false 1689469 0743281640 9780743281645 669 154 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1689469.Chasing_Darkness 8944 Robert Crais 9567 934 3 0 true Thu Nov 06 12:09:45 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 17:51:23 -0800 2008
When L.A. firefighters are clearing residents from an imminent hillside conflagration, they discover the body of Lionel Byrd, an apparent suicide, surrounded by evidence of a string of grisly unsolved murders—one of which he had been under investigation for two years earlier. Elvis Cole, working as a private detective for Byrd’s defense attorney at the time, had found the exculpating evidence which had set Byrd free—free, perhaps, to kill two more women whose death photos show up in Byrd’s house.

Plagued by doubt and by the guilty feeling that he had had some role in freeing a murderer, Cole throws himself into the investigation by convincing L.A. police coworkers to provide him with inside information about all seven of the murders. Using the inside information, Cole and his partner Joe Pike come to believe that Byrd was innocent and that someone high in the police force may be the guilty man.

This plot-driven crime novel is heavy with unexpected twists, false identities, and political intrigue. New readers may not pick up on the deep friendship between Elvis and his quiet, powerful partner Joe Pike; but reliable and likable characters such as Carole Starkey from earlier books appear and keep the book well within the frame that Crais has so carefully created for Elvis Cole through the years. Readers might do well to acquaint themselves with the series’ unforgettable characters by starting with some of Crais’ earlier Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels such as The Monkey’s Raincoat, L.A. Requiem, Demolition Angel, The Watchman, and The Last Detective.
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