‘Chasing Darkness’ is a thriller that speeds along to a stunning ending.

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By ANTHONY RAINONE / For the Lincoln Journal Star

(“Chasing Darkness” by Robert Crais, Simon & Schuster, 274 pages; $25.95).

Hired three years ago by a high-powered defense lawyer representing suspected murderer Lionel Byrd, Private Investigator Elvis Cole finds evidence that proves Byrd’s innocence. Jump forward to present time, and newly discovered and indisputable evidence proves not only that Byrd was guilty of murder, but that he was a serial killer who went on to claim more victims. It is a private investigator’s worst nightmare.

With the police operating in a stealthy and hostile manner towards Cole, he begins the Herculean task of finding out the truth.

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Robert Crais’ “Chasing Darkness” is the 11th installment in one of crime fiction’s best series, which features PI Elvis Cole. (AP)

Robert Crais’ “Chasing Darkness” is the 11th installment in one of crime fiction’s best series, which features PI Elvis Cole. (AP)

Someone once said that Los Angeles is a great place to live, but a better place to write about. Crais knows the West Coast city as well as any sunny denizen in La-La Land. The terrain crackles and sparks; the wounded and emotionally distressed are more easily visible under the sun’s glare. Cole has suffered his own share of physical and emotional hardships — being shot and nearly dying in one book, discovering a man claiming to be his long-lost father in another. Cole is a great PI because he has the heart of a lion and the soul of a poet. If there’s something to be uncovered, he’ll be the one doing it.

Though Byrd has committed suicide, Cole deduces that his death was more sinister.

“Chasing Darkness” does not succeed if Cole can’t penetrate the blue wall of Parker Center and the investigating detectives who refuse to give him information. PIs don’t have the accessibility of cops. Homicide Special Detective Connie Bastilla and Deputy Chief Marx stymie him at every turn.

Getting help from insider friends such as LAPD detective Carol Starkey and LA SID technician John Chen, Cole is able to piece together what the police have. The evidence is rock solid, but the difference lies in the interpretation, the subtleties that have to be teased out during the course of any investigation. The police suspiciously settle quickly on the  conclusion that Byrd is a killer, but Cole isn’t buying it.

After one of the victim’s brothers beat up Cole on the street, he begins the most daunting aspect of his investigation — going to speak to the family of Debra Repko, a woman who died after Cole helped free Byrd. Cole experiences the Repko family’s numbing pain firsthand.

Several things are guaranteed in an Elvis Cole book — he’s going to bend the law if necessary to save a life, there will be action-packed sequences of some violence and PI partner Joe Pike will be nearby to watch Cole’s back. It isn’t long before those ugly bed-partners politics and big money begin to rise up, and Cole believes he unearths a diabolical connection between the murdered women and the LAPD itself.

“Chasing Darkness” is a tightly written PI thriller that speeds along to an ending both stunning and wholly unexpected. It is not only about finding the identity of a serial killer and redeeming a PI’s career, but is also about finding the light in one’s life. For Elvis Cole fans, there’s plenty of light in sunny L.A.

Anthony Rainone is a freelance writer currently working on a new novel.