The Big Empty is the latest entry in the long running Elvis Cole and Joe Pike PI series. Reading a Cole/Pike book is like a comforting conversation with an old friend, regardless of who's voice you hear (Elvis's wisecracking or Joe's almost sterile and precise voice). T

Elvis is hired by a woman who is a social media influencer on the cusp of making it big commercially. However, it is the tenth anniversary of when her father apparently just drove away in his work truck and abandoned his family. Neither he nor his vehicle surfaced anywhere alive or dead in the past decade. It would seem an almost unsurmountable case to investigate, yet Elvis takes this very old and cold case---of course he does since he's the world's greatest detective.

Though not the best in the series, this is a solid entry in the PI duo's tales. Crais writing style moves the reader along in the story, painting a vivid mental picture along the way.

Robert Crais' The Big Empty (GP Putnam's Sons 2025), 20th in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series, is one more in a long line of addictive, amazing, satisfying, must-read murder mysteries about these two detectives that I hesitated to start for two reasons: 1) I wouldn't be able to put it down, and 2) when the last page was turned, I would have to wait a year for the next book.

A little background: Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are hard-charging, never-quit detectives that specialize in finding what's lost and rarely fail. The stories are filled with action, clever scenes, and humor, because Elvis is a smart aleck and Joe is never defeated (at least not to my knowledge). In this story, they're looking for the long-missing father of a celebrity chef who has fond memories of her childhood until her father disappeared. She knows nothing about where he went or why. Elvis warns her, once he starts, the clues will take him where they will. She doesn't care and Elvis is off and sleuthing. No surprise, it doesn't work out like anyone expected.

If you're looking for a fun read that keeps you guessing, this is the book for you. Without reservation, I award it 5/5.

What a thrilling book! It was a wild ride. This is a good book for fans of author such as James Patterson. Don’t skip this book on publication day.

Elvis is rocking the boat again.
Another thrilling ride with PI Elvis Cole and his occasional sidekick Joe Pike, as he takes on a 10 yr old cold case of a
missing man at the re1quest of his grown daughter, a celebrated online chef and blogger.
The trail seems pretty dead with the missing person having been pronounced dead and Elvis is not expecting any great
discoveries when all of a sudden, new info does actually start coming to light.
The case takes off, as Elvis is rocked with personal attacks and death threats.
Finding out just who this missing guy really was and what he was actually up to becomes the obsession of the week
for Elvis and Pike.
Great read and Crais is spot on. once again with his Cole and Pike plot line and intriguing characters.
The story just flows, and you ride right along.
Great read.
Tapping fingers ...waiting for the next edition.

I truly love Robert Crais. He writes well and his characters are always very defined. Elvis is just a good man all around, probably too good. He needs people like Joe Pike to watch his back

Robert Crais bounces back from earlier ho-hum Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels. In The Big Empty we again see the wise-cracking Elvis who ultimately relies on the steady hand of Joe Pike. Before all that though, Elvis plunges into a mystery of a father who disappeared ten years ago and now his 20-something daughter, currently a big-rime online influencer, wants to find out what happened. Elvis starts by re-tacing the last places the father was seen and discovers some people are reluctant to talk to him which gets his "something's wrong" radar quivering. Crais doesn't let readers in on what really is going on until Elvis discovers the truth allowing us to be right there in the big reveal. Plenty of violence laces the pages and there is no shortage of gruesome murders. Some characters are cardboard cut-outs but that is forgiven due to the novel's brisk pace. Thankfully, IMO, Lucy and Ben have very limited roles in this book and the focus on solving crimes, not gushing long-distance love.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

The author never fails to entertain me with his books, this one being no exception. Elvis is asked to look into a 10 year old missing persons case, and of course things get complicated. And violent. And then more complicated. Joe Pike is brought in for support, and the Elvis' cat makes a couple of appearances. Let the good times roll!

Elvis Cole is back for the 20th installment of the series what features him and Joe Pike. I've been reading Robert Crais since the late 80's with The Monkey's Raincoat and this is the best one to date. This story begins with a prominent TV baker who wants Elvis to reopen the young’ woman’s search for her missing father. His case is ten years old, the cops and another PI firm couldn’t turn up any answers to his mysterious disappearance and Elvis doesn’t hold much hope for solving it either.
Soon he gets a line on a ex con and her daughter who might know something and a former classmate that adds a few new threads to the puzzle.
Before he knows it, Elvis is being hunted by thugs and damned near gets killed trying to get to the truth.

Another epic Elvis Cole story. This one entails great detecting (self professed greatest at work), some major dust ups and a tough ending. A lot packed into this one (and lots of Joe spike too). Can't get enough of these.

Having read and enjoyed most, if not all, of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels, I can most assuredly state that The Big Empty is one of the absolute best! The plot is a simple one wherein Elvis is hired to find the father, who has been missing for almost 10 years, of a minor celebrity known as “the muffin girl.” Along the way, there are several murders, we meet an assortment of interesting characters and we are treated to a totally unanticipated conclusion. The writing is superb and descriptive — “……a green SUV that looked like a loaf of moldy bread.”
I highly recommend this book to all devotees of this genre and thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the opportunity to read and review this novel prior to publication.

Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, face a cryptic case and a terrifying, unpredictable killer in this twisty, satisfying thriller!! Great book!! This book has a bit of everything! It had suspense, intriguing, murder, mystery, a fantastic who done it and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my kindle! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

A very good mystery/detective novel. Elvis Cole is asked to reopen a missing persons case by a young woman whose missing father has been declared dead. BUT, reopening the case leads Elvis Cole and partner Joe Pike into an enormous morass of deaths, both present and past.

This is riveting for mystery fans. I enjoyed it, despite all the gore.

I recommend this to fellow mystery lovers. Thank you Netgalley for this arresting novel.