"FREE FALL" by Robert Crais ... A-

This is another literary gem by author Robert Crais, who is fast becoming my favorite private eye mystery writer. The long and the short of it is that Elvis Cole is one of the most interesting and entertaining continuing characters in literature. And, to top it all off, we also get the enigmatic but equally fascinating Joe Pike thrown into this mystery in his reoccurring role as Cole's long time partner and mercenary for hire.

This time the two work to solve a case of young love apparently gone awry between two wholesome sweethearts formerly from the Midwest who seem to be going in separate directions even though they are now engaged and living in Los Angeles. Like most mysteries, what starts out as a simple case quickly becomes a morass of thuggery, corruption, and even murder.

What makes any book a great read are the characterizations and the writing style, and Robert Crais' books excel at both of these literary qualities. His writing style is breezy and conversational and his characters, especially Elvis Cole with his wry witticisms, are a constant delight. Each chapter is a "grabber" and short enough that I am always tempted to take the time to read one more chapter even though it is past the time to turn out the lights and go to sleep. At the end of the day, and I am usually reading one of Crais' books at the end of the day, how many ways are there to say that I love reading his books?

Teary-eyed Jennifer Sheridan hesitantly stands in the doorway of the Elvis Cole Detective agency, and it is only after Cole has offered her some degree of assurance that she spills her tale of romantic estrangement from her fiancé, Mark Thurman. She is convinced that he is still the same fine man that she has known from their high school days back in the Midwest when he was the football star, but lately things have changed and he has become oddly distracted and distant.

Jennifer has a low paying job as a secretary for a law firm, so she stretches to pay Cole's standard retainer fee of $2,000. She promises to pay him $40 down and $40 a month for the next 49 months. Softhearted Cole is captured by this lady in love, and he later tells his partner, Joe Pike, that they have found employment for the next five years...

What starts off as a case of romantic disaffection quickly becomes more than that. Shortly after Jennifer leaves his office, her fiancé surprisingly drops in. Thurman turns out to be a Los Angeles cop, and he has been tailing her. Not only is he a LA cop, he is a member of a five man elite team called REACT that goes undercover to probe for cases of corruption. Floyd Riggens, one of his partners, is with him, and it is clear to Elvis that Riggens is both drunk and out of control. Even Thurman has to calm him down during the sometimes tense meeting. Eventually Mark Thurman explains to Cole that he has another woman on the side and he hasn't yet found the courage to break the news to his fiancée.

Unfortunately for Thurman, Cole's loyalties are solely with his client, so he begins his investigation. What he quickly finds is a tight knit band of cops headed by Eric Dees which seems to be hiding something or protecting someone. Pike tells his partner that Dees was "clean" when the two road together as LA cops, but then Elvis keeps tripping over the strange matter of a botched pawn shop stakeout where a young black man died resisting arrest. The investigative trail soon becomes white hot when Cole runs into Akeem D'Muere, the suave but murderous head of a notorious LA gang known as the Eight Deuce Gangster Boys. Bantam Books, 1993, 280 pages