[.ca] L.A. Requiem (ISBN 0385495838)

Chronique amazon.fr:
Le richissime industriel Frank Garcia est anéanti par le meurtre de sa fille Karen, qui a eu lieu près de la retenue de Lake Hollywood à Los Angeles. Il fait appel à son vieil ami Joe Pike, l'ancien amant de Karen, qui a monté avec Elvis Cole une agence de détectives privés. Grâce à ses relations, Frank obtient du RHD, la brigade d'élite des policiers de la ville, que les deux hommes suivent pour son compte le travail des enquêteurs. Mais Joe, qui appartenait au LAPD, la police de Los Angeles, est haï par ses anciens collègues. Ils lui reprochent d'être responsable de la mort, quelques années auparavant, d'Abel Wozniak, son équipier de l'époque, lors de l'arrestation d'un pédophile. Rien n'est fait pour aider les deux privés, et certainement pas la haine tenace de Krantz, responsable de la brigade. Mais Joe et Elvis, qui connaissent les ficelles du métier, recueillent des informations que semblent vouloir étouffer le RHD. Les circonstances de l'enquête obligeront Elvis à plonger dans le passé de son ami pour trouver les réponses à ses questions : Joe est-il coupable ou tout simplement victime d'une vengeance machiavélique ? Robert Crais fait preuve d'un grand talent en alliant une parfaite maîtrise du suspens, un récit à plusieurs voix, souvent drôle malgré la noirceur de l'intrigue, des héros attachants, troublants mais jamais manichéens - notamment le personnage de Joe Pike, poursuivi par les démons de son passé. Un thriller d'une belle intensité dramatique ! --Claude Mesplède

From Amazon.com:
More than 10 years ago, I was shocked to learn that some puerile piece of fluff had won the Edgar for Best Paperback Original, when it was so obvious to me and virtually everyone else in the Western Hemisphere that the award should have gone to The Monkey's Raincoat, the book that introduced Elvis Cole, private eye, and is to this day one of the funniest books I've ever read. The terrific Elvis Cole series has grown through the years, each book better than the last, but nothing prepared me for the quantum leap (yes, it's a cliché, but it belongs here) that Crais has made with L.A. Requiem. It's not as funny as the other books in the series, but it's a beautifully plotted detective story, rich with police procedure, and it will keep even the most sophisticated reader at sea right until the end. And that's what elevates this book to the level of literature. This one is more about Joe Pike, Elvis's silent sidekick, than it is about Elvis. We learn, through Pike's own eyes, how his childhood made him the way he is today. It's also about a friendship so strong that it threatens Elvis's relationship with his beloved Lucy. It is a tender but dark book--a serial killer book--but it doesn't attempt to outgross the other serial killer books on the shelf. It is funny at times and chilling at other times, making it one of the rare books that can't help but linger in the memory long after it's been read and put away. --Otto Penzler

Who is Joe Pike?:
A friend's daughter is missing and Joe Pike asks his friend Elvis Cole to help him find her. Along the way we discover that the missing girl and Joe Pike had once been an item and that is just the beginning of what author Robert Crais reveals about the enigmatic, silent partner to his gregarious wise-ass hero, Elvis Cole. It was time in the series to do something more than another fast-paced, wise-crack laden, plot-driven Cole/Pike adventure. Not that the novel is slow and humorless, but here Crais has decided to round out Joe Pike, giving him more background and history to explain some of his mystery. It's a cracking good story at that. Adding depth to his characters will only add to the future novels, and he does the same for Elvis Cole in The Last Detective. Plus here we get the horny SID criminologist, John Chen, thrown in, and a complex and nasty mystery behind it all. Well worthwhile for fans of the series. 5 stars for them.

Very good, but I hope that Crais is capable of more:
There is a lot to like about this book, and it is certainly better than most. But something about Crais' voice occasionally doesn't ring quite true, and keeps him from being one of my absolute favorites. I love certain aspects of Pike's character, and he grew on me to the point where I liked almost everything about him, but his reliance on sunglasses makes him weaker, in my eyes. It is that kind of touch, that phony macho touch, that compensating for inadequacy type of thing, that keeps Crais from greatness in too much of this book. Still, strongly recommended, because it is very good, and reaches greatness at times (Pike's adolescent flashback, etc).

This Elvis Is Much Better Than Presley!:
This was my first Elvis Cole book. Wow. Others have done a fine job of describing the story line for LA Requiem, and there's nothing more I can add to what's been said that will improve anyone's understanding of the book. I just have one comment that may not have been covered before. Elvis Cole is not just another studly, hunky, macho, hard-boiled private detective. A very important part of what Elvis deals with in this book is about how men and women view the effect of their behavior on a partner very differently. I liked the way Crais handled that subject through Elvis and Lucy. It's what makes this book different from the typical detective story, and it's what gives Elvis Cole more depth than most of his competition. Now I'm going to go get the rest of the Elvis Cole books. I know I'm in for a treat!

His best work:
Without a doubt, L.A. Requiem is the finest thing Robert Crais has written, and I consider that high praise, as he is one of my favorite authors. If you have been reading his books, Requiem will be a great payoff for you, since it brings to a head much of what has been building in the previous six Elvis Cole novels. If this is your first Crais book, rest assured you will like this book enough to want to go back and read the rest. Despite Joe Pike being the character the plot is about, Elvis still remains central. Nearly every page is viewed through his eyes. Tha pages that deviate, when we see and learn about Joe's past, are among the most interesting in the book. Also, without giving too much away, the scenes with the killer are most revealing and in some ways creepy. Elvis remains aloof, but genuine, a much better protaganist than the typical Superman fantasy. Elvis can't beat up fifteen ninjas, pull a gun out of an extremity, shoot a sniper from 300 feet, and then anounce he has, in his head, completed the DNA test and found the real killer. The one problem I would say I have with this book is it gives up too much. Too many things happen and when it is all said and done, in many ways, Crais has ruined the series. The follow-up, The Last Detective, felt lacking after the carnage of this entry, naked without much of the mystery and buildup. Thankfully, it still tackled a major piece of character development, but left the series with absolutely no steam for the next book. It is possible you could simply read the series and consider "Detective" the final chapter. Also worth checking out is Crais's Hostage, soon to be made into a movie by Bruce Willis. It is a great stand-alone novel.

Great!:
I stumbled upon his Elvis Cole series by accident but after reading Indigo Slam I immediately bought the rest of his books and wasn't dissapointed. This one is definately one of the best in the bunch because it goes more in depth about Joe Pike and his past and I always liked him. He is one cool customer. I have to say that at times, Elvis's character is a little too wussy for my taste but he is definately likeable and this novel just like most of the others is a page turner.