learn why Frank was targeted and to wreak vengeance on those who killed his guy.
Pike has always been the strong, silent type, which is okay for a sidekick, but doesn't work so well for a main character. It's hard to care about a character who refuses to speak. This is a guy who has been on "missions as long as a week, and never uttered a word." A good guy to have watching your back, but not very compelling as a main character. He does warm up a bit when he meets a pit bull and a baby, but these flashes of humanity are too rare to compensate for the over-the-top taciturnity. (If that's not a word, it should be.)
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