The Wanted (Elvis Cole) by Robert Crais

 

Of course Elvis Cole and Joe Pike rule. They may be updated versions of Spenser and Hawk but I think they are fun characters/ This particular novel isn't the best one in the series though.

Elvis is hired by the mother of a teenage kid who seems to have some way too expensive stuff. It is sort of like my own 2013 story featuring Lenny Parker, but besides the concept it is a very different story. 

Anyway, the kid turns out to be in a new life of petty crime but has gotten his hands on something two thugs are after. Cole enlists the aid of his sidekick Joe Pike of course and sets out to find the kid (and his girlfriend) before the bad guys find them.

The bad guys are pretty interesting. They start out as basic everyday thugs but get a backstory which makes them less standard evil. 

There's some fun banter between Cole and a hacker kid. Besides that there is some emotional scenes concerning Cole's old love Lucy and her kid, Ben.

Crais knows how to write a fast-paced story and I like how he is economical in his prose. The story itself is a bit thin for the number of pages it is. I would have fit it in a novella.