I’ve been reading Crais since college and have all of the books - Bob is one of my favorite authors of all time. I truly mean that. I was fortunate enough to meet him at a book signing three years ago and it was one of the most exciting things to do, meeting an author hero.
Elvis (maybe not so much mysterious Joe) feels like an old friend at this point - I can hear his witty banter and wise-cracking retorts in my head in public places. He channels me charisma and humor in difficult situations. When A-holes try to have their way with me, I often finding myself regurtating replies which lands me further in trouble. In Crais’ last two books this Elvis has really been absent - where has he gone?
While certainly a noticible improvement over the empty “Promise”, The Wanted still comes across as a thrown-together, lackluster effort compared to some of Bob’s earlier works (check out Lullaby Town or Stalking the Angel for some of his best). The plot was fairly well crafted, with an exception of one, seemingly uncharacteristically careless move by Elvis near the 3rd act - but the beautiful, engaging character/location/character-thought descriptions have been missing for some time now. How nice it used to be to hear Elvis’ wandering thoughts and deep pondering of the universe as he drove. The reliable wise cracks and internal picking-fun when we’d meet random strangers along the story (I’m looking at you apartment manager in The Monkey’s a Raincoat). The mystery would normally be laid in real thick with Pike, an empty office foreshadowed and well-paced call backs from previous adventures would truly build to introductions of a character who could form from smoke - without further explination needed. The prelude, wind-up, and tee-ball serving of Pike here is lackluster. It’s great to see the return of some additional characters, but nothing like their roles in The Sentry, Voodoo River, or even a still missing Lou.
Respectfully, I hope Bob is happy. Perhaps it’s time, age, or a lack of variety - I haven’t written the same characters for ~30 years so perhaps it’s hard to keep fresh. It’s normal to want to try new things. But the story and writing here isn’t the same as the young, hungry Crais who wrote some of the finest, wittiest, engaging detective novels ever to grace L.A. as his first works did.
The thought of Elvis ever retiring makes my stomach turn. I frequently, frequently re-read all of Crais’ works up to Taken (great bromance of Elvis and Joe). I have to think however at this point that perhaps with age Elvis has truly lost a step. At least we still have the older works.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2017
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018
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Top reviews from other countries
joannjo
Pacey but a little underwhelming
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2019Verified Purchase
Ian D.
An investigative treasure hunt
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2019Verified Purchase
Malcolm R
Recommended, read the others first
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2018Verified Purchase
kev dilks
The wanted robert crais
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2018Verified Purchase
Barb Dee
I really enjoyed this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2020Verified Purchase
