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Demolition Angel is the Robert Crais standalone that announced he could do the procedural form at the highest level. Carol Starkey is a LAPD bomb-squad detective who was in an explosion several years ago that killed her partner-fiancé and that she barely survived. She is now back on duty in a different bomb-related role, with the PTSD and the substance-use issues that the form would suggest. A bomber starts operating in LA. The case becomes hers.
Crais writes the bomb-tech material with the kind of technical precision that the form rewards. The pacing is taut. The procedural beats are immaculate. What lifts the book above its competitors is the way Crais handles Starkey's recovery. She is not redeemed by the case. She works the case and is still in recovery at the end, which is the truth.
Five stars. One of the great American police procedurals of the 2000s. Recommended to fans of Lehane and Connelly.
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