If Police Officer Scott
James had done something different that evening his partner Stephanie Anders
would still be alive. But, she isn't because they were in the wrong place at
the wrong time as Scott James was looking for a very specific noodle place a Rampart
Robbery detective had raved about. Nine
months later, she is still dead, the suspects involved in a brutal murder are
still running free, and Police Officer Scott James is haunted by terrible
physical pain and horrific nightmares.
Having refused a medical
discharge, James is trying to come back with a new role in the K-9 division. James
knows nothing about dogs, no matter what he told the LAPD, and is learning on
the fly as fast as he can. He is eventually paired up with Maggie, a beautiful
German Shepard, who is suffering her own physical pain and mental anguish after
her most recent tour with the Marines in Afghanistan.
Shifting in point of view
primarily between James and Maggie Suspect by Robert Crais charts their
recovery as well as their involvement in working the case of his shooting. A
complicated mystery that is about not only redemption, but persistence despite
the odds. This book clearly reads as a potential first novel in a new series
from this talented author.
Those who are strict about
such things will take issue with the point of view sections from the dog's
perspective. They will say it isn’t possible to get inside the mind of a traumatized
dog looking for a new pack leader. But, those sections do work and make Maggie
come alive for the reader in ways she otherwise would not have. PTSD in dogs as
well as humans is a documented fact and author Robert Crais, while
fictionalizing some things, illustrates the issue well without preaching to the
reader. That aspect is just one part of the mystery and serves as character
development while Scott James and Maggie work the shooting case.
Certainly this is not a Joe
Pike/Elvis Cole type novel and is not intended to be one. Readers and reviewers
expecting that kind of novel will be disappointed. Taken for what it is, something
new and very different than his previous books, Suspect is a good book
from a very talented author and well worth your time.
Suspect
Robert Crais
G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Group
USA)
2013
ISBN# 978-0-399-16148-3
Hardback (also available in e-book
and audio book forms)
315 Pages
$27.95
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano,
Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
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3 comments:
This was one of my favorite novels so far this year. You're right: that dog's perspective is unique.
I hope to read more standalones from Robert Crais. Loved this one.
I read somewhere that escapes me now that this would be a new series. I also think I saw something about a new standalone book coming out at the end of the year.
But, I could be wrong about all of that.
Crais is a favorite and I always liked his standalones every bit as much as a Cole and/or Pike.
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