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ABOUT THE BOOK

Six months after nearly losing everything to the men who kidnapped his girlfriend's ten-year-old son, Elvis Cole is slowly rebuilding his life when he receives an ominous call from the LAPD. An unidentified body has been found in a seedy Los Angeles motel and Elvis is needed urgently at the scene. When he arrives to identify the dead man, cops scrutinize Cole's reaction, but Elvis is unable to help -- he has never seen the man before. Finally, Elvis is told that the subject was still alive when the first officer responded. Before he died, the old man claimed that Elvis Cole was his son.

Cole turns to the one person who can help him navigate the minefield of his past -- his longtime partner and confidant, Joe Pike. As the two men launch a feverish search for the dead man's identity, Elvis struggles between wanting to believe he's found his father at last -- and allowing his suspicions to hold him back. With each clue they uncover, a frightening picture begins to emerge about who Elvis Cole's father might have been, and the terrible crimes he might have committed.

Drawing ever-closer to a deeply buried and violent secret, Cole and Pike are unaware that they've also awakened a sleeping monster -- a merciless killer who has meticulously prepared for the day he would be found, setting an intricate ambush that is guaranteed to destroy anyone who comes looking. As Elvis and Joe approach the true identity of the dead man, they follow a treacherous path lined with anguish and deception, straight into Elvis's worst nightmare.

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EXCERPT

To read an excerpt of THE FORGOTTEN MAN, click here.

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REVIEWS

From Booklist:

"(The Elvis Cole series)...is most memorable for its intense, character-driven studies of people searching for context and purpose in their lives. 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."

From The Los Angeles Times:

" . . . Crais keeps the suspense and the action boiling by leading the reader step by step toward the shocking solution to the two mysteries at the novel's heart...in what continues to be one of today's best detective series."

From The Washington Post:

"Even at their goriest and most violent, there is a humanity about Robert Crais's Elvis Cole PI novels . . . these L.A.-noir thrillers feel as if they might have been written by Raymond Chandler if he had been a nice guy."

From Publishers Weekly:

"(THE FORGOTTEN MAN)...blends high-powered action, a commanding cast, and a touch of dark humor to excellent dramatic effect....Crais boasts a distinctive knack for a sucker-punch element of surprise."

From BookReporter.Com:

"The Forgotten Man is Crais at his quietly brilliant best, where each turn of the page potentially hides a bombshell revelation in stark, beautiful, and memorable prose . . . [A] winner in every sense of the word."

From Dan Brown, Author of the Da Vinci Code:

"Robert Crais is a crime writer of incredible talent - His novels are not only suspenseful and deeply atmospheric . . . they are very  hard to put down."

From Kirkus Reviews:

(Starred Review) "A potent mix of sound detection, black humor, cut-and-run action, and half a dozen first-class surprises. Welcome back, Elvis."

From The St. Petersburg Times:

"Robert Crais has evolved . . . into a master . . . "

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Crais writes a spare prose that modulates smoothly into something bordering on the poetic . . . "

From The South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

"It is an emotional trip that moves with a brutal honesty about the power of forgiveness, never once dipping into gimmickry . . . At the same time, [it] delivers a rip-roarin story . . . The Forgotten Man is another memorable entry in a series that has never disappointed."

From January Magazine:

"Crais is a master at story pacing, and he proves that again in The Forgotten Man . . . the novel offers one lengthy, satisfying adrenaline rush."

From Boston.Com:

"In this riveting novel with a vivid sense of place . . . Crais sets four different characters in motion. Like freight trains on a collision course, they move forward, relentlessly gaining momentum. Anyone who enjoys a well-written, fast-paced, noirish thriller with a great aha! moment, shouldn't miss The Forgotten Man."

From Victoria Skurnick, Editor-in-Chief, Book-of-the-Month Club:

"I read a literary novel last weekend for which the publisher paid millions, and hated every word on every page. Then I picked up THE FORGOTTEN MAN by Robert Crais, and almost swooned with pleasure. Good writing. It can be there regardless of whether a book is deemed literary or commercial."

From Don Crouch, NewMysteryReader.Com:

"Our long national nightmare is over--Elvis Cole is back. THE FORGOTTEN MAN is the first great mystery novel of 2005. We can't imagine many more joining its rarified air. Crais has evolved and matured as a writer in a way that connects with the central nervous system of the reader."

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UK EDITION

THE FORGOTTEN MAN was published in the U.K. on March 17, 2005.

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The audio version of THE FORGOTTEN MAN is ON SALE NOW. RC has recorded the abridged version and if you have attended one of RC's events, you know he is an excellent reader, and his performances are not to be missed. Pick it up today.

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