{"id":1292,"date":"2014-03-01T13:18:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T19:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2014-03-01T13:18:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T19:18:39","slug":"robert-crais-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/robert-crais-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Crais: Suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/form>\n

Robert Crais is hands down one of the absolute best writers of action.\u00a0 That\u2019s not an easy thing to do, though he makes it look that way.\u00a0 The miracle of his writing is that he combines the action of his stories with some real emotional punch.\u00a0 If, when you finish this book, you aren\u2019t a) crying your eyes out, and b) wishing you had a dog (if you don\u2019t already have one), there\u2019s something the matter.\u00a0 I heard Crais at a conference say that he starts every story with something that breaks his heart, and this one has a whopper of a heartbreaking beginning.<\/p>\n

\"crais-suspect\"<\/a>Maggie, a German shepherd trained to find IEDs, is in Afghanistan with her handler, Pete.\u00a0 For Maggie, Pete is her whole world and she will do anything to please him.\u00a0 As Crais shifts between Pete and Maggie\u2019s point of view, it\u2019s clear that Maggie views Pete as \u201cpack\u201d, and Pete, in turn, loves his dog.\u00a0 They are making their way down an Afghani road sniffing out danger when they encounter a herd of goats \u2013 and their herders.\u00a0 In the ensuing chaos, Pete is killed, and the injured Maggie has to be dragged away from his body and airlifted out for medical attention.<\/p>\n

Fast forward several months, and we meet Scott, a police officer who has lost his partner in a terrible shoot-out where he himself was injured,\u00a0 Instead of taking a \u201cmedical\u201d and retiring, he\u2019s chosen the K-9 unit.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take a big leap to figure that Scott and Maggie, both suffering from PTSD, will form a unit.<\/p>\n

Scott is understandably obsessed with finding his partner\u2019s killer, and he is surprised when he\u2019s called into Homicide to talk to the new detectives in charge of his case, Orso and Cowley.\u00a0 He agrees to meet with them though he\u2019s been unimpressed with the work so far.\u00a0 Meanwhile, he\u2019s undergoing therapy to help him recall the events of the evening, and he\u2019s able to begin sharing a few new details with the new detectives.<\/p>\n

As Maggie and Scott begin to forge a connection \u2013 Maggie views Scott\u2019s tiny apartment as their mutual crate \u2013 Crais is able not only to get under Scott\u2019s skin, but he makes a believable case for getting under the skin of Maggie.\u00a0 Her essential dog nature seems absolutely authentic.<\/p>\n

Crais is a true mystery writer and brings to his story many twists and tricky turns as the case unravels and Scott finds himself in danger.\u00a0 The difference is he has Maggie with him, with her dog\u2019s heart and dog\u2019s loyalty.\u00a0 The story is a good and solid one and the characterization and originality of Scott and Maggie make it both memorable and emotionally gripping.\u00a0 There\u2019s a final action scene where Crais switches between Maggie\u2019s and Scott\u2019s point of view as the events are happening that is absolutely masterful.\u00a0 It\u2019s also incredibly nerve-wracking as you worry about what the outcome will be.\u00a0 This is truly a great read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Crais is hands down one of the absolute best writers of action.\u00a0 That\u2019s not an easy thing to do, though he makes it look that way.\u00a0 The miracle of his writing is that he combines the action of his stories with some real emotional punch.\u00a0 If, when you finish this book, you aren\u2019t a) … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-suspensethriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1294,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}