Rewind, we're spending a minute at the very end of Lullaby Town here. Elvis, while on the phone with someone else, watches a beautiful woman watch Joe:
Like maybe when there are other people around, he doesn't feel like he can be the one closely watching his partner. But he can admire vicariously through a woman who's attracted to Joe, and by Elvis watching her attraction to Joe he can participate in his own, when in a public setting.
But when Cindy has left the kitchen and they're the only two left, now Elvis gets his turn to watch Joe directly:
The way that their feelings for each other can only be experienced through levels of abstraction makes me insane. I'm gonna blog more about this later but the way they literally cannot acknowledge or express these feelings—to each other or about each other to themselves—makes me go wild. Really the dynamic of all time.
...mit einer kleinen Dosis "Was wir in BiD hätten haben können". Oder: Im Januar ist irgendwie alles Hörk-coded.
Aber zur vermeintlichen Spatort-Connection später mehr. Erstmal zurück zu alten Freunden. Ich bin ja immer noch auf der Suche nach meinem eigentlichen Literaturgeschmack, jetzt, wo ich nur noch für das persönliche Vergnügen lesen darf.
Spannenderweise habe ich offenbar eine Affinität für japanische Krimis entwickelt, aber das dürfte ein eigener Post werden. Dafür muss ich erst nochmal die Regale durchstöbern und ein bisschen mehr Struktur in meine Gedanken bringen weil ich glaube, das sich das schon viel länger abgezeichnet hat, ohne dass ich es bemerkt habe.
Ich dachte, mit einem Besuch bei alten Freunden macht man auf der Sinnsuche erst einmal nichts falsch. Also habe ich mir "The Big Empty" geschnappt, den 20. Band der Elvis Cole & Joe Pike-Reihe. Wo doch die anderen 19 schon bei mir im Regal stehen.
Schockmoment: Es ist Band 20 der Reihe, aber im Regal standen tatsählich nur 19 Bücher. 😱
Also alles mal kurz unterbrochen, Inventur gemacht (fantasticfiction.com ist übrigens eine wirklich gute Ressource, besonders für lange Reihen oder für Autoren, die mehrere Reihen veröffentlich haben), Band 10 im lokalen Buchhandel nachbestellt und einmal tief durchgeatmet. Puh.
Wenn ich die Elvis Cole & Joe Pike Bücher beschreiben müsste, würde ich sie wahrscheinlich als Buddy-Cop Movie in Buchform bezeichnen. Elvis Cole ist Privatdetektiv in Los Angeles und Joe Pike ist der stille Partner in seiner Agentur, der die Bezeichnung stiller Partner recht wörtlich nimmt. Der redet nicht viel, Elvis Cole dafür umso mehr. Im Lauf der Reihe lernt man Cole zwar als sehr empathischen Menschen kennen, aber nach außen ist er eher der wisecracking idiot, der immer einen flotten Spruch auf den Lippen hat, ohnehin selten still ist und die Dinge auch nicht immer allzu ernst zu nehmen scheint.
Das führt dazu, dass die Bücher dialoglastig sind, mit viel Wortwitz und man beim Lesen auch öfter mal vor sich hinschmunzelt. Für die Figuren, die Elvis im Laufe der Geschichten begegnen, bedeutet es, dass sie ihn meistens unterschätzen und das erst bemerken, wenn es zu spät ist.
Joe Pike ist eher der schweigende Typ. Ex-Militär, Ex-Polizist, mit so einigen Leichen im Keller und einem eher unverkrampften Verhältnis zur Anwendung von Gewalt. Er ist Elvis' bester Freund und wird eigentlich immer erst dann angerufen, wenn Elvis merkt, dass der Fall ihm über den Kopf wächst und er vielleicht lieber Verstärkung rufen sollte. In "The Big Empty" passiert das auf S. 129 von 367.
Das Konzept der Reihe erfindet das Genre sicherlich nicht neu.
Detektiv-Duos, bei denen der eine der laute, witzige und der andere der brütende Partner mit dem dunklen Geheimnis und der Affinität für Gewalt ist, gibt es gerade im amerikanischen Krimi häufiger. Die Myron Bolitar-Reihe von Harlan Coben funktioniert nach einem ganz ähnlichen Prinzip, die Spenser-Reihe von Robert B. Parker hat schon in den 70er Jahren damit gearbeitet, und auch in den Kenzie & Gennaro Romanen von Dennis Lehane balanciert die Dynamik des Ermittlerduos die eher schweren Themen der Fälle gut aus.
Aber es ist ein Konzept, das funktioniert und gut unterhält. Ganz ehrlich sind die Elvis Cole-Bände nicht die Bücher, die man lesen sollte, wenn man Wert auf komplexe, weibliche Figuren legt. Ab und zu gibt es mal Anklänge, aber da ist auch ganz viel Damsel in Distress mit dabei. Meistens sind die Frauen Elvis' Auftraggeber und eher Ausgangs- als Mittelpunkt der Geschichte. Wenn man darüber hinwegsehen kann, wird man aber in der Regel gut unterhalten.
Zum Fall muss man bei diesem Buch eigentlich gar nicht viel sagen. Elvis Cole wird von einer jungen Frau (QED und so...) beauftragt, ihren vor zehn Jahren verschwundenen Vater zu finden.
Elvis denkt zunächst, dass er da auch nicht viel mehr wird ausrichten können als die Polizei damals, aber natürlich findet er dann doch den einen Hinweis, den die Polizei übersehen hat, sticht in ein Wespennest und...naja, sagen wir mal so: es hat einen Grund, warum er nach 129 Seiten seinen Kumpel Joe Pike anruft. Irgendwer möchte so gar nicht, dass die Wahrheit über die Ereignisse von vor zehn Jahren ans Licht kommen.
Der Fall hat mich in dem Buch tatsächlich gar nicht so sehr mitgenommen. Das kann Crais besser und mir war schon relativ früh klar, in welche Richtung die Auflösung gehen würde. Und ich bin sonst bei Krimis eigentlich immer diejenige, die die Auflösung nie vorher selbst rausfindet. Da kam einfach nicht die Spannung auf, die er sonst echt wirklich gut kann.
Aber was das Buch dafür zur Genüge hat, sind die Momente, die ich mir in BiD gewünscht hätte. Und ja, vielleicht war Januar der denkbar schlechteste Zeitpunkt, das Buch zu lesen, weil im Januar ja irgendwie alles Spatort-coded ist.
Aber Elvis macht dann was ziemlich Dummes, verfolgt alleine einen Verdächtigen, der sich dann als eine ganze Gruppe Verdächtiger entpuppt, und wird mal so richtig übel zusammengeschlagen. So inklusive halbtot am Straßenrand irgendwo in der Pampa zum Sterben zurückgelassen werden. Weil wenn Elvis was macht, dann macht er es richtig.
Es ist nicht ganz der Bunker, nachdem Carla Radek dachte, sie könne ja mal den Zünder drücken, aber die Bilder in meinem Kopf waren dann doch ähnlich.
Natürlich wird Elvis gefunden, weil Robert Crais nicht George R.R. Martin ist und einfach mal so seine Protagonisten umbringt. Und was gibt uns dieser Krimi daraufhin?
Nicht nur einen besorgten Joe Pike, der noch während des Anrufs aus dem Krankenhaus sämtliche Verkehrsregeln bricht, um so schnell wie möglich dahin zu kommen.
Nein, wir bekommen auch sechs (6!!!) verschiedene Variationen von "Protagonist mit schwerer Gehirnerschütterung wacht zwischendurch immer mal wieder auf und jedes Mal ist sein bester Freund da und wacht über ihn".
Sechs Mal.
Einmal inklusive Hand auf die Brust legen.
Und nur fürs Verständnis - Elvis und Joe sind im Verlauf der ganzen Reihe so was von hetero-coded. Die ganze Buchreihe ist nicht unbedingt progressiv-divers, was die Figuren angeht. Da fällt kein böses Wort, aber Repräsentation findet man auch nur in sehr engen Grenzen. Und trotzdem kriegt man hier in diesem Standart-US-Krimi diese netten Szenen, in denen man merkt, dass da zwei beste Freunde der jeweilige emotionale Fixpunkt des anderen sind (wie gesund das ist, darüber kann man sich dann nach Lektüre der Reihe streiten, aber das ist im Spatort ja auch nicht anders).
Und ich verstehe absolut, warum wir diese Krankenhaus-Szenen in BiD nicht hatten. Ich finde es im Nachhinein ja sogar gut, dass es da keine definitive Szene gibt, sondern jeder sich die Zeit zwischen EdN und BiD so vorstellen kann, wie er mag und es nicht eine Version gibt, die unumstößlich ist (und einem im schlimmsten Fall vielleicht gar nicht gefällt...).
Aber trotzdem - dann lese ich so was und kriege so ein kleines bisschen die Sehnsucht nach dem, was wir hätten haben können.
Nur ein klitzekleines bisschen.
Und dass mich hier keiner falsch versteht - ich will nicht sagen, dass die Elvis Cole & Joe Pike-Reihe ein totaler Geheimtipp für alle Hörk-Fans ist. So richtig emotionale Momente haben sie eher selten. Meistens bedroht jemand Elvis und Joe erklärt demjenigen dann (nicht unbedingt immer mit Worten), warum das keine gute Idee war. Und dann lösen sie einen Fall, und am Ende gibt es eine Moral. Und manchmal ist die Moral, dass nicht alles im Leben schwarz oder weiß ist. Die Bücher sind nicht subtil, wollen es aber auch nicht sein.
Die Katze aus der Szene, in der Elvis zum ersten Mal aufwacht, gibt es übrigens wirklich.
Elvis hat einen Streunerkater, der einfach nur "the cat" heißt, vorbeikommt, wie es ihm passt, gelegentlich mal ein wenig Bier schlürfen darf und eigentlich alle Menschen außer Joe Pike hasst.
Also eine ganz normale Katze.
Das sind solide amerikanische Krimis mit Figuren, die nicht perfekt sind, die man als Leser aber mag und die einen gut unterhalten. Auf deutsch sind sie glaube ich nie rausgekommen und ich bin mir auch nicht sicher, dass sie auf dem deutschen Krimimarkt gut funktionieren würden.
Aber mir machen sie weiterhin (meistens) Spaß, und das ist ja auch schon mal eine Erkenntnis auf der Suche nach meinem Buchgeschmack. 😆
Bin mal gespannt, wie das weitergeht, als nächstes habe ich einen englischen Krimi angefangen. Offenbar ist grade Krimizeit. Nur gut, dass ich mir gestern auch noch einen SciFi-Roman bestellt habe...🤣
Here are two friends. Here are two people sharing their lives. As you wish for friendship, share in theirs. As you seek companionship, share in theirs. As you search for love, share in theirs.
Media Title: A Dangerous Man, Elvis Cole & Joe Pike Series, Book 18
Author: Robert Crais
Media Type: EBook
Genre: Action, Mystery
Reviewed By: MargeMod
Content Warnings: Kidnapping, Death, Guns, Violence
This Review Contains Spoilers
Rating: One Flower out of a Full Bouquet
Summary: In his series of novels starring private detective Elvis Cole and his silent, but deadly partner Joe Pike, Robert Crais has taken us on one exciting, terrifying ride after another. These two ex-Ranger/policemen offer their private investigative and surveillance services to sort out all types of situations. Their methods are often unorthodox but justified. A Dangerous Man, the latest installment of this series, begins with Joe simply going to his bank to deposit checks and be ogled by the bank clerk Isabella Roland. Because of his military and police skills of observation and his own deep-seated sense of obligation to another human, this routine morning evolves into an action packed story where Joe and Elvis save Isabelle not once, not twice but three times from dark characters in her parents' past.
Review: Fans of Robert Crais will not be disappointed by this addition to the Cole/Pike series. It contains all the elements readers expect - a wonderful mix of humor, interesting story-telling, twists and turns, quirky specialists tossed together with a healthy distrust of police and institutions. You will be wrong if you assume that the dangerous man is the bad guy. In fact, in this story the most dangerous man is Joe who uses his deadly skills to make sure Isabella never needs to be afraid of the men who had been searching for her mother for over 20 years. One thing I love about this story, and most books by Robert Crais, is that he does not rely on a magic person that is available to complete fantastical research instantly and come back with a solution that could not in a million years be found by a real private detective. There is no high-tech, easy solution to this mystery. Almost everything discovered in this story comes from online research, talking/listening to people and observing what the situation presents.
Young adults might recognize themselves in the main character - 23 year old Isabelle Roland who is just trying to live her best life. More than once she exclaims "I am an adult!". One of the most chilling scenes is when the bad guys use her own text messages to her best friend to draw Isabelle out of a safe place and puts her in danger again. The author paints an appealing picture of a spunky young lady, inordinately devoted to friends, generally dismissed by adults and completely unaware of her parents' history. The reader does not know until the last chapter if Isabelle actually has the millions of dollars that the bad guys insist that her mother had stolen over 25 years prior.
The reason I didn't give a Full Bouquet rating is because the author spent a lot of time convincing us what a compassionate and principled man Joe is but, his frequent and extremely violent actions didn’t mesh with his new 'softer' side. I appreciated learning more about Joe's depth of character and his many facets make him less of a mercenary caricature, however at some point it just doesn't make sense that such a nice guy could be so brutally violent. In fairness, he only kills the bad guys, but the body count was staggering. Overall, I still recommend this book, it was just easier to root for the Dangerous Man when he wasn’t trying to also be a good man.
Would you like a little whoof! in your weekend reading? We’ve got some doggedly good fiction for you then. Meet canine narrators, protectors, detectives, and saviours in classic and contemporary fiction from some of our best authors who explore the intense bond between humans and dogs in their books. Take one on a walk – no leash necessary!
THE FRIEND: A NOVEL by Sigrid Nunez
National Book Award Winner!
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog’s care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.
NIKI: THE STORY OF A DOG by Tibor Dery
“The Dog adopted the Ancsas in the spring of ’48”: so the story begins. The Ancsas are a middle-aged couple living on the outskirts of Budapest in a ruinous Hungary that is just beginning to wake up from the nightmare of World War II. The story of Niki, an ordinary dog, and the Ancsas, a no less ordinary couple, is an extraordinarily touching, utterly unsentimental, parable about caring, kindness, and the endurance of love.
SUSPECT by Robert Crais
One of Booklist’s 10 Best Crime Fiction Books of the Year
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series comes a thrilling novel featuring LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie.
DOG STORIES by Diana Secker Tesdell
Dog Stories rounds up a pack of vivid and colorful stories about man’s best friend by a wide range of great writers, from Mark Twain and Anton Chekhov to Patricia Highsmith and Jonathan Lethem.
LOST DOGS AND LONELY HEARTS by Lucy Dillon
Thirty-nine year old Rachel is having a really bad year. After losing her job and breaking up with her boyfriend, Rachel has inherited her late aunt’s house, her beloved border collie, and a crowded rescue kennel, despite the fact that she knows almost nothing about dogs. Still, considering her limited options, she gamely takes up the challenge of running the kennel. And as Rachel starts finding new homes for the abandoned strays, it turns out that it might not just be the dogs that need rescuing.
THE PLAGUE DOGS by Richard Adams
Rowf, a shaggy black mongrel, and Snitter, a black-and-white fox terrier, are among dozens of animals being cruelly held in a testing facility in North West England. When one of the handlers fails to close Rowf’s cage properly, the two dogs make a daring escape into the English countryside, where they befriend a red fox who helps them survive in the wild. But as rumors circulate that the dogs may have been the test subjects for biological weapons and could be carrying a terrible plague, they soon find themselves targets of a great dog hunt. An unforgettable tale of fantasy and adventure, a powerful exploration of the limits of human cruelty and kindness, The Plague Dogs stands as a modern-day classic.
THE CALL OF THE WILD & WHITE FANG by Jack London
The canine hero of The Call of the Wild is Buck, a pampered pet in California who is stolen and forced to be a sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness. There he suffers from the brutal extremes of nature and equally brutal treatment by a series of masters, until he learns to heed his long-buried instincts and turn his back on civilization. White Fang charts the reverse journey, as a fierce wolf-dog hybrid born in the wild is eventually tamed. White Fang is adopted as a cub by a band of Indians, but when their dogs reject him he grows up violent, defensive, and dangerous. Traded to a man who stages fights, he is forced to face dogs, wolves, and lynxes in gruesome battles to the death, until he is rescued by a gold miner who sets out to earn his trust.
KING: A STREET STORY by John Berger
King, our narrator, is the guardian of a homeless couple, stealing meat from the butcher and sharing the warmth of his flesh. His canine sensibility affords him both amnesty from human hardship and rare insight into his companions’ lives. Through his senses we see—clearly and unsentimentally—the dignity and strength that can survive within chaos and pain.
MEDDLING KIDS by Edgar Cantero
A mad scientist’s concoction of H. P. Lovecraft, teen detectives, a dog, and a love of Americana, Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids is a story filled with rich horror, thrilling twists, outright hilarity, and surprising poignancy.
For more on these and other dog-centric fiction, visit the collection: Dog Fiction
10 most read authors
From @books-on-a-wire‘s post, there is a feature in Goodreads which shows your most read authors (as shelved in your collections).
Rex Stout 46 Yep, this would be from when I ploughed through his Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin books, many years ago now. I did recently read a pastiche by Robert Goldsborough, Murder in E Minor, which did a good job of capturing the feel of the books as best I remember. It has me tempted to pick out a few of the old books and revisit. My only other contact with Nero and Archie in recent memory was the TV series starring Timothy Hutton.
Elizabeth Peters 29 OK, if you add the seven books written under the name Barabara Michaels, plus her two non-fiction Egyptology books written under her real name of Barbara Mertz, this number jumps to 38. The bulk of that 29 is from a couple of years ago, when I managed to read through her entire Amelia Peabody series. (And having done that, a project for the new year may be revisiting that series as well, but at a slower pace.) The rest would be the Vicky Bliss books, a couple of Jacqueline Kirby’s, and some standalones.
Ellis Peters 24 Another one of fond memory. Just took the last Cadfael book off the shelf and was astonished to see it was published twenty-four years ago this month. It doesn’t seem that long. It’s starting to look like 2019 will be the year of the rereads... Hmm. But 24... Okay, that has to include one collection of short stories, another gorgeous hardcover that contains the text of the first two Cadfael novels, along with a section of text and photos related to the world of the books, and one book from her other mystery series... Aha! The George Felse one! (Had to look it up.) Throw in her A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury, written as Edith Pargeter, and this number gets bumped up to 25.
Agatha Christie 22 This one is a mix of rereading, and encountering some of other of her books for the first time, and is of recent origin. Didn’t get to too many this year, just Sleeping Murder (unless I sneak in one or two before the end of the year), but it’s been fun to go back and rediscover her. She holds up much better than first anticipated. Thanks has to go to the television adaptations, especially Poirot and Marple, and that 10th Doctor episode about Agatha’s infamous disappearance, for bringing me back into the Christie fold.
Martha Grimes 17 This is all the Richard Jury and Melrose Plant mysteries. Except it should be 19. Maybe I never recorded a couple of them? Will have to go and check later. And there are still four or five more to go. I like the first batch of the series better than some of the later books, but the characters are always such good company that flaws in the stories can be forgiven. A few of those first books have been reread so many times they’re starting to fall apart.
Douglas Preston 17 First, that should be Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I haven’t as yet read any of their solo novels. Second, and I had to check this, I cannot believe that number is real. (It is.) The bloom has gone off the rose and all that, but I can remember when it was a thrill to get my hands on the latest Agent Pendergast.
John D. MacDonald 15 This would be the Travis McGee series, which I haven’t visited in quite awhile now. Someday I will resume and get back to where I started ages and ages ago, The Dreadful Lemon Sky, and then proceed to the last books in the series. No idea how Travis holds up in the 21st century, but hopefully any of his 1960s ‘sins’ aren’t so glaring they can’t be forgiven.
Janet Evanovich 15 It kind of floors me that the Stephanie Plum series is up to twenty-five books at this point, not counting some sidetrip books that I never got around to having a look at. Make no mistake, when I first picked up One For the Money back in the day, I was happy to get on the Stephanie Plum train and stay there for a long time. Sometime around book eight or nine, though, the magic started to fade, and I hopped off for good at book fifteen. It was a treat while it lasted, and some of those first books got multiple readings, so that’s in no way a bad thing.
Mary Stewart 14 Yes! Okay, four of these would be her Arthurian trilogy + her Mordred novel, where she did the impossible and made me sympathize with him. Then I discovered she had also written a batch of gothic romance/romantic suspense novels, and could not get my hands on them fast enough. There are still a couple of titles missing from my collection, and I have yet to give Thunder On the Right a second chance, but she is one of those authors that is as close to a sure bet as you can get.
Robert Crais 13 This would be his Elvis Cole & Joe Pike series of private eye thrillers. I’ve been reading this one in a roundabout fashion for awhile now. Started with the first two, The Monkey’s Raincoat and Stalking the Angel, and then jumped ahead to L.A. Requiem, and fell into this pattern of reading one of the older titles, and then one of the newer ones, and finally got caught up in the timestream last year (although I’m a few recent books behind now). The climaxes are usually action-packed shoot-’em-ups that I tend to skim through, but that’s my only complaint. Well, and that we never get enough of the cat who loves Elvis and Joe and hates everyone else.
Honorable mentions: Charles Todd, the mother and son team behind the Ian Rutledge mysteries (shell-shocked Scotland Yard detective just back from the Great War, haunted by the battlefield and one particular soldier). Haven’t read their Bess Crawford books yet, but hope to soon. Victoria Holt & Nora Roberts, at nine books each. Victoria, alas, does not hold up well, but I’m still good with Nora. Rhys Bowen comes in with eight books; that would be four Molly Murphys, and four Lady Georgianas. I like Molly, but Lady Georgie is my favorite. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also comes it at eight. And Amanda Quick, Dorothy Sayers, David Eddings, and Lauren Willig all clock in at six. Willig will soon be seven; and Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krentz is likely to increase by several volumes in the new year.
Maybe things were looking up. Maybe I was getting to the bottom of this and, once reaching the bottom, would bounce over the top. Of course, reaching the bottom can sometimes be painful, but we try not to think of that. Imagine an egg.
