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Having being featured often as a character in thrilling novels by Robert Crais, Joe Pike has become a celebrated icon by Crais’s fans. Initially Crais had no aim of making a sidekick and had planned to murder Pike off in that first trip. Pike, in any case, ended up being to a great degree difficult to eliminate in Crais’s series ; an act which would have left many of Pike’s fans utterly dissapointed. Acting as the solid quiet accomplice of Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole, Pike in 2007 took a more central and overwhelming role in The Watchman, a novel that unintentionally denoted the twentieth commemoration of The Monkey’s Raincoat, the novel which presented both Cole and Pike.
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Order of Elvis Cole & Joe Pike Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Monkey's Raincoat | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Stalking the Angel | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Lullaby Town | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Free Fall | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Voodoo River | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Sunset Express | 1996 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Indigo Slam | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | L. A. Requiem | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Last Detective | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | The Forgotten Man | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | The Watchman | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | Chasing Darkness | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | The First Rule | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | The Sentry | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | Taken | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | The Promise | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | The Wanted | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 18 | A Dangerous Man | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 19 | Racing the Light | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
| 20 | The BIg Empty | 2025 | Description / Buy |
All things considered, Crais has managed to put together a Cole that is bounty intense however basically a friendly kindred who together with Pike a complex, quiet and distanced warrior work tirelessly to fight the enemy. In the greater part of the books, Pike’s primary part has been to watch Cole’s back.
If there is anybody that can smoothly juggle this constantly extending cast, it’s Crais. Before swinging into novels, Crais composed for TV, most strikingly for character-driven shows as Hill Street Blues for which he got an Emmy award-nomination. He also did work on Cagney and Lacey, the great Don Johnson-led Miami Vice, and perhaps most famously, “Equalizer” starring Edward Woodward as a retired espionage/intelligence officer with a mysterious past. His TV roots are evident in the plots of the Joe Pike books as they move fast, are action packed and have a ton of excellent character development. It’s his background in these seminal television shows that make both Elvis Cole and Joe Pike so popular among readers.
Although there are three books that have Pike as the principle character: ‘The Watchman’, ‘The First Rule’ and ‘The Sentry’; Robert Crais has a decent series that elements LA private investigator Elvis Cole where Pike is Cole’s accomplice.
JOE PIKE AWARDS:
The Joe Pike and Elvis Cole series of novels has won numerous recompenses and awards. As such, the Elvis Cole –Joe Pike series has as of now grabbed an Edgar, a Macavity, a Shamus, an Anthony and the 2006 Ross Macdonald Award which is offered to the California novelist whose work raises the standard of abstract brilliance.
Robert Crais’ first Joe Pike book, The Watchman, was heavily awarded as well as it won The Barry Award and the Mystery Ink Gumshoe Award. It was also nominated for both the Anthony Award and the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel on the year it came out.
Crais was also awarded the MWA Grand Master Award in 2014. The Grand Master Award is the highest honor bestowed by the MWA and is given to those who have made important contributions to the genre and have a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. Previous winners include Stephen King, Elmore Leonard and Agatha Christie.
JOE PIKE BOOKS INTO MOVIES:
While there have been no Joe Pike books that have been turned into movies just yet, that’s not for a lack of offers. Robert Crais’ 19 novels have more that 40 million copies in print and are much desired in Hollywood. The most recent deal Crais has made up to this point is for his 2013 novel Suspect which was scooped up by Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson.
He also sold the rights to the book Demolition Angel, but nothing has come of that just yet. The only Robert Crais book to make it to the big screen thus far was Hostage starring Bruce Willis that was released back in 2005.
Hollywood has tried to get their hands on the Joe Pike/Elvis Cole series of books for a long time as well, but he has constantly refused their offers and said that the rights to those books are not for sale.
BEST JOE PIKE BOOKS:
Important to note, Crais sees every one of his books as a component of “one major series.”
In The Watchman, Elvis is still recuperating from wounds maintained in The Forgotten Man, takes a rearward sitting, permitting Pike to become the overwhelming focus. In order to repay an old debt obligation, Pike is pressured into securing Larkin Barkley, a youthful heiress whose life is in risk after she finds herself in the wrong company that rapidly heightens and turns wild. The adversary is shadowy, savage and tenacious—yet furious Pike, one of the most grounded characters in crime fiction, is fit for the test.
In another of Joe Pike’s book “The First Rule” we see him on his usual enemy hunting spree: to demonstrate his companion’s innocence, and to rebuff those who killed him. This happens immediately after Frank Meyer and his family are executed in their home, and the police start examining the mystery life they’re certain Meyer had. What begins as a straightforward trail gets contorted quickly by repressed hostilities, deceives, blood retribution, and a wrongdoing so repulsive even Pike and his accomplice Elvis Cole have no real way to gauge it.
In the latest book “Taken” Crais yet again has given his fans a fast-paced, action-packed thriller! Cole brings in Joe Pike and Jon Stone to get Krista Morales back when she goes missing! Things get more serious when Cole when human traffickers are involved in the kidnapping. Nothing stops the three from getting her back!
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE:
The character that numerous Joe Pike fans find most like Joe Pike is “Jack Reacher“. It is one of the series you will love on the off chance that you’ve been searching for another mystery-crime fiction read similar to that of Robert Crais. Also, there are two or three scholars of crime series whose style of composing isn’t far from Crais’s and you will discover most Joe Pike’s fans perusing their series. This includes James Lee Burke, James Patterson , and Harlan Cobin. Ultimately, it would be unreasonable not to mention Stephen J Cannell‘s “Shane Scully” series, which is a recommendable read for all Joe Pike’s fans as it would fit most Crais’ fans criteria pleasantly.
What Is The Next Book in The Elvis Cole & Joe Pike Series?
The next book in the The Elvis Cole & Joe Pike Series by Robert Crais is The BIg Empty and will be released on January, 14th 2025.