Okay--first thing off--the blurb attached is wrong. Crais admits in an author note that he was frantically re-writing the book up to the last possible second, so that blurb belongs to an earlier version that never saw the light of day.
In reality, Elvis is hired by the mother of a young woman who has gone missing after heading off to spend the weekend with her boyfriend. Mom doesn't like the guy, so she is all kinds of suspicious, especially of a phone call from her daughter asking for money. Elvis agrees to take the case and is soon neck-deep in the shadowy world of illegal immigrants being smuggled into the US and the bandits who hijack those groups for ransom. Family can't or won't pay the ransom, the immigrant is killed. Looks like Krista and Jack (our young couple)were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and have been taken by the bandits.
Elvis Cole is aided in his search by his long-time friend Joe Pike and we ride along as they follow hints and clues and put a plan in place to get Elvis in close to the kids.
And then everything goes sour and Elvis finds himself taken by the baddies.

The writing is taut; the story unfolds in flashbacks and then segues to real time without a wasted word. I wanted to race through the book to find out What Happens Next. I also wanted to take my time, because it will be another year or so before there's another book out by Crais.

To me Robert Crais is a master of the noir-ish private eye story and I do not understand why he isn't at the top of the best seller lists with each new book. Cole is a wise-cracker and smart; for example, the banter between Elvis and Krista's room mate is a delight. Pike is a totally tight-lipped, stoic, get the job done. I love them both.

Although this is part of a long-running series, the story is self-contained. There are very few references to events and people from past books. You need not have read the other books to enjoy this one.

Warning--the body count is high and the violence fairly graphic before the end of the story is reached.