Demolition Angel

Demolition Angel
by Robert Crais

Demolition Angel

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Book Summary Information

Author: Robert Crais
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-07-03
ISBN: 034543448X
Number of pages: 395
Publisher: Ballantine Books

Book Reviews of Demolition Angel

Book Review: Robert Crais--Demolition Angel (2000)
Summary: 4 Stars

Robert Crais, with his critically acclaimed "L.A. Requiem" and now "Demolition Angel" has solidified himself as one of the best crime writers of the new century. "Demolition Angel" is a taut, suspenseful endeavor into the dreadful lives of bomb squad technicians, the horrors that can arise from bombing tragedies, and the maniacal minds that demonically destroy others with the detonated devices. Much like James Patterson and other crime novelists, Crais paints a vivid picture with his lead characters, purposely playing certain chess moves with the reader to get them to believe something, only to completely turn against the reader with a checkmate.

Carol Starkey plays the lead protagonist, a chain-smoking, alcoholic criminal conspiracy detective who is still trying to piece back together her life that was forever changed three years before when she was nearly killed in a fatal bombing accident that took the life of a loved one. Once a spirited bomb technician with the love of her life and a great future ahead of her, Starkey is now a astringent, unstable rogue cop who is fed up with her co-workers, her bosses, her three psychiatrists, and her complete loneliness in life. When Starkey learns that a fellow police officer, bomb squad member Charlie Riggio, is killed when a bomb suppression attempt goes awry, her feelings of despair and horror linger in the back of her mind. What Starkey originally believes is a freak bomb accident soon becomes a criminal investigation like no other: Mr. Red, a maniac bomber who has eluded the cops for years, is in town and is targeting Starkey next. Just as Starkey is the heat of the case, a federal agent named Pell bungee-jumps onto the scene and aligns with the detective to catch Mr. Red once and for all. With every move that Starkey and Pell make, the closer to the truth they get and the farther Mr. Red is in their grasp.

"Demolition Angel" develops well from the initial bombing scene, the interrogation of the witnesses, the inner delving through Starkey's sour mindset, and her increasingly personal relationship with her federal partner. Crais's greatest achievement in the novel; however, is not the characterization of Starkey, but the intertwining of Mr. Red's desire to become the most feared man in the world. The author manages to depict Mr. Red in a light makes him an undeniably likable, funny villain-and one that you almost want to root for. It is Mr. Red's witty character development and Starkey's constant angst that makes "Demolition Angel" a very entertaining, page-turning triumph, but the book also shines because a shelf of solid supporting characters and well-written knowledge of bombs. A very proficient, admirable effort.

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Summary of Demolition Angel

?TERRIFIC . . . EXPLOSIVE . . . [A] HIGH POWERED THRILL RIDE.?
?The Wall Street Journal

?CRAIS IS AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME, and Demolition Angel delivers the goods. With a bang. . . . It?s Silence of the Lambs meets Speed as down-on-her-luck former bomb-squad ace Carol Starkey plays cat-and-mouse with a serial bomber. . . . Crais knows how to press all the right buttons in keeping the story line taut and the action, well, explosive.?
?San Francisco Chronicle

?GRIPPING . . . CRAIS PILES ON PLOT TWISTS . . . gathering the separate threads at the end and igniting them like a string of fireworks.?
?People

?A POWERFUL, SELF-CONTAINED NOVEL OF SUSPENSE that has the compactness, velocity, and effectiveness of a well-aimed bullet . . . This is a thriller that works on every level, a pivotal work from a crime novelist operating at the top of his game.?
?Los Angeles Times

?FASCINATING AND FRIGHTENINGLY BELIEVABLE . . . Starkey is one of the toughest characters to grace the crowded field of thriller books in a long time.?
?USA Today

Penzler Pick, May 2000: Like many authors with ongoing characters, Robert Crais has taken a break from his famous private eye. After eight novels featuring Elvis Cole and his loyal sidekick Joe Pike, Crais has created Carol Starkey, a bomb squad veteran now doing time as a Detective-2 with LAPD's Criminal Conspiracy Section. Three years have passed since the detonation that killed Carol's partner and lover, but she is still severely scarred both mentally and physically. She can't bear to look in the mirror, and she hasn't been with another man since David Boudreaux left her bed that last morning he went to work. She gets through the day with the help of Tagamet and alcohol.

When a bomb call takes the life of another colleague, Carol begins to investigate a series of explosions that seem to be designed to exterminate bomb technicians. She soon realizes that she's "the one that got away." With the help of an FBI agent whom she loathes professionally for interfering with her job but finds attractive anyway, Carol must track down one of the most frighteningly brilliant killers of the modern age.

This edgy thriller's protagonist is one that the reader at first may have difficulty liking, but she's got a background and history that make her truly three-dimensional. One hopes that Crais, one of the handful of young crime writers capable of writing consistently luminous prose, will continue to give us characters like Carol Starkey to star in his always powerful portraits of modern-day Los Angeles. --Otto Penzler

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