I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of escapism and my time out from a hectic world. The story grabs you from the outset and pulls you in and the storytelling really made it worth reading. Characterisation was on point and I know I will be looking out for new publications from this author or similar reads in the future. A recommended read.

Robert Crais cannot write a bad book. This is part of the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series but can definitely be read as a standalone novel.
Well written novel and fantastic plot

I really enjoyed this book - quirky, fun and well written. Kind of believable. Would help if the main character was a little more real rather than being a superhuman ninja, though.

This is already the 17th book in the Elvis Cole series, can you believe it. I haven't read the previous books in the series, so I'm not sure if there is any previous references I might have missed, however I enjoyed the book regardless. This was a great read, and recommended.

I started this but just wasn't feeling it. There was nothing inherently wrong with it I just wasn't feeling it at the time, however having been really excited about this book beforehand I would like to try again sometime.

This is the first book that I’ve read in this series and I really enjoyed it.
Elvis Cole is asked to help work out what’s going on with Devon’s teenage son, Tyson. He discovers he’s involved in some burglaries and needs help.
Before they can sort anything out he’s disappeared so Elvis is asked to track him down.
In the meantime two men are pretending to be police officers and are carrying out their own investigations but are also killing people who get in their way.
Elvis soon realises there’s more going on than he first thought and soon Tyson is in serious trouble.
This is a gripping read and full of action.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Robert Crais is one of those authors I just can’t help coming back to. Elvis Cole and Jo Pickett are protagonists of the top notch class. The Wanted is primarily Elvis Cole, with a smattering of Pickett’s muscle thrown in for added backup and a bit of manly hugging.

We are in L.A. and 17 year old Tyson Connor is proving to be quite the worry for his mother, Devon. Tyson has been coming home with luxury accessories, such as a Rolex chronograph, which he claims is a knock off, and designer clothing worth a small fortune. His mother is really worried. Tyson has been hanging out with some new kids and she knows that whatever he’s been up to, it can’t be good.

Cole tries to allay her fears but also points out to her that maybe hiring a P.I. isn’t the way to deal with her errant son; however he does offer to at least find out if Tyson is into something bad.

It does not take a great deal of sleuthing to find out that the Rolex was part of a burglary haul that is tied into a series of house breakings in the wealthy suburbs of L.A. It’s clear that Tyson is one of the perpetrators along with a disturbed young woman, Amber Read and an actor turned busboy, Alec Riley.

Cole sets Tyson’s mother up with a lawyer and arranges that she will hand in her son to the police in the hopes that a confession and restitution of the stolen goods will prompt an easier first time offence sentence.

Ah, if only life were as simple. It turns out that the cops are not the only people hunting these house breakers; a couple of heavies named Harvey and Stemms are also on their trail and not because they want to hand them over to the police. In fact, they’re not beyond impersonating police officers if it gets them to the kids before the cops.

Crais is a writer who always likes to delve into the psyche of his characters. We learn quite a lot about the partnership of Harvey and Stemms, our assassins, from musical tastes to the closeness of their friendship. We are privy to a deal more about them than just the normal bull headed hit men perspective.

Cassett and Rivera are the cops tasked with finding the house breakers and recovering the loot. As the victims are all well-heeled and well connected, the pressure is on from above to solve this case in a hurry and catch the bad guys. They, in turn, put pressure on Cole to tell them what he knows.

The more Cole finds out, the more concerned he becomes about what these kids have got themselves into, and when one of them is murdered, Cole must bring in Joe Pike to make sure he can safeguard Tyson and Amber as well as figuring out who has hired Harvey and Stemms and what it is that they want.

In Cole, Crais has created a terrifically human, warm and charismatic character whose wit and charm get him a long way with both cops and villains. It is this richness and depth of character that makes Cole such a beguiling protagonist.

In The Wanted he builds up his storyline into a tense and multi-layered narrative with characters whose feelings you come to respect and understand. The dialogue is sharp and witty and the plot though straightforward is sufficiently nail biting to keep the reader engrossed. Crais shows here that he can delve into emotional and difficult relationships, especially those between parents and children, and that those are relationships that resonate more deeply with the sardonic Cole than we may have hitherto imagined. On that level, this is a more thoughtful, and more pained Cole than we have become used to.

It is perhaps not the best of Crais, but even then it is better than most and I for one will keep coming back to Elvis Cole for as long as Crais wants to keep writing him.

Verdict: Elvis Cole is still one cool dude.

Crais can do no wrong. Tightly plotted, strong characterisation, and my favourite detective duo: what's not to like?

8/10

I’ve gone completely off the rails, I’ve done the unthinkable! I’ve jumped into a series on the 17th novel and not the 1st novel, I’m surely due to go to the looney bin soon?! I must be as I loved this!

After reading Andrew’s great review of this one I decided I’d go and request it and see if anything came of it. Whilst having no knowledge of the characters or their histories I could have been well and truly in the deep end but that was never the case here. I could probably have gained more from this with more knowledge but I liked it lots regardless.

It was a breezy fun read which I powered through in a weekend. The plot isn’t complex but enough so to keep things ticking over and keep you guessing. The characters worked really well together and I’d be keen to see how these relationships have grown.

I’m definitely going to start at the beginning with this series, it sounds like the first couple aren’t as tight as the later ones but that wouldn’t be the only case of a series growing the longer it goes. Loved it, big thanks to Andrew and his review.

I have read all of this brilliant series by Robert Crais, and had given up on any additions as Crais appeared to have abandoned Cole, so when I heard this was available, I knew I wanted to read it as soon as possible. Set in LA, the witty wisecracking PI, Elvis Cole and his strong, silent, tattooed ex-military partner, Joe Pike return in style here. Worried single mother, Devon Connor, suspects her 17 year old socially awkward, video game obsessed son, Tyson, of dealing in drugs when she finds out he has an expensive Rolex and designer clothes. If only. Elvis tracks down the Rolex, and it soon becomes clear that Tyson, along with Alec Riley and Amber Reed have been breaking and entering into 18 homes of the rich and powerful, helping themselves to their possessions. When confronted with this news, Tyson does a runner rather than handing himself in with a lawyer representing him. Two assassins, Harvey and Stemms, pretending to be cops, are ruthlessly hunting the trio of young burglars, and intent on killing anyone with information on them and the goods they have taken.

Real LAPD cops, Cassett and Rivera, are under intense pressure to solve the burglaries and apprehend the perpetrators, but are lacking any significant leads that will identify them, badgering Cole to give them his intel. As a murder alerts Cole to the danger that Tyson and Amber are in, he and Devon put out all the stops out to get Tyson to get in touch before he is murdered, only Tyson, being young and obsessed with Amber, is not so easily convinced. It seems that the trio have stolen a laptap from a homeowner who will do anything to retrieve it, and does not care how many people have to die to get it back. Cole enlists the help of Joe Pike as he tries to protect Devon by moving her into his home. As Harvey and Stemms close in on the location of Tyson and Amber, Cole desperately wants to get hold of them first to get them to a safe house. Will he and Pike manage to save the wilful young burglars from themselves and the powerful forces set on eliminating them?

Crais has well established charismatic central leads in this wonderful series, who could not adore the charms of Elvis Cole and the effective support provided by Joe Pike? Despite this being a long running series, it continues to remain an utterly compelling read for the avid reader. This is largely due to the wide range of diverse and complex characters, the multi-layered storylines and its ability to make you crack a smile and laugh amidst the high levels of suspense and tension. Even the villains, Harvey and Stemms, are not one dimensional, but interesting, talented and worthy opponents for Cole and Pike. A great and entertaining crime thriller that I recommend highly to anyone who reads the crime genre! Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

Interesting book and a first to read from this author. Did keep my interest but wondered if I would have enjoyed it more had I have read previous books

Absolutely fantastic, I’d never read anything from this author previously but I’m mighty glad I have now .
5 star read and will be recommending to all.

Another good yarn in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. Teenagers robbing rich people acquire a laptop with secrets that the bad guys want back, Elvis gets involved and we have an entertaining story to enjoy.

I’ve really enjoyed the one-off novels Crais has written but for some reason I’d largely avoided his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books. I did pick up the very first book in the Cole series, The Monkey’s Raincoat, some years back but I found it dated – well, it was written in 1987 – and a bit too whimsical for my tastes, which run closer to the hardboiled novels penned by Lawrence Block, Reed Farrel Coleman and others. But given the opportunity to have a flip through the latest offering in this long running series I though, why not?

In style and setting I guess it’s closest to Michael Connelly than the authors I’ve mentioned above - but Elvis is a much more laid back character than Connelly’s Harry Bosch. Here, Cole gets involved in the case of a series of robberies carried out by three young light fingered thrill seekers. They’ve taken something that’s got rather more significance than they realised and the owner wants it back. Wants it back badly! Elvis stumbles into this case as he’s hired by the mother of one of the threesome to find out what her son has been up to. She’d found a valuable watch in his room and knew it must have been stolen. Soon a couple of wisecracking heavies are on the tail of the trio, can Elvis (and Joe, though he really only features in a cameo role here) save the day?

It’s a story that grabbed me early on and never really let go. Yes, there’s some light-hearted moments here but in the main Crais plays it straight. The tension racks up as the tale plays out and as I flicked through the final few pages I found myself wanting to see more of Elvis and Joe. Yes, I’m now definitely a fan and I’ll certainly be churning my way back though other books in this series.

I haven’t read many Robert Crais books yet, but after reading The Wanted I realized how very, very good he is and how I like his books. I will put more of his books on my ‘really want to own’ list. Thanks to Netgalley I received this one, and I’m happy to let you know what I thought about it. In one word: terrific! In more than one word: Robert Crais has a way of describing people and telling their story that is unique. You start in the middle of the story and slowly you are introduced to what you need to know to enjoy how it unfolds. It is filled with action but there is also time to get to know the characters better, and there is some humour in it (for me, absolutely necessary for a good thriller).

With thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the copy of The Wanted to review. I don’t think I have read a book by the author before. I found the main character, Elvis Cole, someone who was quirky and opinionated but also very deeply caring about people I ortant to him.
I enjoyed the way the story flowed between the baddies and the goodies.
It was an interesting read. I would read more books by the author.
Highly recommended.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike..... what more do you need in a crime novel! A good story with the familiar feel of Robert Crais books and his wonderful ability to make such endearing characters.

Elvis Cole is one of those characters that I wish I'd created. He and Pike are one of the great double acts of Crime Fiction in the last few decades, and this outing is no different. We're treated to the usual humour you've come to expect of Cole, alongside Pike's almost mute air of invincibility.

A bunch of teenagers have committed a spree of high-end burglaries, and inadvertently stolen something that somebody is willing to kill for. It's a race against time for Cole to track them down, before they end up dead for their troubles. As usual, it's perfectly paced, plotted and I for one will never get tired of the series.

This book is number 17 in a series featuring Elvis Cole. Elvis is a private investigator and is approached by a single mum who is worried about what her teenage son may have become mixed up in. She is right to be worried and a story involving theft and murder quickly unfolds. It is well written and has plenty of twists and turns whilst at the same time not being too complicated to lose track of the different threads of storyline.

I've not read the whole of this series - have dipped in a few times. Reading this one made me feel that perhaps I should go back to the beginning and start again. I enjoyed it but I think I would have enjoyed it more if the characters were more familiar - a bit like Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you've never read an Elvis Cole look before then you've missed a real treat. The Wanted is Elvis and his partner Joe Pike at their very best, and having read all their previous books, that takes some beating. Brilliant writing combining Cole's humour, Pike's quiet menace and of course the threat of evil. A must read.