THE FORGOTTEN MAN

...is the title of Robert Crais's latest Elvis Cole novel, out yesterday. Though her comments are cleverly cryptic, Sarah Weinman seems to have had the same reaction to it that I have to most Spensers these days. The books somehow don't live up to the reputation built up in a fan's mind for the writer. As Parker was an early draw for me, Crais was for Sarah. Readers remember their first experiences with an awe that sometimes isn't there on rereading.

What stood out most to me in the early Cole novels was Elvis's specific brand of humor, his obsession with Disney memorabilia coupled with serving in Vietnam at nineteen—the clash of innocence and experience that was his inner conflict. At first reminding a lot of readers of Parker, Crais seemed willing to cover more emotinal ground in fewer books, for instance making Joe Pike not as silent a partner as Hawk.

L.A. REQUIEM was Crais's breakout book wherein he stepped out of the classic first-person PI mold, but since then all his books have been on the epic, multi-POV, cinematic scale. I'm not sure every story fit this scale. For one thing, the shift prevented Crais from carrying readers along on the strength of Cole's familiar voice. Was this a positive writing challenge or a bad move? I know I've lost some of the feel I had for Elvis's character, and I'd like it back.

Finally I wonder how Crais would have been received had he returned to first-person after L.A. REQUIEM. Would readers have seen that as a regression?

On a paperback budget, I probably won't get to THE FORGOTTEN MAN until next year. We'll see what I think then.