There you go. It’s remarkable how, if you read enough of an author, particularly if you read them consecutively, you can pick up on the author’s particular speech habits and how they translate into the author’s work so that many different characters say the same thing. Robert B. Parker fans know about his particular tics, which are almost inside jokes after thirty years. “There you go” represents Robert Crais’s tic. Elvis Cole says it, and in Demolition Angel, a non-Cole character says it, so I expect Crais says it himself.
This book centers on a former bomb-squad detective investigating a case wherein a nationwide hit bomber has struck–or has he? The detective has issues of her own, as she’s not been the same since nearly dying in a bomb blast. When an ATF agent comes to help with the investigation, he’s not what he seems; when the bomber-for-hire comes to town, his motives are surprising and his relationship with the detective is not too thrilling.
It’s a good change of pace from the Elvis Cole novels; although Heather informs me that the characters reappear, the book represents a self-contained entity. Although technical information and extra flourishes of insanity bog the book down, it’s not as bad as complete chapters which detract from the central storyline. So I like it better than the last Elvis Cole novel.
I look forward to finishing the remaining three Crais novels so I can get on with the rest of my life.
