Another excellent installment to the now iconic Elvis and Joe duo.
Perfectly balanced between drama and humour and excellent plotting as usual from Crais

PI Elvis Cole is asked to find an eccentric woman's 26yr old son , a podcaster who sees the government at the heart of any conspiracy .... she herself is something of an oddity , carrying bags of cash around with her an escorted by 4 bodyguards .!!
What should be a simple case soon turns into anything but , Elvis is not the only one on the trail - just who else is after the young man and why? .......is it connected to his divorced parents former occupations ?
Enlisting the help of his partner Joe Pike they soon come to realise that Shoe might just have found one of his conspiracy theory's is based on fact and someone will do anything to make sure those facts stay hidden - even kill

This is yet another enjoyable mystery from the Author , fast paced and full of twists and turns just what a good book needs to keep a reader invested in the outcome

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

When I first started thus book I stopped a couple times with a "ugh just another book" well I finally picked it back up and once I got into it?! I loved this book! What an enjoyable read! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, and so many crazy twists! And a bit of a who done it! I highly recommend reading this book! It was well worth reading! The storyline was very interesting, it sucked me in and had me glued to my Kindle!

Racing the Light, the latest thriller by Robert Crais, starts with a woman wanting Elvis Cole to find her missing son – a regular job for the PI whose tagline is, 'if we can’t find it, it can’t be found'. But there are a few irregularities: the son in question is twenty-six years old and of sound physical and mental condition; the woman is in her seventies, carries a big bundle of cash, and has bodyguards who look like federal agents; and she is convinced that he has been kidnapped by a government agency allegedly dealing with ultra-secret stuff like stealth aircraft and aliens. Cole thinks the lady is nuts but takes the case anyway as he senses genuine concern on the lady's face. Josh Shoe, the missing guy, is a podcaster whose contents involve conspiracy theories and other odd stuff that the mainstream media tends to skip.

As Cole tries to track down Shoe, he finds that other people – peculiar ones – are also trying to find the podcaster for whatever reason. Shoe’s best friend and partner, Ryan Seborg, suggests to Cole that a former adult film actress and escort named Skylar, who had featured in one of Shoe’s podcasts and had been meeting Shoe frequently before his disappearance, might have information. But Skylar is also missing, and her house has been ransacked by someone searching for something. Sensing the complexity of the matter, Cole enlists his reticent partner Joe Pike's help, and what the pair uncovers suggests that Shoe might have stumbled upon a deadly conspiracy involving certain powerful people and could have been killed for it. Or it could be something to do with the past of Shoe’s divorced parents, who were involved in some clandestine work related to the government. Either way, the opponents seem to have access to high-end military technology, and Pike ropes in Joe Stone, the flamboyant military contractor with access to the darkest corners of the defence and armaments industry. Soon, another murder occurs, with someone trying to frame Cole for it, and an intense, high-stakes showdown beckons Team Cole.

Cole, Pike, and Stone are well-established characters who have garnered a sizeable following over the years, and I might have become the newest one. Crais has a knack for fleshing out his characters with minimum description, which makes the slim volume packed with a lot of meat. The plot hits the ground running right from the start, though it is not clear to where initially, with plenty of action and twists. Amidst the baffling case, the surprise visit of Lucy Chenier and Ben – Cole’s could-have-been wife and her son – throws up a domestic mystery. Cole's interactions with Ryan are hugely amusing as his sensible, mature persona clashes with the crazy, at times juvenile, yuppie-ness of the young man. And the pairing of the silent Joe Pike and the lively Jon Stone is equally entertaining. As is to be expected with such novels, there are a few things that are unbelievable but to be taken in stride for maximum enjoyment. I had great fun reading my first Robert Crais thriller, and I will be getting to his previous books in the near future.

Thank you, Simon and Schuster UK, for the DRC of Racing the Light through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Mr Crais is an excellent storyteller and this gripping, fast paced and adrenaline fuelled story kept me on the edge till the end.
Excellent story, very entertaining.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster UK for ARC.

Elvis Cole and his silent partner Joe Pike take on a rather unpromising case - a mother hires Elvis to search for her son, the podcaster and aspiring investigative journalist Josh Shoe. She thinks he may have gone back to top-secret Area 51, looking into conspiracy theories.
Why is Shoe's dad trying to warn Elvis off? Why does Shoe's mother have her own security detail? Who else is looking for Shoe and why? Is it a conspiracy theory if it's based on facts that some people will do anything to cover up?
To cap it all, Elvis' ex-partner Lucy and her beloved son Ben are coming to town for an unexpected visit.
Will Elvis lead them all into danger (again)?

I think this might be number 19 in this series, so the format and the characters could be getting stale, but I never felt that - I welcomed Elvis and the enigmatic Joe back into my life with open arms and no irritation. They don't seem to be ageing in real time, but that's LA, baby! Slickly plotted and a ton of fun, as usual.

From GoodReads:
We may be approaching 20 of these, but they still pack a punch.
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are a perfect duo - providing wit and action galore.
True to form we are taken on a rollercoaster ride of action and adventure, twists and turns.
Pure entertainment

This is book #19 in Robert Crais" excellent Elvis Cole series. Each book can stand on it's own but each also contributes to the background and character building the Crais is famous for. Each of his books is pure entertainment that pushes them into many different genres.

When Elvis is hired to find a missing son, an adult missing son, he starts assembling the familiar team plus adding a few new characters to his work family. Each of the characters could probably carry a story themselves so the investigation takes many twists and turns as each has their own ideas on how it should run. But there are so many questions with no good answers that Elvis takes us on a pretty wild ride without a clear destination. WOW! What a ride!!! Robert Crais deserves so much more than 5 stars for Racing The Light. Read it to see if you agree.

What begins with a missing person report for Private Investigator Elvis Cole soon becomes a more intriguing case involving murder and corruption. A very fast paced thriller with plenty going on to keep the reader thoroughly engaged to the end.
An excellent read from. Robert Crais

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my review.

When a quirky controversial podcaster Josh Shoe goes missing, Elvis Cole is hired to find him by Adele, his eccentric mother.
It soon becomes clear to Elvis that he is not the only one on the hunt for Josh and before Cole knows it, he is embroiled in a scandal involving corrupt politicians and shady business men.
Needing help, the PI calls on his partner Joe Pike and the race is on to find Shoe before the unthinkable happens. Things also ramp up when Cole’s estranged girlfriend arrives in LA and he starts to realises he’s got more to lose than just one person.
With the stakes so high and emotions at a tipping point, can the detective find his quarry before the unthinkable happens?
The crime fiction genre has few people in it that can live to the high writing standards of Robert Crais.
He is one of the finest and most consistent writers of a generation. His main two characters are endearing, funny, tough, intriguing and never compromise on what they stand for and this novel is as good as any the author has written and one I very much recommend. Robert Crais never lets the reader down. He is just phenomenal.

A new Cole and Pike novel is always something to enjoy, a brilliant pair of characters that balance each other perfectly. Cole the sarcastic idealist and the lethally efficient Pike.
Her Cole takes the case of a missing podcaster who may have stumbled on a story that someone doesn’t want out in the open. At a time where nasty people are trying to stop him, Cole is distracted by the return of Lucy Chenier and her son and the possibility that it might bring.
It is an odd one this, it felt a little short and some avenues of the plot not really explored, not the conspiracy stuff or who the parents of the missing Josh really are. So, I enjoyed it, but it felt like it lacked the usual depth and menace.

A good addition to the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series as this time the search for a missing young podcaster turns into a violent murder tale. An investigation into council corruption with sinister Chinese involvement with Cole floundering to get a lead into the missing young man and just who are her parents and the people guarding them. Eventually things become clearer and it all explodes with the revelations becoming public in the violent climax. Good stuff with a happy ending to Cole’s home life as a bonus!

8/10

This is only the second time I've read a book from this series, coming in at the tale end of things with the latest 2 novels, but that hasn't prevented me from enjoying both outings from the author. There are obviously nods to previous books in the series and characters with more backstory than I can appreciate but nevertheless I was able to gallop through this tale and enjoy it even with a few small knowledge gaps.

The pacing wasn't the best in the beginning taking me a little to get into and the mystery didn't initially hook me but before long the pages were whizzing by and I was invested. I assumed this was a series about Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, one a wise ass the other a hard hitting go to man, so I was surprised to see a limited amount from Pike. Elvis Cole did enough to power the story through though with his humour and detective skills. I was also interested to learn about Cole's "partner" and son from previous books too and this added a bit more flesh to the character and the story overall.

Highly recommended if you enjoy fast paced detective novels and a series that I need to read more of. I'll definitely be keen to read more from this author.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster UK for providing an e-copy of this book via NetGalley

A run-of-the-mill request to find a missing person although very much cloak and dagger style. Who is Mrs. Schumacher and what happened to her son? Who are the people sniffing around Josh's home?
Is his disappearance linked to his podcast or is there something more going on?

The more Cole digs, the more puzzling it becomes. Will he be able to find the truth and more important will he be able to find Josh?

I haven't read a Robert Crais in a while and I'm so glad I rediscovered him! He is such a brilliant author.
Highly recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This is a good addition to the Elvis Cole PI series, with his sidekick Joe Pike, and is the usual steady paced thriller. The characters are interesting, there is clever plotting and enough suspense with short, snappy chapters, to hold your interest until the end. Not my favourite in the series but one which I would still recommend to fans of the author. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Elvis and Joe are back!
Elvis is hired to find a missing ,man by his mother. There is something not right about the parents as they seem to have government level security. As Elvis investigates he realises that it's Josh's involvement with a former porn star that has caused him to disappear. In turn she had given him information that implicates people in high places.
With Joe's help they slowly unravel what has happened and what they can do to find Josh before he does something that will make him a target.
Meanwhile, Lucy has come to town with Ben and asked to stay at Elvis's.
A nicely paced story and very readable.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for an advance copy of Racing the Light, the nineteenth novel to feature Los Angeles based PIs Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

Elvis is contacted by Adele Schumacher who wants him to find her missing adult son, Josh. She deals in cash, thinks her son, a podcaster, has been abducted by mysterious forces linked to Area 51 and is escorted by professional “helpers”, but she’s also a mother and he accepts the case. He’s not the only one looking for Josh, because Josh is investigating corruption and these others aren’t playing around.

I thoroughly enjoyed Racing the Light, which is a fun read with a believable premise - corrupt politicians and the abuse of power. There are several points of view in the novel, but Elvis and his first person narrative take centre stage. It works well with the other voices either fleshing out plot details or adding more questions to the mix.

The plot starts with Elvis trying to get a toehold into Josh’s disappearance by asking questions and trying to find links. He doesn’t get too far before he discovers that nastier people than him are also looking for Josh. It’s all go after that with bodies, spyware and conspiracies and Elvis even gets arrested. Joe Pike, as ever, supplies the muscle silently. It’s intelligent, well paced and exciting.

As I said this is a fun read. There is Elvis’s wisecracking but there’s also a fair amount of poking fun. There’s Adele and her Area 51 conspiracies but also her background. There’s Jon Stone, the mercenary, and his intelligence contacts. There’s the corruption cash. There’s Joe Pike. It all made me laugh.

Racing the Light is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Classic Cole and Pike - everything I hoped it would be. From the bromance of few words between the main pair, to a beautifully drawn immersive LA experience as the setting. Perfectly paced and lived up to what are already high expectations with Robert Crais

When an author is on their 19th book of a series, coming on as a new reader could be daunting, but Robert Crais has produced an easily accessible read that makes me want to dip into the back catalogue.

A crime thriller with LA detective Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, the narrative gives enough to point towards things that I assume have happened in older books, but not making me feel like I've missed gaping plot points by picking up here.

Investigating the disappearance of a podcast host and uncovering a deeper plot - it's a really solid crime story that I absolutely blitzed through to find out what happened next. There are some interesting characters with a bit of development to what would be a wider arc, and I really enjoyed the pace of the story.

Elvis Cole is one of my favourite characters and with his new novel Robert Crais did not disappoint. Elvis is hired to look for a missing son and in the process he uncovers corruption at a high level.

The action is fast paced and I enjoyed the storyline so much I wish the novel was twice as long