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Chasing Darkness

An Elvis Cole Novel

About The Book

Private Investigator Elvis Cole learns that LA fires bring more than heat, they bring his old friend Joe Pike and the past. Cole’s fight to clear his name brings murder and corruption terrifyingly close to home.

It’s fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. When police and fire department personnel rush door to door in a frenzied evacuation effort, they discover the week-old corpse of an apparent suicide. But the gunshot victim is less gruesome than what they find in his lap: a photo album of seven brutally murdered young women—one per year, for seven years. And when the suicide victim is identified as a former suspect in one of the murders, the news turns Elvis Cole’s world upside down.

Three years earlier Lionel Byrd was brought to trial for the murder of a female prostitute named Yvonne Bennett. A taped confession coerced by the police inspired a prominent defense attorney to take Byrd’s case, and Elvis Cole was hired to investigate. It was Cole’s eleventh-hour discovery of an exculpatory videotape that allowed Lionel Byrd to walk free. Elvis was hailed as a hero.

But the discovery of the death album in Byrd’s lap now brands Elvis as an unwitting accomplice to murder. Captured in photographs that could only have been taken by the murderer, Yvonne Bennett was the fifth of the seven victims—two more young women were murdered after Lionel Byrd walked free. So Elvis can’t help but wonder—did he, Elvis Cole, cost two more young women their lives?

Shut out of the investigation by a special LAPD task force determined to close the case, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike desperately fight to uncover the truth about Lionel Byrd and his nightmare album of death—a truth hidden by lies, politics, and corruption in a world where nothing is what it seems to be.

Chasing Darkness is a blistering thriller from the bestselling author who sets the standard for intense, powerful crime writing.

About The Author

Photo Credit:

Robert Crais is the author of many novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Last DetectiveHostage, and L.A. Requiem. Learn more about his work at RobertCrais.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 1, 2008)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416580386

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Raves and Reviews

“The Elvis Cole books are first-rate entertainment. . . . Chasing Darkness keeps veering off in unexpected directions. You won’t guess the ending. . . . I would include Crais, along with Lee Child, T. Jefferson Parker, and numerous others whose books are . . . intelligent, expertly written, and a pleasure to read.” —The Washington Post

“While Elvis Cole and Joe Pike have their action-hero moves down cold . . . they never coast on procedural protocol. . . . This one’s a winner . . . a suspenseful, often surprising morality tale.” The New York Times

“Opens with a bang and never slows. . . . A dramatic story built not on mere twists but on hard 90-degree turns.” Publishers Weekly

“[An] elegant thriller." —Los Angeles Times

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More books from this author: Robert Crais