>The First Rule – Book Review

>I finally got around to Robert Crais‘ latest Joe Pike novel, The First Rule and now I see Crais has just published another. Great. I’m only a year behind.

It’s good to get back to this series. As I said a little over a year ago, I see little reason to dip back into the early Crais books and so I was glad to finally check out a copy of this one from the library and make time to finish it off. Typical Joe Pike stuff – tough guy antics in the service of finding the killers of Pike’s old friend and his old friend’s family. (The fatality rate for old friends of series characters is close to 100%. There’s a lesson to be learned here.)

I like how Crais starts with the premise with seemingly no clues and then has Pike work his way doggedly through the leads he manages to develop. This time the bad guys are Russian mobsters and there are bigger issues then personal vendettas but who cares, really. I know it’s all preposterous but it’s the character I’m here for and Crais delivers another fine installment on Pike. (Oh, and I’m also here for the Southern California locale and Crais‘ well written prose.)

An entertaining series. I see another Pike novel has just come out. Time to get on the waiting list.