jjares reviewed on 3/31/2017 + 3414 more book reviews

This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating illegal entry into the US. It is a sobering look at illegal immigration. I can only hope that this is not as common as Robert Crais made it seem.

This story starts in the desert regions of the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Two American college-aged students get caught up in the abduction of aliens (Russian, Korean, Middle Eastern, Indian and Central Americans) trying to enter the US. The 'coyotes' bringing them are killed and 'bajaderos' capture the aliens and try to ransom them back to their relatives.

Joe Pike and Elvis Cole are multi-dimensional characters in this book, but Jon Stone is not. He doesn't seem to be very realistic either (a graduate of Princeton University, having total mental recall of everything he's ever read. He speaks umpteen languages and is a total killing machine).

This time-shifting gimmick (chapters may jump forward or backward, I guess to build tension) that Crais uses in this book is irritating. Laura Lippman and others have been using this and it leaves me cold.

My final gripe is about the whole ATF aspect of this novel. Obviously, the book was too short and the aunt was turned into an ATF operative to bring in the US calvary in at the end. Hmmmm. BTW, why didn't brilliant Jon Stone check his vehicle after being in ATF's clutches? 3.5 stars

Joe Pike
1. The Watchman (2007)
2. The First Rule (2009)
3. The Sentry (2011)
4. Taken (2012)

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