Dated Crime Fiction: "Sunset Express" by Robert Crais Gosh, Robert Crais! I really want to like you, but after lots of books in and it still feels like gawky blind dating rather than true love.  I should be really digging these Crais novels, but I’m not. A smart-aleck gauntleting detective with a mean-as-hell friend is something that I can’t get enough of in other books. But something just isn’t coalescing here. From Crais first novel, I thought that Crais was doing a west coast version of Rober...

The best Elvis Cole novel (to date). Definitely read Voodoo River prior to this one. Reading the end of the book was as close to pumping my fist in the air and screaming like a beer soaked frat boy as I ever need to get. A great detective novel. No. A fucking great detective novel.

I'm getting down to the last few Coles I haven't read, and it'll be a bit of a bummer to be all caught up because I've enjoyed them so much. This one works nicely with its less-than-neat ending, and stands as one of the highlights of a great series.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are hired by the Big Green Defense Machine to help find evidence that Jonathan Green’s latest client is indeed innocent of killing his wife. However, Cole soon begins to suspect that not everything is as it appears in this case. Can he find the truth? Or has he been played?This is definitely one of the stronger entries in the series with an intriguing mystery that twists and turns until we reach a non- dues ex machina ending. We get some appearances by characters introduc...

Millionaire restauranteur Teddy Martin is charged with his wife's murder and hires celebrity attorney Jonathan Green, who hires Elvis Cole to prove an LAPD detective planted evidence. Will Elvis uncover more than he bargained for?Robert Crais's Elvis Cole series is slowly climbing the ranks of my favorite detective series. This one, a take off on the O.J. Simpson case, explores the legal system and how it is inherently full of shit.The supporting cast is an interesting bunch, from the slimey law...

Not bad but not great, either. I didn’t find the mystery all that engrossing, and by the end, it just sort of petered out. There’s also a lot of time spent on the relationship between Elvis and Lucy. To me, it made the book drag a bit. I’m sure the series will get right back into the swing of things by the next book.

This book has such an outlandish plot to it. Honestly, could anyone believe that a rich and famous person could possibly get away with murder by having a high priced legal team that obscures the facts by putting the police department on trial and manipulating the media to…. What’s that you say? O.J.? Robert Blake? Michael Jackson’s molestation trial? That NBA player who shotgunned his limo driver in front of multiple witnesses, and they couldn’t even get a jury to convict him of manslaughter? H...

This is a great book! I think it’s the best of the series to this point! Elvis Cole is hired by a hot shot defense attorney to help investigate and clear a wealthy restauranteur accused of killing his wife. Lots of twists and turns along the way! Excellent book!

"Sunset Express" is the sixth book in Robert Crais's series featuring his L.A. private eye Elvis Cole, but it's the first book that I've read. It won't be my last. Crais is a writer for those who love a good fast-paced mystery with a likable and charming hero in the vein of Robert Parker's Spenser or Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Wise-cracking, compassionate, tough-but-lovable, and an all-around good guy---the kind you'd definitely want in your corner---Elvis Cole, in this novel, is at a tu...

I should probably be embarrassed, but I didn't realize until reading other reviews that the plot of Sunset Express, sixth in the Elvis Cole series, was a take on the O.J. Simpson case. Probably means 1) kudos to Crais for not being too obvious, and 2) I don't pay attention to celebrity drama. I remember the part about the white bronco, and about the obviousnessness of OJ's guilt, but Crais puts enough twist on the details that it wasn't initially recognizable. This was easily one of the stronger...

This is far and away the best Cole book that I have read. Elvis is hired on as an investigator when a wealthy restaurant owner is accused of killing his wife. As usual things don't go to plan and Joe and Elvis aim to put things right. There are some really touching moments in this novel between Elvis and his girlfriend, and between Elvis and Joe. The ending is not one we are use to but Elvis handled it exactly the way I would have liked to if I'd been in his shoes.A must read.

Couldn't sleep last night, tossing and turning. To make matters worse, I picked up Sunset Express giving my night hyperactivity something to focus on. Hours later. Done. Now I can't get back to sleep. Damn Crais!

Excellent. This is the earliest in the Elvis Cole series which I have read. I loved it and it shows the basic foundation of the Elvis style and the Crais plotting which captured me in the later books with which I started. Now I need to continue backwards, because this is really a well-written, and plot gripping, tension - inducing read. This is a fine example of why I read this genre and why I am constantly looking for the best of the best in Crime/thriller fiction. Robert Crais is one of the be...

3 Stars (could have been 4) As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you. Long setup, first 10%, not too bad. Some detection, then lots of "celebrity detective" blather for far too many pages.Then the middle half of the book is pretty good, but the last 10% is ponderous. Too many times in the book it feels like Crais is padding things. Ugh. Only one cute quote'Is this Eddie Ditko, the world's finest reporter?' He made a hacking sound like a cat...

This hardcover is signed by Robert Crais.

Elvis Cole agrees to join the investigative team of lawyer Jonathan Green in defending Hollywood restaurateur Teddy White against charges of killing his wife. The angle they are going for is that the vital evidence against Teddy was planted there by ambitious detective Angela Rossi, who is trying to bounce back from a career setback.Of course, Cole winds up way in over his head! While new girlfriend Lucy Chenier comes to visit, he uncovers evidence that could undeniably prove Teddy White's guilt...

As usual, Robert Crais delivers sheer pleasure. Everything seems just right with this book. Tight, tight, tight story-telling. Perfect dialogue. Great Joe Pike and Elvis Cole action. It's possible to read this in one day. That way you can read it every day. It would be quite a few before getting tired of it.

This novel is too long and doesn't get going meaningfully until its end. 4 of 10 stars!

2nd read - There's layer upon stinky onion layer of media and Southern California money in this story. Throw in a gazillion lawyers, Cole's love interest and her son in for a visit, and a cop who's under suspicion for planting evidence, and it's a fun ride.A hotshot restaurant king's wife has been kidnapped and now killed, and his high powered legal team wants Elvis to check out leads to get their client off the hook. Most of the action is condensed towards the end of the novel, but the fun is i...

Seriously. What just happened? A 5 star book almost ended up with 2 because of that stupid ending chapter. What a disappointment.Most everything was excellent. The characters, the mystery. Sure it felt a little like a certain former Hertz salesman’s story in the ‘90’s but even that was okay. Cole and Pike were as good as always. Lucy and Ben looked like great additions. Then that last chapter. If you read the book, don’t read chapter 39.