My husband and I are both reading as many of Robert Crais' books as we can get our hands on, we like his storytelling so much! (See my posts of 4/26/13 & 6/25/13.) We just finished The Sentry (#313), a Joe Pike novel. In Taken, Elvis Costello as the private investigator takes the lead role, with Joe Pike lending his special forces skills. In The Sentry, their roles are reversed.
Joe Pike just happens to be at the wrong gas station filling up his immaculately kept Jeep when he spots two gang bangers across the street looking for trouble. They find it when they beat up the owner of a sandwich shop across the way. All of Joe's military and police training have taught him to serve and protect, so he can't stand idly by while this is going on. He's holding the one whose arm he's broken waiting for the police to come and arrest him when the shop owner's niece comes in through the back door. One look, and it's all over for Joe. He wants to protect Dru Raney from any further gang-related trouble after she confides in Joe that they're trying to make a new start in town. He just doesn't realize at that point that he's gotten mixed up in something much darker and more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. What Elvis Cole uncovers about Dru and her uncle puts him and Joe squarely in the sights of a number of others hunting for Dru Raney and Wilson Smith.
Joe Pike is definitely a guy you want protecting your back in a fight, not coming down a dark alley towards you. Yet in this book, Robert Crais manages to make this ultimate tough guy vulnerable in a way that remains true to his character. It isn't easy to make someone like Joe so sympathetic. Things don't always turn out as you hope, but in Robert Crais' world, it's always interesting to see where they go. I'm glad that there are still more books by him out there waiting to be discovered!
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