Source: Review copy
Publication: 18 July 2019 from Simon & Schuster
PP: 352
ISBN-13: 978-1471157615
Joe Pike didn’t want to run into trouble that day – he was just going to the bank. But when Isabel, a young teller, is forced into a car by two men, he has no choice but to step in. After chasing them down, he retrieves the terrified woman and the men are arrested.
Not long after they are released on bail, the men are found dead, each with a single gunshot wound to the head, and Isabel is missing. After his handling of the men, Pike is a prime suspect, along with Izzy – was this an abduction gone wrong, or did it go exactly how she planned?
Pike, convinced that her life is in danger, involves Elvis Cole in a search for the truth, and for Izzy. But they’re not the only ones desperate to find her – and desperate men are dangerous.
Robert Crais never lets you down. His Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series is a masterclass in how to write fast paced and classy P.I. action fiction. With a luscious L.A./ SoCal backdrop, A Dangerous Man sizzles with life from the opening paragraph.
Joe Pike, with his muscular arms and red arrow tattoos marking him out as distinctive, is the object of some admiration when he makes a routine stop at his bank. Isabel Rowland, his teller, has thought Joe attractive since she first saw him at the bank. Joe, however, doesn’t like being the object of anyone’s attention, which is probably why he’s paying her slightly more attention than usual when she comes out the bank on a break.
He sees her being bundled into a car and sure that something is off, follows it, only to have to forcibly rescue her from her two abductors. The police arrest them, but they are later freed on bail. Isobel is frantic with worry and contacts Joe. Matters then proceed swiftly as Joe determines that Isobel is still a target and he calls in Elvis Cole to help him investigate why.
Isobel’s two abductors turn up dead, only complicating matters further. Someone wants Isobel, and they are prepared to go to any lengths to get her. When the US Marshall service turns up, deeply suspicious of Pike, he discovers that Isobel’s ‘Uncle’ Ted has been brutally murdered. Ted Kemps was a retired Marshall and the service is pulling out all the stops to hunt the killers of one of their own.
Soon Joe and Elvis are piecing together the clues and realise that Isobel may be connected to an old case, though she disclaims any knowledge of it.
Crais draws in the reader from the beginning and reels that hook in at a relentless pace, all the while deepening his characterisation as his plot develops.
Verdict: Beautifully written, action packed, compelling and propulsive, A Dangerous Man is a delightful must read addition to the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike canon.
Robert Crais is the author of the bestselling Cole & Pike novels. A native of Louisiana, Crais moved to Hollywood in the late 70s where he began a successful career in television, writing scripts for such major series as Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues. In the mid 80s, following his success with the TV buddy genre, Crais created a series of crime novels based around the characters Cole & Pike. In addition, Crais has also written several bestselling standalone thrillers. Robert Crais lives in LA with his wife and family.
Live and Deadly 
You’re so right, Robert Crais never lets you down. I love these books, I’m re reading the whole series in between other books.
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