Why can't Joe Pike just mind his own business? He's just filling his spotless, red Jeep Cherokee with gas when he spots a car full of gang bangers headed into a Santa Monica sandwich shop. Curious, he walks in on the owner absorbing a beating, which, of course, Joe puts to an abrupt halt.The shop owner, Wilson Smith, and his niece Dru Rayne fled New Orleans after 'the storm' to set up shop in LA. Looks like a local gang is after protection money that Wilson really doesn't want to pay and when Joe intervenes, a kind word to the local jefe is supposed to call off the dogs. Sweet Dru is very grateful and poor Joe is smitten.
When he goes back the next day to check on Dru and her uncle, he finds them gone and starts digging trying to find them. The trail goes hot and cold, eventually requiring the skills of his partner in the PI biz, Elvis Cole.
And guess what? Wilson and Dru ain't quite who Joe thinks they are. In their history is wholesale shrimp, Mexican Federales, Bolivian drug money, and a missing $360,000, or is it $8mill or $12mill that the Bolivians really want returned. They want it so bad they've hired a sociopath who goes by the name of Daniel and fancies himself a werewolf that kills indiscriminately, whether it's the target, the target's family, or anyone who just gets in the way.
This is the latest by Crais that I've been patiently waiting for our slow as sludge library to get. And while I am a big fan of Joe Pike and will continue to be, this one might be a touch below Crais's usual excellent standards. Not much, just a touch. Pike/Cole fans won't be disappointed, they just may not be really excited.
East Coast Don
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