Any of the Elvis Cole novels are great.

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Product Description

Hired to uncover the past of Jodi Taylor, an actress in a hit TV show, Elvis leaves his native Los Angeles to head for Louisiana in search of Jodi's biological parents.But before he can tackle the mystery of the actress's background, he is up against a whole host of eccentrics, including a crazed Raid-spraying housewife, a Cajun thug who looks like he's been made out of spare parts, and a menacing hundred-year-old river turtle named Luther.As Elvis learns about the enigmatic actress's origins, he also discovers the real reason he's been sent to Louisiana ...

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21046 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04-01
• Released on: 1996-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Fifth installment in Crais's Elvis Cole series, in which the wisecracking private eye journeys from Los Angeles to Louisiana to trace a client's past.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
On a trip to Louisiana in order to locate the biological parents of a popular television actress, private eye Elvis Cole runs into more than he bargained for, including a cast of memorable characters. From the author of Lullaby Town (Bantam, 1992).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Perhaps it's the abridgment; VOODOO RIVER comes across as a novel with an inexplicable title, and gaps in plot and character development. Robert Crais's book tells of L.A. Private Investigator Elvis Cole's search for the biological parents of television star Jodie Taylor. The plot jumps around, as does Cole, who travels from L.A. to Louisiana and finds himself in the middle of a ring of illegal alien smugglers. The story then defies any logic when Cole and partner Joe Pike take on the smugglers, just because they want to. Patrick G. Lawlor keeps the story moving, but he seems confounded by the book's meandering. Lawlor is best during scenes with Taylor's mother and the town sheriff. Unfortunately, like the listener, he still has to read the other scenes. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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Customer Reviews

Action and affability in the bayous
It's not hard to see why readers like Crais' work -- his novels have an engaging readability about them, and this is no exception. The private detective with the funny name, Elvis Cole, saunters into the assignment of discovering an adopted TV star's birth parents and soon finds himself knee-deep in the swamps of Louisiana battling people smugglers of a very violent nature.
As the action turns darker, Cole makes the transition from a wise-cracking sleuth to a hard-nosed crime fighter as he stands between the innocent or unintentionally guilty and a mass of vicious and greedy gangsters.
The whole effect is of James Lee Burke in a sunny mood, a novel which keeps you turning the pages without sinking you completely into the murkiest depths of the human condition. Pacey, fun and very readable indeed.

Too Much Richness
Remember those Thanksgiving Dinners you had as a kid? After all the turkey, gravy, buttered rolls, mashed potatoes, etc., you could stuff into your happy tummy then would come the dessert buffet. Of course, you had "just a sliver" of pumpkin pie with the whipped cream, a small serving of the banana pudding just to one side of your plate and maybe a couple of chocolates teetering on the very edge. Sounds great but it was over done and you ended up with a tummy ache. That's how this book fits into the Elvis Cole universe. There is simply TOO much going on! The settings of BOTH Hollywood and the backcountry bayou create more texture than necessary . More overdone colorful characters than you could shake a stick at--or take a stick too. Bloody violence and a plot that seemed contrived at the motivation level. Elvis is our tarnished knight and we know he wants justice for the weak, but this case is one he should have simply walked away from.

Another Enjoyable Elvis Cole Mystery
VOODOO RIVER is the fifth installment in Robert Crais's "Elvis Cole" series about a wisecracking PI in Los Angeles. I am currently reading this series in order, and I thought this was an entertaining read.

As I've mentioned in prior reviews of Crais's work, I really enjoy his writing style, which reminds me heavily of Robert Parker's Spenser novels. Like Parker, Crais writes his prose in a very crisp and witty manner. Half the pleasure of this novel is simply listening to Elvis Cole's descriptions of the setting and his reactions to the often colorful people he encounters.

Crais's plotting is ultimately quite formulaic, and there's very little in VOODOO RIVER that I haven't seen before in other Elvis Cole books like LULLABY TOWN. The only major differences here are (1) the Louisiana setting and (2) a new love interest for Cole, who's been curiously celibate for the past few novels. These are probably the best two elements of the book, although I personally felt the romance was a bit sudden and underdeveloped.

Overall, VOODOO RIVER is another solid entry in the Elvis Cole series. While Crais's work lacks the emotional depth of the work of authors such as Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, or Nelson DeMille, he's definitely one of the better writers in the genre.