The Watchman (Elvis Cole) |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Larkin Conner Barkley lives like the City of Angels is hers for the taking. Young and staggeringly rich, she speeds through the city during its loneliest hours, blowing through red after red in her Aston Martin as if running for her life. Until out of nowhere a car appears, and with it the metal-on-metal explosion of a terrible accident. Dazed, Larkin attempts to help the other victims. And finds herself the sole witness in a secret federal investigation.
For maybe the first time in her life, Larkin wants to do the right thing. But by agreeing to cooperate with the authorities, she becomes the target for a relentless team of killers. And when the U.S. Marshals and the finest security money can buy can’t protect her, Larkin’s wealthy family turns to the one man money can’t buy - Joe Pike.
Pike lives a world away from the palaces of Beverly Hills. He’s an ex-cop, ex-Marine, ex-mercenary who owes a bad man a favor, and that favor is to keep Larkin alive. The one upside of the job is reuniting with Bud Flynn, Pike’s LAPD training officer, and a man Pike reveres as a father. The downside is Larkin Barkley, who is the uncontrollable cover girl for self-destruction - and as deeply alone as Pike.
Pike commits himself to protecting the girl, but when they immediately come under fire, he realizes someone is selling them out. In defiance of Bud and the authorities, Pike drops off the grid with the girl and follows his own rules of survival: strike fast, hit hard, hunt down the hunters. With the help of private investigator Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals, and the stunning revelation that even the cops are not who they seem. As the body count rises, Pike’s biggest threat might come from the girl herself, a lost soul in the City of Angels, determined to destroy herself unless Joe Pike can teach her the value of life…and love.
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Customer Reviews:
• Dissappointing Below Average Read
02 December, 2009
The story is WEAK! It rest on us believing that the bad guys are trying to kill a traffic accident witness in order to protect a 'secret' relationship between a bad guy and a money launderer. It just is illogical that they'd go through all this just to discredit an eyewitness!! It's like killing a fly with a bazooka! To make matters worse the characters are flat and unappealing. Frankly I was hoping the bad guys would kill her and end my misery so I didn't have to hear her whine anymore!!!
Basically don't waste your time with this book.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Scorching Pace - Wonderful Detail - Great Read
27 October, 2009
Synopsis
Joe Pike is the consumate "good cop," a former special forces SWAT team standout of almost super-hero proportions. To pay back an old debt, Pike is coerced into playing bodyguard to a wealthy young heiress whose life is in danger after getting involved in an auto accident with some unscrupulous types that are set on her destruction. Pike must figure out the who, how, and the why while on the run as the bullets and the body count soar. The plot is revealed at breakneck speed with a twist in the end that will leave your head spinning. * * *
My Two Cents Worth
In my quest to find new authors and fresh material, I picked up The Watchman by Robert Crais. This was my first book with the Cole/Pike characters. The Watchman was simply plucked from the double stack of books waiting to be read and I jumped in with both feet.
I read about 80 pages with the first sitting, enough to feel comfortable with both the characters and the plot; in fact, I felt almost too comfortable - like I had seen this story before, starring Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) and Paris Hilton.
The Watchman gets off to a blistering pace as Pike attempts to make good on a promise to an old friend by agreeing to act as bodyguard/mercenary to a young debutante who is involved in a bizarre auto accident. The body count quickly escalates as they race from one hideout to another, with a host of unknown gunmen hot on their trail.
Crais sets a scorching pace and has me hooked. I also appreciated the dialogue between Pike, the ultimate special team warrior, and Larkin, the spoiled, rich, valley girl. Their chemistry worked for me, at least as far as the communications, although the hint of intimacy made me a little uncomfortable and seemed out of place.
I thought the plot unfolded nicely for the next 150 pages, with Pike making all the right moves, until he leaves her alone for a few hours. This all but ruined it for me. It contradicted all the admirable work he had done up to this point - it just didn't make sense. As the mystery of exactly why Larkin was being pursued and who was behind the sinister plot is discovered, you couldn't help but wonder why such an elaborate scheme was devised to get to her, when it would have been infinitely easier to resolve at the scene of the crash on about page 20.
As for the author, I will read other Crais books and recommend The Watchman to friends mostly because of his writing style and story-telling skills.
Paperback
384 pages
3.5 hours
- Amazon Customer Review
• Protecting A Spoiled Heiress Was More Than Pike Bargained For
28 February, 2010
Heiress Larkin Barkley has always had it her own way. If she feels like tearing up the street in her fast sports car, she does it. She clubs like Paris Hilton, lives a life unlike most her age and never has to deal with the reality of danger. Until it hits her in the face after she's involved in an auto accident.
All of a sudden, she's fleeing for her life and her only hope of staying alive is Joe Pike. Since she doesn't march with reality, she minimizes the fact that she could wind up dead, and gives Joe one of his biggest challenges yet--babysitting a spoiled brat with a target on her back.
Someone inside her father's realm is tracking her every move. Safe houses aren't safe. Enter loveable detective Elvis Cole, Joe Pike's partner. Between the two of them they are determined to save Larkin in spite of herself.
I listened to this on audio tape, and as with all Robert Crais books thoroughly enjoyed it. He has become one of my favorite writers. And when it comes to placing the reader right in the L.A. scene he does it to perfection. In one of his other books, he took the reader on a trip down the street where I lived in Marina Del Rey, describing it in such a way that I absolutely knew he'd been there.
MORGAN ST. JAMES
[...]
- Amazon Customer Review
• The Watchman
15 February, 2010
One of the best books I've read in a long time!!!! {I'm 75 years old so that is a "LONG TIME!!"}
- Amazon Customer Review
• Fast Paced
12 March, 2010
Here we have the author's take on the action/conspiracy thriller. Rich girl sees something she shouldn't and after two failed murder attempts, a favour is called in and Joe Pike is brought in to protect her. After a couple more failed attempts, Pike brings in his partner Elvis and decides to take the fight to the bad guys. Not knowing who to trust, Pike decides to cut everybody out of the loop and do things his way.........
This moves with pace and is, like all the author's novels, thrilling and entertaining with more then a few great one-liners thrown in. The focus here is more on Joe Pike then Elvis Cole and we see some flashbacks into his early Police years, all helping us to understand Pike's character.
A slightly rushed ending, but good stuff from Crais once again.
- Amazon Customer Review
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