The First Rule: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel, Book 13

this is the second time I read the first Rule and think it was better than the first. A lot of action a little killing and a good mystery .Introduced to baby Pike!

Well written. I looked forward to seeing what was going to happen. It did seem predictable, but I still wanted to see how it was going to finish.

Great story line eith Joe Pike in the lead. Vrry good character building with Joe. We get to see a human sidd to him as he becomes a real person. Enjoy.

Lots of action and several twists that you don't see coming. A great read to the very end. You will enjoy this book.

After a couple of sub-par efforts, it's great to see Robert Crais back in top form with "The First Rule", a non-stop thrill ride that may be Crais' best since "LA Requiem" or "Hostage". This one is all about Joe Pike, a wise move by Crais, as the enigmatic Pike is easily as interesting a character as the likable Elvis Cole, and clearly more lethal. We got a good dose of Pike in "The Watchman," the first of the series allowing Cole to take a back seat while Pike is left off the leash. In "The First Rule," Pike busts through the pages like Lee Child's one-man army Jack Reacher, reaping vengeance on a gang of eastern-European thugs after the opening chapter brutal murder of Pike-buddy Frank Meyer and his family. Meyer's involvement with the Serbian mob is unclear, but it appears that Meyer, an importer of goods from the Far East, may have been involved in arms smuggling. With some investigative support from partner Elvis, Pike begins gathering the facts about his diseased pal's recent activities, while using himself as bait in trying to smoke out the notorious mob boss who stays famously off the radar.Stepping up to the pop-crime fiction standards Crais helped set, "The First Rule" is lean, unadorned prose majoring in action and suspense, not "feelings" or messages. Though Crais does treat his loyal and sizable fan base with another side of the stoic Pike here, adding a touch that could almost qualify as poignancy. But for the most part, this is a raw black vs. white mastery of plot efficiency: the outgunned loaner overcoming impossible odds with intelligence and especially brute strength - the kind of a book that you won't be able to put down once you've started, but will have forgotten a month or so after it's back on the shelf. So if Lee Child's "Nothing to Lose" left you wanting, "The First Rule" is a great way to start your rehabilitation.

I recently purchased, on my Kindle, Robert Crais' The First Rule featuring his character from the Elvis Cole novels, Joe Pike. It was entertaining and a page turner. Two particular sections stand out and put this book ahead of others I have read. It is thoughtfully plotted and about halfway through the book, Pike is searching for the men who killed a former colleague. He happens upon an urban kill zone clustered within double wide trailers. You'll have to read it for the exact description but suffice to say the detail and quality of the prose involved made my skin crawl. I was disgusted by it but pleasingly so.Towards the last third of the book, Pike chances to have interactions with an infant. This was the flip side of the scene I mentioned earlier. I have read the works of Robert Crais intermittently but I must say, each time I do read his work, I am entertained and satisfied that my money was well spent. The Kindle makes reading his work a lot more accessible to me than previously. Next up, is The Sentry. I believe it is another Pike novel.I expect that I will no doubt, once again, be thoroughly entertained. I highly recommend this excellent book and writer to you.

Joe Pike used to be in an elitist group of special armed forces. They went where others went and did what others did not do. Then he became a cop and now a Private Investigator. Frank Meyer was one of his men in the old days. Frank and his family are murdered in a home invasion. Come to discover, there have been six other home evasions in which the entire family was murdered. The others all had one thing in common – they were of the criminal element somehow. The FBI, ATF and police were looking for Frank’s connection to crime. There was none. Joe refused to believe so. He had kind of lost touch with Frank since his marriage. His wife would have nothing to do with his past. Yet, crime was not in Frank’s composure.Pike and his partner Elvis Cole realize that they must investigate the burglaries on their own. They must clear Frank’s name and solve the burglaries. They chase the leads and follow the clues deep into organized crime.The remainder of this book follows all of the twists and turns as Pike and Cole solve this crime. Sometimes working with and sometimes working against other authority agencies The First Rule is one great book. Yet, it seems that there is nothing special about the book. I could not put it down and finished the book quickly.Crais is definitely one of my new favorite authors. I will read and re-read his books. Yes, I am a junkie. I would have no problem recommending this book to my friends. There is definitely something about Robert Crais. Please read this book.