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

Unlike many of Robert Crais later books where Elvis Cole holds the main role, and Joe Pike plays a secondary role, this book puts Joe Pike in the staring role, with assistance from Cole. Lots of excellent information about Pike’s previous life and what made him who he is - fascinating! Brilliant!! The plot has everything - starting with the murder of one of Pike’s former team along with his wife and 2 young sons. Intricate plot is centered on Pike’s determination to get revenge on the man (or men) responsible for the murders, which involves figuring out who ordered the murders and why. Then teasing out the truth from tons of lies, carefully tracking the murders down … and making them pay. The whole book is superb! Intricate plot, amazing analytical detective work. Many books with complex plots like this tend to get confusing, but not this one. Easy to follow. Lots of wisdom. Enjoy!

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.

This was action packed, fast paced with all of the characters we've come to know and love in this series. You have the wise-cracking Elvis Cole. Our favorite sociopath shooter, Jon Stone. And of course, the man himself - Mr. Cool, Joe Pike. The banter between Joe and Elvis is a little subdued, but it was sufficiently present to be satisfying without distracting from the story. Jon was great backup to Elvis and Joe with all the ruthlessness that we've come to expect. This book gives us further insights into the man who is Joe Pike. Crais makes great use of "show, don't tell" to develop his characters. The contrast between "The First Rule" and Joe's creed toward his "family" - his friends and comrades - was very well done. In the former, family meant nothing. In the latter, his loyalty was absolute. Fabulous story.I'm only sorry that I'm done reading it. Oh, and a word about the audio book. I was skeptical when I saw that the author was reading the book. This seldom works out well. I liked the interpretation of former books by James Daniels. In the end, Crais did a good job. I forgot he was reading and became engrossed in the story. so, job well done all around.

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.

Robert Crais is a fine writer. He created one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, Elvis Cole. I first “met“ Joe Pike as Elvis’ dark, dangerous side-kick. Clever, snarky Elvis is never at a loss for words, whipping up dinner or chasing a clue with Joe by his side. But somewhere along the way, Crais and his readers let Elvis take a minor role in several Pike-driven books. This is one of those. The writing is still excellent, the dialog and the characters speaking it believable. The action is hot and the ending satisfying. I can take nothing from any of that. But I admit I’m pouting because Elvis has been eclipsed. For me that’s a real downer. Nevertheless, I recommend this and all of Robert Crais’ books.

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.

It takes a good author to create characters you remember. It takes a great author to get you to care about the characters enough to get invested in them time and again. Robert Crais is one of those great authors, and he has created two such characters--sarcastic private investigator Elvis Cole and his silent-but-deadly longtime friend and business partner, Joe Pike. While The First Rule focuses more on Pike, Elvis does show up to assist. On a fairly typical night in suburban LA, importer Frank Meyer and his entire family are brutally murdered in what appears to be a robbery-motivated home invasion. But Meyer wasn't just a regular guy: he used to be a contract mercenary with Joe Pike before he left to start a family. Pike is determined to track down Frank's murderers at any cost, and runs into the police, ATF and the world of Serbian organized crime while doing so. This book has some great action and some terrific character development, and Crais has done a great job in his last several books rounding out Pike's persona more fully. While some of the action may be a little predictable, this book is a great page-turner. And you can't go wrong picking up any other of Crais' books either.

I have just loved Robert Crais' writing. I think his writing is very fluid and very interesting. When his characters, Elvis Cole or Joe Pike, are driving the freeways of los angeles, I am right there with them. Robert Crais is usually very introspection with his two main characters, more so than any other author I've read. The only other book that really didn't do it for me was the Monkey's Raincoat, but I liked it better than this one. I did not like it that there was no humor in this story. Usually Elvis is very humorous, cracking sarcastic jokes that are very funny. There is also the character, John Chen, who is very funny, and his appearance in this novel was limited to a few sentences. I missed John Chen. But mainly in this second novel about Joe Pike was so hard and so was the Elvis character. There were no laughs and no feelings and no inner reflections. I think Robert Crais was angry when he wrote this book. I just know don't know. But i hope his next book brings back the sensitivity and the humor that makes his books such a joy to read. I just wanted to hurry up and finish it. I only gave it three stars because, at the end, Joe had shown some feelings about the baby, and that touched me. I am sad to say that i really didn't like this book very much.

You can apply this score to every book in the series - which I went through at the rate of just under one a day. An absolutely outstanding series. Truly wonderful.

I will always read Elvis and Joe books and I am never let down or disappointed. If you do not know the series I urge you to get on board; they are exciting clever and involving novels.

great read- book good quality and delivered in good time

One thing I like about the series of Robert Crais novels is that each one has an innocent client that we come to care as deeply about as our protagonist does. The client Pike adopts as he goes about the business of finding out who killed his old friend, and why is what makes this book so good. This book is much more than a simple detective tale.

Excellent presentation and delivered when stated.