Review: Indigo Slam

She's fifteen going on forty. She's always mother, frequently father to her two younger siblings, and when he's there, she props up her dad. She's Teri Hewitt, and a more engaging catalyst for another Elvis Cole winner would be hard to imagine.

This Crais fellow can write! Add to that his smile, good looks and personality, and I can recommend not only that you buy and read this book, but whenever Crais makes an appearance at your neighborhood bookstore, go see him. You'll enjoy both experiences.

Elvis Cole is a professional investigator who is comfortable in his skin, but he never takes himself too seriously. Cole can be, by turns, flip, hip, and agile enough to dance through some pretty serious stuff. One day, Teri and her brother Charley and sister Wanda, appear to hire Cole to find their once-again-missing father. Dad Clark Hewitt seems to have abandoned his kids again and their mother is long since dead. Three minors alone in L. A.? It's a job for Child Protection or whatever is the right California social service agency, Cole figures. Then he investigates further and discovers both the upside of the family situation and their desperate straits as well.

Cole decides he needs a child sitter at one point and who does he turn to? Not his innamorata who appears to be having some troubles of her own. No, he calls in Joe Pike. And here is my one very minor quibble. I thought Crais could have done more with the juxtaposition of hardman Pike and the Hewitt brood.

Never mind. Cole's search for the missing father puts him in harm's ways with a slew of surprising adversaries, none adverse to pulling out the hardware and firing off a few rounds. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, more than a few surprises and lots of action. Crais is a fine author and while the book has a plentiful quotient of wisecracks and lightfooted winks at law and society, the dark -sided theme that runs from page one to the end is never denigrated or demeaned. This is a fine novel with plenty of tension, wonderful characters and ultimately, a most satisfying endingunless you happen to be a very hard-line law and order type.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Book Review: Indigo Slam