THE BIG EMPTY

5 stars out of 5

Over the years, I've come to love the investigative team of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike; Elvis is charismatic, while all Joe needs to do is stand there and everybody knows what he's thinking. This latest adventure - the 20th - had me glued to my Kindle from start to finish.

It begins as Traci Beller, she of The Baker Next Door fame and fortune, asks (through her humorless promoter Kevin) Elvis to find her long-lost father, Tommy. A decade ago, he apparently abandoned his family and hasn't been seen since, and both police and private investigators turned up nothing. The owner of an HVAC company, his last known location was Rancha, a small town near Los Angeles.

Always a sucker for a pretty woman in distress - and knowing he's pretty darned good at finding people - Elvis decides to give it a try and sets off for Rancha, mostly to look for anyone who might remember Tommy or anything that might provide a clue as to what happened to him. Early on, though, his questioning of local folks - especially former convict Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya - puts him in the crosshairs of some nasty guys who clearly want him to cease and desist - or else.

That experience, in turn, leads to his calling his partner Joe for help, and it's a good thing he did; Joe is particularly skilled at dealing with nasty guys (and no doubt gals as well), and as the investigation progresses, those skills definitely will be put to the test. Clues - and fists and shots - are coming strong and fast, and only one thing is for certain: Traci's father isn't even close to the man she remembers.

Other than that, all I can say is it's a fight to the finish that I'm glad I got to read - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for making that possible by way of a pre-release copy.

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam's Sons, January 2025); 384 pp.