Publication Date January 14, 2024

I have been a diehard fan of Robert Crais/Elvis Cole/Joe Pike for over THIRTY YEARS. Seriously, when The Monkey’s Raincoat was published in 1987, I was working in a public library, grabbed it as soon as it came in, and was HOOKED. Since then, this has been one of the most reliable series in the mystery genre – consistent as in “OMG, <blank> has a new book coming out! YAY!” So I was extremely happy to receive a copy of The Big Empty from Penguin Group/G.P.Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley in return for my honest review.

This is the TWENTIETH book in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, and it is one of the absolute best. OK, there is a tiny possibility that I have thought that about every single one, but truly…this one is so good on so many levels. And it can easily be read as a standalone, so if you are unfortunate enough to be new to the series, don’t worry – just dive in. 

Elvis Cole, the “world’s greatest detective,” lives and works in Los Angeles. As a refugee from Southern California, I am not a huge fan of LA, but for some reason, I enjoy the LA that Elvis calls home. Over the years, Elvis has changed some with the times, shown in this story where he is hired by a young woman named Traci Beller, an extremely popular influencer (a job title that to my knowledge has not appeared in any book in this series up until now). Traci’s father disappeared in a small town named Rancha near LA when Traci was just thirteen, and neither the police nor another private detective Traci hired five years earlier were able to find any clues as to what happened to him. 

Traci never believed her father just abandoned the family, and now that she has millions of dollars to spend as she likes, she is willing to spend whatever it takes to get the answer to her mystery. As Elvis explores things in Rancha, he encounters an ex-con named Sadie who, along with her daughter Anya, might have clues to the disappearance of Tommy Beller. Once he really gets into the mystery, Elvis gets mixed up with a creepy violent gang, and he calls on his old friend Joe Pike, 

I don’t do spoilers, but the superb plotting and storytelling in this one will likely keep you up all night. I love how it reveals more of the back story about Elvis and Joe, particularly Elvis. Prior books in the series have revealed some of this, including Elvis’s own search for his father, but  I loved how this one tied it to Traci’s search, and how her anguish over her missing father evoked his own feelings. When talking to his (recurring character) long distance lover Lucy, he reveals that he had searched for his own father dozens of times. He knows Traci is suffering from the loss of her father, and as he knows “Loss left a hole and sometimes the hole was so big and empty it couldn’t be filled. All we could do was try, but the trying defined us.” (WOW).

I just can’t recommend this book highly enough. Great for fans of Crais/Elvis and fans of mysteries in general, particularly private detective stories. It is an excellent introduction to this series but, as noted above, it’s terrific whether you have read all, some, or none of the prior nineteen Elvis/Joe stories.  With many thanks to Penguin Group/G.P.Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley, this one gets five stars!