Finally

Last night I finally started reading a book by Jonathan Carroll. I prefer to start at the beginning, at least where novels are concerned, so The Land of Laughs is my initial foray into the canon of Carroll. I am only three or four chapters in, so it is too soon to say much, but so far it is enchanting.

In the meantime I have started and finished reading Robert Crais' latest offering, The Two-Minute Rule.

I really enjoy mysteries with unlikley protagonists, and I don't mean proprietors of knitting supply shops. I have nothing against cops or private investigators, especially if the cop in question is searching for redemption becaose of a case or a big bust gone horribly wrong. I am a fan of protagonists with a past, an interesting past. V.I. Warshawski's father was a cop. She tried being a public defender but left public service to work on her own. Munch Mancini is a girl with a past and a talent for car repair just trying to go straight.

In The Two-Minute Rule, Max Holman did ten years for robbery. The day before he gets out, his son--a police officer--is murdered and Holman is determined to find the person responsible. When the cops aren't willing to tell him much of anything, he enlists help from an unlikely source--the FBI agent who busted him. Katherine Pollard is an interesting character in her own right. The two of them have had major events in their lives and are now trying to figure out what's next.

With an ex-con as a protagonist, Crais highlights how easily a cop can think like a criminal and vice versa. Rather than opposites, they are two sides of the same coin.

Not as suspenseful as Demolition Angel.

I need to read more Crais, maybe even some of his famous Elvis Cole novels.