Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Brilliance Corporation (2007), Edition: Abridged
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Elvis Cole finds himself deep in the bayou of Louisiana searching for the estranged parents of a television star �?? but something deadly is looking for him. L.A. private eye Elvis Cole is hired by popular television star Jodie Taylor to delve into her past and identify the biological parents who gave her up for adoption thirty-six years before. Cole's assignment is to find out their biological history and report back. It seems all too clear cut. But when he gets to Louisiana and begins his search, he finds that there's something much darker going on. Other people are also looking for Taylor's parents, and some are ending up dead. And when Cole realizes that his employer knew more than she was telling, Voodoo River becomes a twisting tale of identity, secrets, and murd… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member charlottem
Elvis leaves Los Angeles to investigate a case in Louisiana. Joe Pike arrives later to help out. Elvis meets Lucy and Ben. There is a lot of action, especially by the river. Good triumphs over evil as the reader knows it will, but will Elvis get his girl?
LibraryThing member SteveAldous
I love Robert Crais' Elvis Cole novels and his easy writing style. This was a good story that was let down slightly by its hamfisted Hollywood movie ending. Cole and Pike are great characters and the series would grow from here.
LibraryThing member StuartW
Thoroughly enjoyed reading.
LibraryThing member msphotogirl
I liked this Crais the best out of all of them I've read so far. Most of the previous I read have started out slow. This one did not. It moved from the very beginning. I'm enjoying reading about Elvis and Joe.
LibraryThing member susanamper
Hired by popular television star Jodie Taylor to find the biological parents who gave her up for adoption thirty-six years earlier, Los Angeles private eye Elvis Cole becomes suspicious when other investigators searching for Jodie's parents are killed.
This is the novel where Elvis meets Lucy
This is the novel where Elvis meets Lucy
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Chenier in New Orleans. A good read although the ending was a letdown. Show Less
LibraryThing member TracyCampbell
This is the first Robert Crais book that I have read and I am definitely going to track down more by him. This book is part of a series featuring private detective Elvis Cole who is a great main character. Along the lines of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, it mixes a good detective story
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with a lot of humor and wit. Show Less
LibraryThing member mikedraper
Elvis Cole, PI is asked to find the biological parents of a TV personality.
He travels from LA to Louisiana where he comes to a southern land where people have their own mind sets on doing things and accepting help from the outside. He has help from an attractive attorney from Baton Rouge.
The TV
Elvis and his partner, Joe Pike, return and learn about locals who are smuggling drugs and illegal emigrants.
This is a well written story with an original plot and interesting characters.
He travels from LA to Louisiana where he comes to a southern land where people have their own mind sets on doing things and accepting help from the outside. He has help from an attractive attorney from Baton Rouge.
The TV
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star, Jodi Taylor, would like even more information on the historical happenings of the area where her biological parents lived.Elvis and his partner, Joe Pike, return and learn about locals who are smuggling drugs and illegal emigrants.
This is a well written story with an original plot and interesting characters.
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LibraryThing member twokidsnablanket
This particular book in the Elvis Cole series was the best to me. It was very funny to me, but I love books set in the Louisiana bayou!
LibraryThing member susanbeamon
I like these PI thrillers, and Elvis Cole is one of the good one. The author has a long series, and I have probably jumped in the middle but it doesn't really matter. The action is steady and logical, the danger is true to the action and circumstances, and the characters make sense.
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
Very enjoyable with lots of local color, a tight plot, interesting characters ... lies, betrayal and a past that no one acknowledges fuel a dangerous climax.
LibraryThing member lamour
TV actress, Jodi Taylor asks Elvis to find her birth mother as she was adopted. She doesn't want her birth mother to know about the search. However things unravel when Elvis discovers that Jodi's father was black and he was murdered. This leads to the discovery of a human trafficking scheme in
This is the Elvis Cole novel in which we first meet Luci Chenier, the Baton Rouge lawyer who becomes Elvis' love interest in later novels.
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which Joe & Elvis plus Jodi and her mother all find their lives in danger.This is the Elvis Cole novel in which we first meet Luci Chenier, the Baton Rouge lawyer who becomes Elvis' love interest in later novels.
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LibraryThing member msphotogirl
I liked this Crais the best out of all of them I've read so far. Most of the previous I read have started out slow. This one did not. It moved from the very beginning. I'm enjoying reading about Elvis and Joe.
LibraryThing member quiBee
A typical Cole and Pike novel--nice fast-paced mystery, with evil villains that need to be overcome and our heroes fighting overwhelming odds, as usual.
A Hollywood star was adopted and wants to find out who her biological parents were, so Elvis heads to Baton Rouge, where, with the help of an
Unfortunately, as is usual in a Cole and Pike novel, it's never just that simple and the star's family are involved in a bit of nastiness that needs sorting out.
A Hollywood star was adopted and wants to find out who her biological parents were, so Elvis heads to Baton Rouge, where, with the help of an
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attractive female lawyer, he finds out what he needs to know. Unfortunately, as is usual in a Cole and Pike novel, it's never just that simple and the star's family are involved in a bit of nastiness that needs sorting out.
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LibraryThing member SimonLarsen
Contains two major story arcs that have very little in common and when forced together in a novel it makes somewhat a mess of both.
LibraryThing member TracyCampbell
This was the first Robert Crais book that I have read and I am definitely going to track down more by him. This book is part of a series featuring private detective Elvis Cole who is a great main character. Along the lines of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, it mixes a good detective story
Show More
with a lot of humor and wit. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tatoosh
The plot takes a long time to develop in this, the fifth offering in the Elvis Cole/ Joe Pike series. Cole initially undertakes to find the identity of the birth parents of a TV actress who was adopted. She claims she doesn't want to meet them but just wants to learn if there are any health issues
The plot unfolds from that plot in predictable fashion. Joe Pike is called in for a bit part; apparently Joe still can't or won't talk much. Cole beds the "astonishingly sexy, beautiful" lawyer he is working with, develop a complicate plot to bring the three groups of bad guys down, and finally resolves the problem in a multi-sided gunfight.
The book is pretty much what we would expect. You can read that in two ways. You can conclude that it is somewhat formulaic, or that Crais delivers the entertainment that we were seeking. For the time being I somewhat favor the second interpretation, but the series and characters will have to evolve over the next few novels or I will grow bored.
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in the family history she should know about. About 100 pages into the book, when Cole has identified the birth parents, we find that the actresses' real concern is that she is being blackmailed. That's a long time to spend on the build-up to the real story.The plot unfolds from that plot in predictable fashion. Joe Pike is called in for a bit part; apparently Joe still can't or won't talk much. Cole beds the "astonishingly sexy, beautiful" lawyer he is working with, develop a complicate plot to bring the three groups of bad guys down, and finally resolves the problem in a multi-sided gunfight.
The book is pretty much what we would expect. You can read that in two ways. You can conclude that it is somewhat formulaic, or that Crais delivers the entertainment that we were seeking. For the time being I somewhat favor the second interpretation, but the series and characters will have to evolve over the next few novels or I will grow bored.
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LibraryThing member slvoight
Elvis and Joe are hired by a famous actress and her agent to find out about her bio parents who are from a small Louisiana town. When Elvis arrives to discovers that someone has been checking out the story before him and there seems to be something else going on in the town and of course Elvis need
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to fix the problem. Show Less
LibraryThing member JohnWCuluris
Private Investigator Elvis Cole’s fifth outing is reputed to be one of Crais’ best. Ostensibly about a search for the medical history of a popular TV actress who was adopted as a child, once in her home state of Louisiana Cole finds things are more complicated than expected. The process of the
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untangling her past brings to light other reprehensible activities permeating a small parish about an hour outside of Baton Rouge. It is the early stages of the investigation that keeps this from being a great novel. The first six chapters or so, some seventy pages, are deathly dull, saved only by Cole’s attraction to, and his person pursuit of, the female attorney with whom he is assigned to work. As adoption law and Louisiana are both unfamiliar territory to him, she is a necessary touchstone, and their interaction, professionally and otherwise, helps alleviate the boredom until the case takes off. But once it does, Voodoo River deserves it reputation. You will spot the mistake that ruins Cole’s plan and leads to the riveting conclusion, and unlike in previous novels, this time the mistake is not Cole’s. As usual, Cole’s laconic partner Joe Pike is on hand once backup is needed, a presences that is always welcome. All things considered, Voodoo River is well worth the trip. Show Less
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
Elvis Cole mystery — good famous adoptee searching her roots
Hired to uncover the past of Jodi Taylor, Elvis leaves Los Angeles to head for Louisiana in search of Jodi's biological parents. As Elvis learns about the enigmatic actress's origins, he also discovers the real reason he's been sent to
Hired to uncover the past of Jodi Taylor, Elvis leaves Los Angeles to head for Louisiana in search of Jodi's biological parents. As Elvis learns about the enigmatic actress's origins, he also discovers the real reason he's been sent to
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Louisiana. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dakoty
What I learned...I love his writing style
LibraryThing member ThoughtsofJoyLibrary
Elvis Cole, LA private eye, travels to Louisiana to find the biological parents of a well-known actress.
This book provided the missing piece I've been waiting for. Having read the series out-of-order (my bad), I already knew something and wondered how it came to be. Now I know. :)
Elvis's wit
Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
This book provided the missing piece I've been waiting for. Having read the series out-of-order (my bad), I already knew something and wondered how it came to be. Now I know. :)
Elvis's wit
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continues (and again, some phrases are repeated too often, but I still like him - a lot) and Joe Pike makes his appearance as well, making this a another very good mystery.Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
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LibraryThing member LisaLynne
In Voodoo River, Cole is hired by television personality Jodie Taylor to find her biological parents. Turns out, Cole is not the only one looking - and his client has been less than honest about her real motivations. Cole has a great deal of respect for the emotional aspects of the case, he is
You can red my full review here
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determined to do the right thing and when that means possibly comprising his client, it is not a decision he makes easily. He's willing to bend the rules, although he tries not to break them, but he is not willing to walk away from real injustice. And, of course, he gets the girl. In fact, in the few books I have read in this series, Cole always gets the girl - sometimes more than one of them.You can red my full review here
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LibraryThing member brone
Good story but the PC and anti Christian ranting is goofy.
LibraryThing member ikeman100
Another good book in a great series.
LibraryThing member zmagic69
This one seemed a little overly ambitious. There was too much going on and the story was a little far fetched. Still a good series.
Subjects
Awards
Dilys Award (Nominee — 1996)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1995
ISBN
1423319583 / 9781423319580