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    Sunset Express
    Sunset Express
    Sunset Express
    Audiobook8 hours

    Sunset Express

    Written by Robert Crais

    Narrated by David Stuart

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When a wealthy entrepreneur is accused of murder in Los Angeles, wisecracking private eye Elvis Cole is hired to prove that the evidence was corrupted and becomes suspicious about the defense attorney's motivations.

    Prominent restaurateur Teddy Martin is facing charges in his wife's brutal murder. But he's not going down without spending a bundle of cash on his defense. So his hotshot attorney hires P.I. Elvis Cole to find proof that Detective Angela Rossi tampered with the evidence.

    Detective Rossi needs a way back to the fast track after falling hard during an internal investigation five years ago. But Cole needs to know if she's desperate enough to falsify the case against Martin in order to secure her own position.

    As Cole and his partner Joe Pike work their way through a tangle of witnesses and an even greater tangle of media, they begin to suspect that it's not the police who are behind the setup.

    The sixth book in the Elvis Cole series, Sunset Express is marked by Robert Crais's dark humor and edge-of-your-seat suspense.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateNov 25, 2006
    ISBN9781423313939
    Sunset Express
    Author

    Robert Crais

    Robert Crais is the author of the bestselling Cole & Pike novels. A native of Louisiana, Crais moved to Hollywood in the late 70s where he began a successful career in television, writing scripts for such major series as Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues. In the mid 80s, Crais created a series of crime novels based around the characters Cole & Pike. In addition, Crais has also written several bestselling standalone thrillers. Robert Crais lives in LA with his wife and family.

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    Reviews for Sunset Express

    4/5

    410 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Similar to Voodoo River- the previous book in the series parts of the story were less than believable and I am not sure the live interest with Lucy is a positive development. things did get a better at the end of the book. I will still read others in this series.
    • 5/5
      Great book don’t miss this one from start to finish thank you Mr. Crais ?
    • 2/5
      I enjoy all my previous novels , this one fell short of my expectations. The plot was clear and ending very predictable. Disappointed , but still a huge fan.
    • 5/5
      I read one of this Elvis Cole series way back when and was not impressed enough to try another but this paperback landed in my hands when I was between books so I thought I'd give at least the first 50 pages a try. I ended up enjoying it thoroughly! Private detective, Elvis Cole, is hired to help out high profile lawyer Jonathan Green on a high profile case. The case gets tricky and the story gets very very good. Now, I'm going to have to go back and find the rest of the series and catch up!
    • 5/5
      This is my first Robert Crais novel, after having to return a previous attempt to the library - stupid overdue fees! For Sunset Express I was well prepared, I bought a copy so that I would definitely have the chance to read an Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery. A very worthy investment.

      While I'm indifferent about some of the characters in the novel, Elvis is a great narrator and has just the right amount of wit and humour. Robert has certainly crafted an interesting series of investigative twists, while at the same time retaining a level of reality. I really did enjoy this book and will be picking up the rest of the series soon.

      On a side note, Robert's style of writing is similar to the style I am pursuing in my writing. A serious novel with wit and humour, while also avoiding some of the neatly tied up ending cliches. From what I've read in Sunset Express, I'd be very pleased to have my WIP first novel, Overturned Stone, be comparable to Robert's work.
    • 3/5
      Gosh, Robert Crais! I really want to like you, but after lots of books in and it still feels like gawky blind dating rather than true love. I should be really digging these Crais novels, but I’m not. A smart-aleck gauntleting detective with a mean-as-hell friend is something that I can’t get enough of in other books. But something just isn’t coalescing here. From Crais first novel, I thought that Crais was doing a west coast version of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels and that feeling continues here. It isn’t Crais’ fault that I’m reading these over many years after he wrote them and that they seem dated in a lot of ways to me; having said this, there are still just too many clichés for me to overlook in this. Plus, Elvis is just such a dogged know-it-all that he tends to get on my nerves. Characters like Marlowe, Spenser or Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie can be wise asses and tough guys, but it feels like Cole can’t let the mildest thing go by without trying to act like a comic at karaoke night. What saves this book Cole’s quick jokes. So quick, he had me laughing like crazy a few pages in. That's pretty darn quick.NB: According to BL/GR/LT this is my 400th/396th/394th book review. I believe BL is correct.
    • 4/5
      The sixth novel featuring private investigators Elvis Cole and Joe Pike begins with the discovery of a woman's body, partially enclosed in plastic garbage bags, who had been bludgeoned to death and thrown down a steep hillside. The woman turns out to be the wife of wealthy restaurateur Teddy Martin. Police officer Angela Rossi quickly finds a bloody hammer that was used to murder the woman and Martin is arrested for murdering his wife.Cole is hired by renowned defense attorney Jonathan Green to investigate officer Rossi. Green explains that Rossi was accused of planting evidence in a previous case and the conviction in that case gained her a significant promotion. Recently she had a setback and Green is concerned that she is attempting to get her career back on the fast track by planting evidence that implicates Martin. He hires Cole to investigate that possibility. Cole accepts with the proviso that he will conduct an impartial investigation and report his findings without bias. That investigation turns out to be only the beginning. In a manner reminiscent of Crais' previous novel, Voodoo River, Cole quickly concludes his investigation and reports his findings to Green, who then hires him to follow upon a number of the tips that have been flooding in to the tip line Green established. Cole quickly turns up evidence of a plot by suspects who have no connection to Martin. The number of suspects grows, additional murders occur, and Cole's focus begins to shift to Green.A subplot concerns the visit of Lucy Chenier and her son Ben. Elvis met Lucy, a Baton Rouge attorney, in Voodoo River and fell in love. Lucy and Ben visit during this case. Their romantic attachment grows but then quickly encounters complications, the nature of which are not clear to Elvis. The one complaint I have is the jarringly out of character insensitivity demonstrated by Cole in a minor throw-away scene. While seeing Lucy and Ben off at the airport Cole encounters an elderly man whose grandchildren are departing. The man comments that the parting is emotional because at his age he may never see his grandchildren again. Cole's reaction is, "Too bad you couldn't get a restraining order against negativity." Crais has consistently depicted Cole as an emotionally sensitive man but this blatant insensitivity to an aging man contemplating the end of his life is so out of character it gave me pause. Despite this scene, I think this is perhaps the best novel up to this point in the Cole/Pike series. I particularly like that Crais is beginning to flesh out the Joe Pike character. Joe gained greater exposure and depth in Voodoo River and in this outing he actually identifies the implications of a couple of developments more quickly than Elvis. Crais still relies on a grand shootout to resolve the problem confronting Cole and Pike, but in this instance the shootout occurs in the penultimate scene and involves the assistant bad guys. The resolution of the issue with the primary culprits is more nuanced than Crais' previous solution of killing off all the bad guys. The triple layer mystery also expands on the pattern established in Voodoo River so it will be interesting to see what Crais comes up in his next Cole/Pike offering.
    • 4/5
      When a prominent defence attorney hires Cole to look into allegations that the arresting officer of his celebrity client was involved in corrupt practices, it's a pretty straightforward case that is easily resolved by Cole. As usual, things get complicated.
      This was a well-told tale, but although the resolution of the case was quite realistic, I felt that what happened after the case was where the story fell down a bit--unless it gets followed up in the next book, Cole's actions enter the realm of fantasy then.
      Probably 3.5 stars because of the ending. Otherwise a solid 4 star read.
    • 3/5
      Yet another solid outing from Crais. No surprises in the plot. One knows, almost from the beginning, that the Dream Team of lawyers is really a nightmare. The ending was excellent, showing that with imagination one can get even without being straight-jacketed by the court system. Best line of any Crais novel -- "So sue me."
    • 5/5
      Read this following Voodoo River, and from elements in the story, this is the following book. Nice to see some returning characters, but they did not have much to do with the main mystery of the story. Shady events and dirty deals drive murder and double crosses, causing serious trouble for Elvis and his pal, Joe Pike. All does get straightened out in the end.
    • 4/5
      Elvis Cole does it again. He is one slick dude. And then there's' Joe Pike, the intimidator. These guys rank right up there with Spenser & Hawk. Get hooked on this series and you won't stop until you read every one
    • 4/5
      After finishing the book, I did a little "research" and found that Crais was inspired by the 1995 OJ Simpson murder trial. His descriptions and characterizations of the events in the story capture the essence of what Los Angeles was like. Everyone connected with the case became a "celebrity." Elvis Cole is a character that fits well in his time and place; Joe Pike is a little too mystical. Although not mentioned in this book, Cole is a neighbor of Harry Bosch. Good reading, great ending.
    • 4/5
      I rarely read this type of literature and this one I picked up because I was in a tropical resort and out of reading material. Found this item at the pool side book exchange amongst the German & Russian titles left by other guests. It turned out to be fortuitous for as you can see by my rating, this was a very good read.I wish I had had access to Google Maps as I was reading it for Crais gives turn by turn details of where he is going in the Los Angeles area. That in itself gave the story authenticity although there is the usual bad guys one can figure out quickly. The real police are treated with respect here and that isn't always the case. Recommended for a pleasant afternoon of escape.
    • 3/5
      I got this on the recommendation of the guy at Sullivan's Trade-A-Book, who knows I like to ear-read audio book mysteries while driving. Even though this was an abridged book, the reader was great, and I will probably keep my eyes open for another one in this series for future driving reads.
    • 4/5
      Good series, will read more. Love the locale, all right where I live. I also kept seeing this book as a movie, and specifically Gary Oldman as Joe Pike - go figure... Oh, and props to Crais for brevity of love scenes - plenty of chances to mess it up, but he's refreshingly restrained - so appropriate since there was a kid around. Other writers - take note!
    • 4/5
      good old studly, Elvis Cole is a neat private eye.
    • 5/5
      Wherein Lucy comes to Las Angeles, Rossi’s reputation is at stake, and good doesn’t always triumph over evil.