Copyright 2012 by Robert Crais. Published by The Berkley Publishing Group, New York.
I have one major complaint about this book and that is the jumbled timeline. There are times when telling a story out of chronological order makes for a better story, but this is not one of them. I found jumping from “6 days after he was taken” to “40 minutes before he was taken” to be very distracting, with no obvious benefit. Seems to me the story could have been told – better – in simple chronological order.
However, it is a damn good story. The initial event is the taking of a young couple by a group of vicious bajadors – men who steal illegal immigrants being transported into the US, then hold them for ransom. The mother of the kidnapped young woman – who was taken quite by accident by being in the wrong place at the wrong time – hires Elvis Cole, the self-described “World’s Greatest Detective,” to find her. He enlists the able assistance of Joe Pike and Jon Stone, two very tough and very smart former elite special forces soldiers. They get the job done, but not before Elvis himself is taken and is nearly murdered.
It is a very good story. But, again, why not tell it chronologically?
This is the 15th of (at least) 18 books in the Elvis Cole series. As always, if you think there is any chance you want to read the series, it is best to start at the beginning. I haven’t done that so I can’t tell you if the 14 that preceded this one are just as good, but it seems likely.
7 out of 10. It would have been 8 were it not for my chronological order complaint.
Eating for Jett
It is now more than 4 months since Jett’s untimely and very sad demise. During that time I have made great progress (if that is the word) on cleaning up her affairs – terminating credit cards, etc. – and packing up and shipping to her children those items that have more meaning to them than to me (e.g., old pre-me photographs).
But I am still consuming her food.
At the time she died I had accumulated a wide variety of high-calorie, protein-laden foods that I hoped she would consume and, eventually, regain weight and strength. It never happened. So, being too cheap to discard perfectly good consumables, I have been slowly eating those things that I had bought for her. She liked coffee and chocolate ice cream. I have finished the coffee but am still working through the chocolate. She liked to snack on those very expensive chocolate wafers. I am not a big fan, but, dammit, I am going to eat those buggers. Saltines. Protein shakes. I will consume them.
There are a few things that I won’t eat. She loved Cream of Wheat. I can tolerate it, but why torture myself at breakfast when Frosted Mini-Wheats are available? I also have at least three large, unopened containers of CoffeeMate. I never use the dreadful stuff. I need to donate those to somebody.
Then there is the freezer. We had way too much stuff in the freezer. A lot of it is just things for both of us and I am slowly working my way through frozen bacon, pork tenderloins and hamburger. But frozen margarine? Needs to go.
I will have to do a major purge of the pantry and freezer one of these days. At that point I might be able to stop eating for Jett and start eating for myself.