{"id":9064,"date":"2017-05-07T20:39:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T00:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9064"},"modified":"2021-06-03T18:01:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T22:01:17","slug":"the-watchman-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9064","title":{"rendered":"The Watchman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Watchman<\/em> (2007) Robert Crais<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To help Elvis Cole find Ben Chenier, the son of his girlfriend, Joe Pike agreed to do one last job for Jon Stone. That job has come: Defend a wealthy, spoiled heiress from the men who want to kill her, for what she saw during an accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t I eat first? The Pikester won\u2019t feed me. He only wants sex.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cole said, \u201cHe\u2019s like that with me, too, but we\u2019ve learned to adjust.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cole himself is recovering from the events of the previous book. Some of these parts remind me of my favorite Spenser book, Small Vices<\/em>, because after almost dying, it takes a long time to get back to close to where you were before. I really<\/em> like when stories that acknowledge that. (Pike also had a long rehabilitation after almost being killed in an earlier book.)<\/p>\n

The young woman is a brat who does everything she can to irritate Pike, but she’s clean and sober, probably because it would have been nearly impossible if she wasn’t.<\/p>\n

We also get more of Pike’s back story here, and there is no mention if Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Joe Pike. I\u2019m not married. I pulled two combat tours in the Marines\u2014\u201d <\/p>\n

The shift broke into wild applause and cheers, with many of the officers shouting \u201cSemper fi.\u201d LAPD had a high percentage of Marine Corps veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI qualified as a scout\/ sniper and served in Force Recon, mostly on long-range reconnaissance teams, hunter\/ killer teams, and priority target missions. I\u2019m black belt qualified in tae kwon do, kung fu, wing chun, judo, and ubawazi. I like to run and work out. I like to read.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the line that comes after that.<\/p>\n

Finally, an older black P-III with salt-and-pepper hair said, \u201cThank God he likes to read\u2014 I thought we had us a sissy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But not only is there no mention of Vietnam, lines are thrown in to make one think Pike and Cole served elsehwere.<\/p>\n

Cole grinned at the girl. \u201cNice neighborhood. Reminds me of Fallujah.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also like how we get to see what Cole contributes to their partnership. It often feels like Pike is coming in and saving Elvis, but here we see that Cole has skills that mesh well with Pike’s. Plus a little glimpse of why they are friends.<\/p>\n

The trick was to reach a place where the inside person and the outside person were the same. The closer someone got to this place, the stronger they would become. Pike believed that Cole was such a person, his inside and outside very close to being one and the same. Pike admired him for it. Pike also pondered whether Cole had accomplished this through design and effort, or was one with himself because oneness was his natural state. Either way, Pike considered this a feat of enormous import and studied Cole to learn more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mystery itself jumped all over, making you doubt just what was going on, but I thought it was well done, and I enjoyed the whole story.<\/p>\n

Even if Pike is nowhere near as amusing as Elvis.
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Simon & Schuster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Watchman (2007) Robert Crais To help Elvis Cole find Ben Chenier, the son of his girlfriend, Joe Pike agreed to do one last job for Jon Stone. That job has come: Defend a wealthy, spoiled heiress from the men who want to kill her, for what she saw during an accident. \u201cWhy don\u2019t I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,8,43,41],"tags":[104,105,103],"class_list":["post-9064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-mystery","category-private-eye","category-reread","tag-elvis-cole","tag-joe-pike","tag-robert-crais"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2mc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1913,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1913","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":0},"title":"The Watchman","author":"Michelle","date":"August 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Watchman (2007) Robert Crais After the events in The Forgotten Man, Elvis is recovering, so Joe Pike takes center stage in this story (don't worry, we get to spend time with Elvis). When he had to help Elvis recover Ben Cheney in The Last Detective, Joe made a deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Watchman.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1832,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1832","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":1},"title":"L.A. Requiem","author":"Michelle","date":"July 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"L.A. Requiem (1999) Robert Crais Synopsis: Although this is an Elvis Cole novel, the heart of the story is really about Joe Pike. As Lucy and Ben are settling into L.A., Joe asks Elvis to help him solve the murder of a women with whom he was once involved. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/LA-Requiem.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1756,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1756","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":2},"title":"Stalking the Angel","author":"Michelle","date":"June 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Stalking the Angel (1989) Robert Crais Synopsis: In the second Elvis Cole book, Elvis is hired to find a missing ancient manuscript. He doesn't much like the guy hiring him, and he doesn't much like the job he's hired for, but he takes the job anyway. In doing so he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Stalking-Angel.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2313,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2313","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":3},"title":"The First Rule","author":"Michelle","date":"March 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The First Rule (2010) Robert Crais Frank Meyer, his family, and their au pair are brutally murdered by a gang of burglars. Except that this looks far more like an execution than a burglary gone wrong, and Frank was not just ex-military but was also a mercenary (now retired) with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/First-Rule.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1798,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1798","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":4},"title":"Lullaby Town","author":"Michelle","date":"June 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Lullaby Town (1992) Robert Crais Synopsis: The 3rd book in the Elvis Cole series finds Elvis hired by a famous (and perhaps infamous) move producer, to find his ex-wife and son, who the producer abandoned soon after the birth of his son. Lucky Elvis: the producer is an asshole, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Lullaby-Town.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1770,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1770","url_meta":{"origin":9064,"position":5},"title":"Voodoo River","author":"Michelle","date":"June 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Voodoo River (1995) Robert Crais Synopsis: Elvis is hired to find the natural parents of TV star Jodie Taylor, who was given up for adoption immediately after her birth, and whose adoption records remain sealed by the courts. The case takes a turn for the worse when Cole discovers there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Vodoo-River.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}