Tangled Web UK Review September 1998
File Updated: 30/03/00
Indigo Slam Indigo Slam by Robert Crais
pbk out May 99 (Orion) at £5.99
Even the toughest private eye has his Achilles heel. For Elvis Cole, the self-styled World's Greatest Detective, the weak point comes in the shape of three kids whose only surviving parent has gone missing. When 15 year old Teri Hewitt tries to hire him, he knows he should call social services. But before he can reach for the phone, he's ensnared.
What looks like a straightforward missing person search takes on terrifying new dimensions when Elvis realises Clark Hewitt is not only a world-class currency forger but also a fugitive from the FBI's witness protection programme and he's not the only person on his trail. The Russian mafia, the US Marshalls and Clark's new employers all want a piece of the action. As if that's not enough, somebody is determined to block his girlfriend's move to LA to be with him.
With cool, witty prose, Crais takes his readers on a dramatically entertaining tour of the dark side of human nature. Scathing without being cynical, heart-warming without being sentimental, but above all tenacious to the point of madness, Elvis Cole is probably the most enjoyable private eye currently pounding the mean streets of America.


( Val McDermid - Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill)

top