Racing The Light (Elvis Cole & Joe Pike) by Robert Crais #MurderMystery #Thriller #TuesdayBookBlog

Author: Robert Crais

Performed by Luke Daniels

Published: November 2022 by Brilliance Audio

Category: Contemporary Fiction, Murder, Mystery, Thriller

Adele Schumacher isn’t a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn’t alone in the hunt — a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first.

Racing the Light is the latest Elvis Cole and Joe Pike thriller in this long running series, which happens to be one of my favourites. 

Josh Shoe, a controversial podcaster who focuses mainly on alien conspiracy theories and their connection to Area 51, has gone missing and his mother, Adele Schumacher, wants to hire Elvis to find him. Josh’s friend, Skylar, who has been featured in a podcast and is helping him with his latest feature, is also missing.

“Sky? What’s going on?”

“You’re a good dude, Josh. We’ll talk.”

She turned and hurried towards the door.

Josh quickly left money on the table and tried to catch up, but two other couples rose to leave at the same time, and Josh fell behind. When he finally reached the sidewalk, Skylar stood at the open door of a black Uber car. The crooked smile touched her lips when she saw him, but now her smile seemed sad.

Elvis soon realises the case isn’t as straightforward as a missing person, it’s much more complicated and dangerous. His initial enquiries lead him to Ryan Seborg, Josh’s podcasting partner, and he discovers other less savoury people are intent on finding Josh. Enter Joe Pike, the strong and silent, in more ways than one, partner in the Elvis Cole Detective Agency. Joe draughts in ex military contractor, Jon Stone, who has access to places and people the others don’t.

Elvis (in his own words – the world’s greatest detective) and Joe are two of my favourite fictional characters. Their personalities are completely different but the relationship and bonds of friendship are deep. Elvis’ sensitivity and jokey nature is a great foil for Joe’s toughness and enigmatic demeanour, and vice versa. Both have a strict moral code and always have each other’s backs.

Elvis’ private life gets a jolt when Lucy Chenier and her son, Ben, arrive for a visit. He and Lucy were involved previously but their romance didn’t survive Elvis’ career. They remained good friends however and talked regularly.

I enjoyed Racing The Light, and love Robert Crais’ writing, although this one hasn’t knocked my favourites books in the series off the top spot. It’s still an engaging and twisty tale of murder, mystery and corruption running alongside Elvis’ personal life, with Los Angeles as a backdrop. And a wonderful performance by Luke Daniels.

Robert Crais is the author of the bestselling Cole & Pike novels. A native of Louisiana, Crais moved to Hollywood in the late 70s where he began a successful career in television, writing scripts for such major series as Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues. In the mid 80s, following his success with the TV buddy genre, Crais created a series of crime novels based around the characters Cole & Pike. In addition, Crais has also written several bestselling standalone thrillers. Robert Crais lives in LA with his wife and family.