Joe Pike is about to climb into his Jeep on Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile when he sees a man force a young woman into the back seat of a waiting car. When the car pulls away from the curb, Pike follows, catches the car at a stoplight, smashes the driver’s side window, drags the driver and his accomplice out, and roughs them up enough to give one of them a concussion.
But when the young woman is promptly kidnapped a second time, it’s apparent something more than a simple abduction is at work.
This is the 17th Cole and Pike novel by Robert Crais, putting it well past the point that many crime fiction series become repetitive or otherwise lose their steam. But A Dangerous Man — suspenseful, fast-paced, tightly written and peopled with compelling characters — is one of Crais’ best.
To read the full text of my review for The Associated Press, please click here.