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Demolition Angel |
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| Demolition Angel by Robert Crais Doubleday 384 pages, 2000 ISBN 0385495846 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Read our review of L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais Carol Starkey can't escape her painful past. Three years ago, she and her lover both went to work with the LAPD bomb squad but she was the only one who survived their last job. When another bomb claims the life of a colleague, Carol is forced to face the nightmare she's avoided for years. Despite understandable apprehension, she wrestles insecurities and a flask of gin, fighting to salvage the only part of her former life that still has meaning. What first appeared to be an unforeseeable consequence of unstable explosives in a high-risk occupation is soon revealed as an intentional act - when Carol discovers that the bomb was detonated by remote control. It was no accident that Charlie died the way he did. The thought of the bomber choosing the exact moment of death makes her blood run cold. A deep sense of uneasiness turns to terror when she learns that her name, not Charlie's, was scratched on the bomb. Can she put aside the past and stop this cold-blooded murderer before she becomes his next victim? Crais is a master storyteller. His characters come alive on the page and he creates action scenes that are easily visualized. Fans of the popular Elvis Cole series take heed. Demolition Angel is a definite departure, although there is potential for merger, should the occasion arise. It appears that Crais has decided to take a chance and step off the cliff, delving deeper into the human psyche, something we glimpsed in L.A. Requiem. In so doing, he's abandoned the first person, sometimes emotionally superficial musings of Elvis, for the slightly safer third person point of view, providing an objective cushion against realities too harsh to fathom. Readers will still find the concise, often abrupt, style of delivery that characterizes the author’s work and inspires loyalty in those who admire the shoot-straight-from-the-hip mode of communication. There's also the indescribable, all too elusive quality that moves a book and its author from the overpopulated sphere of average into the realm of the superb. Crais is there and Demolition Angel is the proof. L.A. Requiem has been nominated for the 1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. Demolition Angel due out in May, has been optioned by Columbia Pictures. - Editor |
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