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THE MONKEYS RAINCOAT by Robert Crais.
This was Crais' first noir novel, there are now 18. Crais wrote episodes of many popular tv series, like QUINCY, HILL STREET BLUES, LAW AND ORDER, ETC.
The story: A distressed wife, Ellen Lang, hires Elvis Cole (real name John Cole) to find her husband and their son, Perry. Mort Lang's honey is also missing in action. Mort is a Hollywood pimp in the guise of a talent agent. Things start to happen. Lang's home gets tossed, Lang is found murdered, and a mobster demands that Cole return 2 kilos of cocaine Lang stole....or else. Its nonstop action from start to finish.
The Real Shit: This is a Raymond Chandler copycat. Elvis Cole is Philip Marlowe with a cat: Mid 30s, alcoholic, unmarried, fucks his female clients and their friends (Mort Lang was dead 2 days when Cole fucked the wife). Cole lives on fast food and booze. And has the same love-hate affair with the Los Angeles Police. Cole is a smart-ass tough-guy who gets his ass kicked almost every day. Cole's partner is an ex-Marine assassin named Joe Pike.
To make a long story short, the mobsters have friends at city hall who actively obstruct the cops and work against Cole and Pike. At the end, when lead is flying, the cops sit it out then arrest the good guys. There are some WTF moments, Joe Pike takes a bullet in the heart but requires almost no medical care, and a mobster takes Cole's pistol during a shoot-out. The other mobster needs 6 bullets in his gut to stop him. The book was excellent till the very end, when all the magical shit was unleashed.
This was Crais' first noir novel, there are now 18. Crais wrote episodes of many popular tv series, like QUINCY, HILL STREET BLUES, LAW AND ORDER, ETC.
The story: A distressed wife, Ellen Lang, hires Elvis Cole (real name John Cole) to find her husband and their son, Perry. Mort Lang's honey is also missing in action. Mort is a Hollywood pimp in the guise of a talent agent. Things start to happen. Lang's home gets tossed, Lang is found murdered, and a mobster demands that Cole return 2 kilos of cocaine Lang stole....or else. Its nonstop action from start to finish.
The Real Shit: This is a Raymond Chandler copycat. Elvis Cole is Philip Marlowe with a cat: Mid 30s, alcoholic, unmarried, fucks his female clients and their friends (Mort Lang was dead 2 days when Cole fucked the wife). Cole lives on fast food and booze. And has the same love-hate affair with the Los Angeles Police. Cole is a smart-ass tough-guy who gets his ass kicked almost every day. Cole's partner is an ex-Marine assassin named Joe Pike.
To make a long story short, the mobsters have friends at city hall who actively obstruct the cops and work against Cole and Pike. At the end, when lead is flying, the cops sit it out then arrest the good guys. There are some WTF moments, Joe Pike takes a bullet in the heart but requires almost no medical care, and a mobster takes Cole's pistol during a shoot-out. The other mobster needs 6 bullets in his gut to stop him. The book was excellent till the very end, when all the magical shit was unleashed.