Free Fall

The 4th of the Elvis Cole series finds Elvis, and therefore Pike, working for about $40 down and $10 a month on their usual $2,000 fee to figure out what is wrong with Jennifer Sheridan's high school sweetheart and now LAPD special task force cop, Mark Thurman. He's acting strange and she's sure he's in something over his head. When Cole's initial investigation turns up evidence--and a confession from Thurman--that he's having an affair, Jennifer refuses to believe it. And subsequent events prove that there is, in fact, a whole lot more going on.  That, for example, a "righteous" death involving the task force maybe wasn't so legitimate after all, and that the whole team is being blackmailed into aiding and abetting one of the worst gangs in the city to keep the evidence of their misdeed under wraps. Pike, as always, is the shadow that saves Elvis' butt when the chips are down, but they both come out looking like the good guys--not much richer but very noble. Mark Thurman isn't quite the white knight Jennifer fell in love with, but she does still love and believe in him, and we all want someone like that in our lives. I like that real detective work happens in these books by Crais and, although Pike is a little too scarey good at what he does to be true sometimes, you gotta love these guys.