From Publishers Weekly
Crais's latest L.A.-based crime novel featuring super-sleuth Elvis Cole blends high-powered action, a commanding cast and a touch of dark humor to excellent dramatic effect. One morning at four, Cole gets a call from the LAPD informing him that a murdered John Doe has claimed, with his dying breath, to be Cole's father, a man Cole has never met. Cole immediately gets to work gathering evidence on the dead man - Herbert Faustina, aka George Reinnike - while cramping the style of the assigned detective, Jeff Pardy. Though Cole finds Reinnike's motel room key at the crime scene, the puzzle pieces are tough to put together, even with the unfailing help of partner Joe Pike and feisty ex-Bomb Squad techie Carol Starkey, who's so smitten with Cole that she can't think of him without smiling. Days of smart sleuthing work take the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Detective" from a Venice Beach escort service to the California desert, then a hospital in San Diego, where doubts about Reinnike's true heritage begin to dissipate. Meanwhile, a delusional psychopath named Frederick Conrad, who is convinced that his partner in crime was killed by Cole, stalks and schemes to even the score. There's lots to digest, but this character-driven series continues to be strong in plot, action and pacing, and Crais (The Last Detective) boasts a distinctive knack for a sucker-punch element of surprise. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
The 10th Elvis Cole novel earns well above average praise from most critics. In the series’ latest, Crais develops one of his most complex characters yet by expanding on the detective’s painful childhood. But The Forgotten Man does have flaws, especially in comparison to the earlier, and stronger, Cole novels. “All the elements are present to make another thrilling Crais mystery,” writes the Chicago Sun-Times, “but the spark ... is missing.” In other words, longtime fans will appreciate this quick-paced and gritty mystery thriller, but newcomers should stick to previous Cole installments.Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
When an apparently homeless man is found shot in an alley, the first officer on the scene tells private investigator Elvis Cole that the dying man claimed to be Cole's father. Cole has never known the identity of his father. His mother was mentally unstable and would often go missing for extended periods. Cole was conceived during such a disappearance, and the only clue his mother gave him was the cryptic comment that his father was a "human cannonball" in a circus. Long obsessed with finding his father, Cole backtracks through the years to learn the dead man's true identity. As he searches, Cole is unaware that he is the target of an associate of the dead man. Crais' Cole mysteries are infinitely superior to his stand-alone thrillers. The snappy, Spenser-like dialogue and the bursts of violence notwithstanding, the series is most memorable for its intense, character-driven studies of people searching for context and purpose in their lives. Cole's career as a detective stems directly from his childhood attempts to find his father, and his sidekick, Joe Pike, measures himself through a self-defined process of readiness. Very few thrillers leave readers with teary vision, pondering such profundities as acceptance and forgiveness. This is one of the few. A deeply moving, heartfelt mystery. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Los Angeles, 3:58 a.m.: Elvis Cole receives the phone call he’s been waiting for since childhood. Responding to a gunshot, the LAPD has found an injured man in an alleyway. He has told the officer on the scene that he is looking for his son, Elvis Cole. Minutes later, the man is dead.

Haunted throughout his life by a lack of knowledge about his father, Elvis turns to the one person who can help him navigate the minefield of his past – his longtime partner and confidant, Joe Pike. Together with hard-edged LAPD detective, Carol Starkey, they launch a feverish search for the dead man’s identity – even as Elvis struggles between wanting to believe he’s found his father at last, and allowing his suspicions to hold him back. With each long-buried clue they unearth, a frightening picture begins to emerge about who the dead man might have been, and the terrible secret he’s been guarding.

At the same time, Elvis has no way of knowing he has awakened a sleeping monster. The further he goes in his investigation, the closer he draws to a merciless killer who is violently connected to the unidentified man’s past. This psychopath believes Cole is hunting him, and he goes on the attack to find Elvis before Elvis can find him.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Los Angeles, 3:58 A.M.: Elvis Cole receives the phone call he's been waiting for since childhood. Responding to a gunshot, the LAPD has found an injured man in an alleyway. He has told the officer on the scene that he is looking for his son, Elvis Cole. Minutes later, the man is dead." "Haunted throughout his life by a lack of knowledge about his father, Elvis turns to the one person who can help him navigate the minefield of his past - his longtime partner and confidant, Joe Pike. Together with hard-edged LAPD detective Carol Starkey (who is harboring her own growing feelings for Cole), they launch a feverish search for the dead man's identity. Elvis, meanwhile, struggles between wanting to believe he's found his father at last and allowing his suspicions to hold him back. With each long-buried clue they unearth, a frightening picture begins to emerge about who the dead man might have been - and the terrible secret he's been guarding." At the same time, Elvis has no way of knowing he has awakened a sleeping monster. The further he goes in his investigation, the closer he draws to a merciless killer who is violently connected to the unidentified man's past. This psychopath believes Cole is hunting him, and he goes on the attack to find Elvis before Elvis can find him.

SYNOPSIS

In his major New York Times bestseller, THE LAST DETECTIVE, Robert Crais returned to his signature characters, private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike. Now Crais delivers a stunning, edge-of-your-seat suspense novel that leads Elvis to the very thing he’s always searched for— the dark secrets of his own life. . . as well as a brutal killer determined to stop him.

Los Angeles, 3:58 a.m.: Elvis Cole receives the phone call he’s been waiting for since childhood. Responding to a gunshot, the LAPD has found an injured man in an alleyway. He has told the officer on the scene that he is looking for his son, Elvis Cole. Minutes later, the man is dead.

Haunted throughout his life by a lack of knowledge about his father, Elvis turns to the one person who can help him navigate the minefield of his past— his longtime partner and confidant, Joe Pike. Together with hard-edged LAPD detective, Carol Starkey, they launch a feverish search for the dead man’s identity—even as Elvis struggles between wanting to believe he’s found his father at last and allowing his suspicions to hold him back. With each long-buried clue they unearth, a frightening picture begins to emerge about who the dead man might have been and the terrible secret he’s been guarding.

At the same time, Elvis has no way of knowing he has awakened a sleeping monster. The further he goes in his investigation, the closer he draws to a merciless killer who is violently connected to the unidentified man’s past. This psychopath believes Cole is hunting him, and he goes on the attack to find Elvis before Elvis can findhim.

Summoning all the powerful elements that have made Robert Crais one of the preeminent crime writers today, THE FORGOTTEN MAN is a spectacular tour-de-force of suspense and intrigue.

FROM THE CRITICS

Richard Lipez - The Washington Post

The fiftyish Cole is a wonderfully sweet creation, with his sadness over his lost loves and his pleasure in his '66 yellow Corvette convertible, and Crais is just as serious and adept with his secondary characters … where character and texture and decent spiritedness in a noir world are concerned, he's one of the real pros.

Publishers Weekly

Crais's latest L.A.-based crime novel featuring super-sleuth Elvis Cole blends high-powered action, a commanding cast and a touch of dark humor to excellent dramatic effect. One morning at four, Cole gets a call from the LAPD informing him that a murdered John Doe has claimed, with his dying breath, to be Cole's father, a man Cole has never met. Cole immediately gets to work gathering evidence on the dead man-Herbert Faustina, aka George Reinnike-while cramping the style of the assigned detective, Jeff Pardy. Though Cole finds Reinnike's motel room key at the crime scene, the puzzle pieces are tough to put together, even with the unfailing help of partner Joe Pike and feisty ex-Bomb Squad techie Carol Starkey, who's so smitten with Cole that she can't think of him without smiling. Days of smart sleuthing work take the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Detective" from a Venice Beach escort service to the California desert, then a hospital in San Diego, where doubts about Reinnike's true heritage begin to dissipate. Meanwhile, a delusional psychopath named Frederick Conrad, who is convinced that his partner in crime was killed by Cole, stalks and schemes to even the score. There's lots to digest, but this character-driven series continues to be strong in plot, action and pacing, and Crais (The Last Detective) boasts a distinctive knack for a sucker-punch element of surprise. Agent, Aaron Priest. (Feb. 15) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Private investigator Elvis Cole, recovering from his last case, faces new dangers from his past. From the author of Demolition Angel. Simultaneous with the Doubleday hardcover. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews