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The Promise is the Robert Crais novel that crossed his Suspect standalone (with Scott James and Maggie the K-9 dog) into his Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series. The case has Cole hired to find a missing scientist, and the investigation entangles him with Scott and Maggie, who have been working similar territory for the LAPD.
What Crais does in this book is integrate the Maggie chapters into the larger Cole-and-Pike sequence without losing the careful sensory work that made Suspect extraordinary. Maggie's POV scenes are still the best part. Pike's relationship with the dog is one of the most unexpectedly affecting things Crais has written.
The thriller plot is the chassis. The Maggie-and-Pike material is the heart.
Five stars. One of the genuine pleasures of late-period Crais. Read Suspect first if you have not.
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