The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert CraisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Monkey’s Raincoat is the debut effort by much celebrated American crime novelist Robert Crais. The novel features his protagonist; Vietnam Vet turned Private Investigator, Elvis Cole and his business partner and sidekick Joe Pike.
The novel starts with Ellen Lang, who comes to Crais’ office asking for his help in finding out her husband Mort and their son Perry. Mort was supposed to pick up Perry from school, but neither the husband nor the kid ever reached home. Crais’ writing style baffled me. Frankly speaking, the over-the-top quirky dialogues were not helping me. They seemed unreal and glib. Reading them made me feel that Crais and Cole were both trying too hard.
The plot was not much on the suspense quotient. By 3/4th of the book the plot ceases to have any suspense left in it. But, Crais’ managed to portray Ellen Lang’s troubles and her process of developing her self confidence in a credible manner. The action scene in the climax was good. It was good enough for me to read through the whole scene without skipping a single page.
All in all, a decent debut effort from a famous author. For me it wasn’t a Great Read but it didn’t disappoint me either.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment