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     ROBERT CRAIS: REVIEWS - L.A. REQUIEM

L.A. REQUIEM

"In the ambitious new L. A. REQUIEM, Robert Crais has created a series entry that threatens to break through the genre barrier. (He has) crafted a full-bodied novel that explores such topics as honor and friendship and justice and love, that brings its protagonists to a new point of self-awareness and, not incidentally, that provides the kind of puzzle plot that sends mystery fans into paroxysms of joy."
-The Los Angeles Times

"L. A. REQUIEM is utterly brilliant and completely haunting. Crais is certainly the only worthy successor to Ross Macdonald, with the stylistic grace and gritty realism of Cain and Chandler. L. A. REQUIEM is the only crime novel that has ever brought tears to my eyes."
-Stacey's Bookstore, San Francisco

"This is the kind of book mystery fans crave. This amazing book serves up a morality tale of loyalty, vengeance, love, loss, honor, betrayal, and redemption."
-Borders.com

"L. A. REQUIEM is the best in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series to date. This blockbuster will be one of the hottest beach books of the season."
-The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

"Crais writes a hip, tightly crafted novel full of consistently drawn characters and more than a handful of surprises. There's nothing predictable here."
-The Denver Gazette

"L. A. REQUIEM has all the earmarks of a breakout book. It is painful and exhilarating, ambitious and exciting, shrewdly constructed and deeply felt. It is the best and biggest work to date from a writer who understands the inner workings of his chosen form, and who has something useful to tell us about love, loyalty, and the underlying causes of violence."
-Barnesandnoble.com

From Booklist (starred, boxed review):
"L. A. REQUIEM is easily the most ambitious in an outstanding series. This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."
-Wes Lukowsky

"Crais has expanded his narrative reach and broadened his characters' horizons to produce a mature work that deserves to move him up a notch or two--into Parker or Connelly country. Crais seems to have stretched himself the way another Southern California writer--Ross Macdonald--always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base."
-Publishers Weekly (Starred Review!)

"L. A. REQUIEM is an astonishing story, full of twists and turns, which holds one riveted right to the end. A powerful, violent thriller which is truly unusual and original. A major break-through novel for this talented writer."
-Tim Manderson, Publishing News (special selection)

"Crais's new novel, L. A. REQUIEM, is finally out and well worth the wait. Elvis Cole's trademark wisecracking life view is still present, but it's toned down when necessary to make room for a new dimension in his writing. For the first time, we are afforded generous glimpses into the past and present life of Cole's enigmatic sidekick, the taciturn Joe Pike. Darker, denser, and deeper than Crais's previous mysteries, L. A. REQUIEM is not only his most ambitious novel to date, but his most satisfying. An Edgar nomination seems inevitable."
-The Purloined Letter (Rue Morgue Bookstore)

"Readers have waited a long time for Robert Crais's new Elvis Cole novel; L. A. REQUIEM is well worth the wait. As the complicated plot unfolds, there are surprises and setbacks for all the characters, as well as many moving moments as the friendship between his two protagonists, ex-LAPD officer Joe Pike and private investigator Elvis Cole, is put to the ultimate test. Behind it all stands the city of Los Angeles, populated with the best and worst humanity has to offer, and served and protected by a police force that also mirrors the best and worst in human nature. Crais uses the novelist's complete bag of tricks to tell a story that's darker, denser, deeper and more satisfying than anything he's written before."
-The Denver Post

"Larger in scope, more ambitious in aim than Robert Crais's other novels, L.A. REQUIEM transcends the confines of the mystery genre to take on Dostoyevskian proportions of guilt, remorse, and sadness. An ostensible mystery on the surface, it is a gripping drama about the limits of the heart, the value of friendship, the fear of living and dying totally alone."
-Dutton's Brentwood Bookstore

“The twists and turns of this riveting story indicate that this may be Robert Crais’s breakthrough book.”
-The Bridlington Gazette & Herald

“Robert Crais has produced one of the best private eye stories in years with L. A. REQUIEM, a big, fat, unputdownable novel.”
-Peterborough Evening Telegraph

“This is Crais’s most ambitious novel to date, a big book that juggles aspects of friendship, trust and love against a background of violence and conspiracy. Highly recommended.”
-The Irish Times

“L. A. REQUIEM is an utterly gripping narrative, written straight from the heart. The almost unbearable tension is tempered by the wit and humanity of Cole himself, confirming Robert Crais’s place as a major American thriller writer.
-The Manchester Evening New

“L. A. REQUIEM roots out the deep layers of corruption in West Coast society and is a quantum leap for the author and his private eye, Elvis Cole. This is a major US crime series that can no longer be overlooked.”
-Bookends

“Crais creates plots as lucid as blueprints and strong enough to build cities on. Ear-pinning dialog and proper attention paid to characterization and relationships. No sunny romances on the agenda, but real feelings--love, friendship, and loathing--explored, and even celebrated. So good you’ll want to shout about it.”
-The Literary Review

"L. A. REQUIEM has been one of the best books I've read this year, and this has been an exceptionally good year. This novel has everything: great setting, terrific characters, a plot that hooks you from the first page, and expert knowledge of police procedure. Simply irresistible."
-The Toronto Globe and Mail

"L. A. REQUIEM is rooted firmly in the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. The story is a rich character study with enough plot twists to keep you guessing. Crais knows how to work off contrasts to get the right kind of noir shading."
-The North Shore News

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