Robert Crais's latest offering in his Los Angeles based crime thriller series featuring PI Elvis Cole and his taciturn partner, Joe Pike, has its trademark fast paced, comic and witty elements that will delight its huge number of fans, particularly those like me who have been there from the very start. Cole finds himself with a strange and eccentric client, Adele Schumacher, who wants him to find her missing son, podcaster Joe Shoe of the show 'In Your Face'. She has reported him to a busy LAPD but they are overburdened with more urgent cases, she is accompanied by over vigilant bodyguards that arouse Cole's curiosity, and her references to Area 51, aliens, her paranoia and bag stuffed with money give him pause for thought. However, he decides to take the case, thinking it could be a straightforward affair to locate the elusive Joe, but it all turns out to be a far more complicated and dangerous.

As Cole gets in touch with Joe's best friend, Ryan Seborg, partner of their podcast, it appears that Joe wanted their podcast to change direction, moving on from their focus on aliens to the more serious fare of investigative journalism. He was working on a story provided by a good friend of his, 29 year old porn star, Skylar Lawless, real name Rachel Belle Bohlan, who has developed an interest in painting. As Cole becomes aware there are other powerful and ruthless parties intent on finding Joe too, the finger pointing to China and the acquisition of real estate in LA. In the midst of all this, Lucy Chenier and her son, Ben, come to stay with Cole, unsettling his personal life, will he and Lucy finally be able to sort through their issues, specifically the risks of his profession?

This is a case of murder and corruption for Cole, he brings in Joe to help, and they are joined by the extraordinary successful private military contractor, Jon Stone, in the business of death. This is an engaging and thrilling addition to what is a terrific series, fans will enjoy the return and comfort provided by the familiar characters, their developments, established traits and the LA location. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I haven’t followed this series from the start but I have dipped in often enough to get a pretty good handle on Elvis Cole and his sidekick Joe Pike. The L.A. based pair offer a yin and yang private investigation service: Cole providing the comedic input and Pike most of the muscle. But this time around Pike appears in a peripheral role only, leaving Elvis to do the heavy lifting. To add spice to proceedings Cole’s ex-girlfriend, Lucy Chenier, flies in with her son Ben. They’ve long remained friends, but does this visit herald a step change to their relationship?

The case Cole is hired to investigate concerns a controversial podcaster known as Josh Shoe who has disappeared along with a female friend, an adult movie actress. Josh’s mother - a strange figure permanently surrounded by a posse of bodyguards – is funding the investigation. At this stage we know a little more than the detective, courtesy of the opening scene of the book, but with little to go on Cole can’t quite figure out whether he wants to look for a guy who might just be off on a jaunt to Vegas or spend his time figuring out what’s on Lucy’s mind.

The action takes a while to get going amid a good deal of speculation concerning what role Joe’s mother, or his equally mysterious and very rude father, may have played in Joe’s disappearance. But the pace eventually picks up as some of the pieces of the puzzle start to come together. On the home front, the situation with Lucy is complicated, and this mix of Cole’s private and professional concerns just about combined to maintain my interested in this rather slow moving episode. The main saviour for me here was the enjoyment I always get from the interactions between the characters and the humour Crais routinely weaves into these tales.

It’s not my favourite book in the series but I always enjoy my time with Cole and Pike. Will I be back for more? Of course I will.

I’ve been a big fan of Robert Crais from his very early books and have loved all of his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels. I have to say they are very similar to Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar and Win books but I personally don’t think that’s a bad thing, if you like one series, you’ll like the other.

The series is now on its 19th outing but still feels like it’s a new angle every time. Coles personal life starts to look up, as old flame Lucy and her son Ben come to visit, meanwhile a rather eccentric elderly woman with an interesting past asks Cole to find her son, who has gone missing after striking up a friendship with a young porn star, well, this is LA.

It’s clear there’s more to the dysfunctional parents than meets the eye, not least because as retired academic professors, they appear to have a pretty substantial security detail. The son was a conspiracy theory podcaster but clearly has started to go more mainstream but with an investigative gene that was bound to get him into trouble.

The baddies are not obscured in this story which is a city council corruption scandal, involving money and prostitution, corruption and intimidation. Of course it centres around the hallowed ground of real estate, with every square inch in LA fought over, literally to the death.

A black ops specialist, rogue Chinese black ops agents and an intelligence background don’t obscure the basic of a straightforward money motivated murder spree.

Crais maintains a high standard and remains a solidly good, enjoyable read. Cole is an attractive flawed hero and Pike is that chap you wish you had in your life to ensure you are safe from bad guys.

Highly recommended

I've read a few Crais books before - a standalone and maybe one of the Cole/Pike series - so I'm not overly familiar with the characters. Maybe that lessens the enjoyment, but there's still plenty to recommend here even if you're new.

This is a solid crime novel with some interesting characters. The writing has enough style and flair to elevate it from the cookie cutter mystery books in the market, though some of the POV shifts did nothing for me. This is an Elvis Cole book. Setting it in the world of conspiracy theories and podcasting gave it some zeitgesty momentum.

I absolutely love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (if you haven't come across them before I urge you to try them!)so couldn't wait to start this...I wasn't disappointed, such a good read. Adele hires Elvis to find her son, but as he finds to his cost he is not the only person looking for Josh Shoe. Josh is a podcaster "in your Face" with controversial views..... also missing is Skylar who was a guest on his show. Everyone seems to have something to hide even Josh's Mum. Such a well written story, with humour too, kept me guessing until the end.

Racing the Light is the 19th book in the Elvis Cole/ Joe Pike series (including a couple of Pike stand alones).
Elvis and Pike have been one of the best duos (alongside, in my opinion, Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard and Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar and Win) in the top echelon of crime fiction for years – the smart ass PI and the deadly, monosyllabic ex-military sidekick.
There’s always a danger that after such a lengthy run there’s either the fatigue of repetition or the need to continuously up the ante which can result in a staleness to the characters and the plot becoming a distant second.
During their adventures Elvis and Pike, together or individually, have fought against bank robbers, serial killers, protection gangs, home invaders, hired killers and cartels…and during that time they’ve been shot, stabbed, mauled, and multiple breaks of limbs and hearts.
Racing the Light, was for me, the best in the series since, perhaps 2005’s Shamus nominated ‘The Forgotten Man’.
The novel felt like a return to its earlier roots in some ways: Cole is hired by Adele Schumacher to find her missing adult son in what seems a minor, potentially paranoid, case. As he does what he does best, annoying the wrong people and going beyond his brief, there’s more to the case than he originally thought.
It took me back in some ways to earlier books in the series – while Pike is an important factor in the story, he is undoubtedly a secondary character here. I think Pike is one of the best characters around, but I have no problem with him being, to some degree, in the background. There’s the return of some other important series characters here – but no spoilers.
Plot wise the novel is fine: Crais is not one for the twist turns and who done it of, say, a Jeffrey Deaver, and readers familiar with his work wouldn’t expect it. Instead, it’s good to be back in the company of Cole and Pike after a few years away and it took me back to my earliest encounters of The Monkey’s Raincoat or Stalking the Angel in that I read it in one sitting – always a good sign.

Another edge of the seat detective novel by Robert Crais, a first class author.

Robert Crais has impressed me mightily over the years with his tales of Elvis Cole, the wise cracking detective who cares - too much for his own good sometimes, and his enigmatic partner Pike, who you really do not want to get on the wrong side of.

So I was expecting good things. I wasn't disappointed. Hired to find a missing podcaster is not the straightforward job it seems. Shadowy figures with high level access are also on the hunt, and when others start to go missing, the situation becomes even more confusing.

The story twists and turns, and subterfuge and counter plots muddy the waters further.

Needless to say, it's a riveting read and I can't wait for the next one.