| The First Rule |  | Author: Robert Crais
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: eBooks
In Stock
Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,003
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B002XW28BW
Publication Date: November 19, 2009
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Amazon.com Review
Robert Crais on Joe Pike 
Joe Pike is back, and this time I'm ready.
I have always received a lot of fan mail, but nothing prepared us for the tsunami that flooded my website when The Watchman was published. (The Watchman was the first Joe Pike novel. Joe is now returning in The First Rule.) I mean, I knew Joe was popular, but c'monnnn.
We always see a spike in e-mail when a book is released (by "we," I'm talking about myself and the sorely overworked Carol T, who creates our newsletter and manages our e-mail). This spike typically lasts eight to ten weeks, before leveling back to our average of about twenty e-mails a day. But when The Watchman was published, the spike was way larger, and didn't begin to fade until three months later. Then, amazingly, it grew again—coming back stronger than ever as thousands of readers—Joe Pike fanatics, bless'm!—spread the word. And the word was: sex.
Like Elvis Cole, Joe had always gotten a lot of mail from women, but the tone of his mail now changed. They sent gifts. They sent pictures. They wrote, "I love Joe Pike," but not in a way suggesting they were fond of him or maybe kinda crushing on him. Pike's fans were feral. They said, "I WANT Joe Pike."
Meaning: Pike is my love slave!
I get it. It is not lost on me that the young male heartthrobs in the current crop of insanely successful vampire films are all brooding bad-boy loners, held in check from their evil ways only by the love of a good woman, who is herself moved by their tortured hearts. Has any vampire been as lethal as Joe Pike, or as tortured?
Pike is the ultimate bad boy. He is dangerous, enigmatic, and male with a capital M, but it is his damaged soul that makes him sexy with a capital S. His lack of emotion suggests an inner landscape so damaged it is as barren as the desert surrounding Tikrit. It also suggests an emptiness waiting to be filled, and therein lies Pike's tragic nature and, I suspect, the sexy-hot core of his huge appeal. My female readers intuit that he is redeemable, and an awful lot of them want to help with his redemption!
For men, Joe Pike's appeal is different, but no less powerful. Pike takes no crap and fears no man, and this is a pretty common fantasy. Try to imagine Joe Pike getting cut off in traffic or shoved off the sidewalk? Ha—they wouldn't dare! Pike’s red-arrow tattoos probably sum up the fantasy best of all: here is a man who will not back up, or back down, and pretty much every guy wants to be that man (even if only in a fantasy life!) from time to time, or have such a friend as his wingman.
And speaking of friends—Pike wouldn't be Pike if it weren't for Elvis Cole, so hard-core Elvis Cole fans need have no fear: Elvis Cole is back, playing a large and important role in The First Rule. I could no more write a Joe Pike novel without Elvis than I could write an Elvis Cole novel without Joe. These guys are more than partners. They are friends. They are two underdogs who have turned themselves into heroes. --Robert Crais
(Photo © Patrik Giardino)
Product Description
From the New York Times-bestselling author who sets the standard for intense, powerful crime-writing comes a blistering thriller featuring Joe Pike and Elvis Cole.
The Watchman put Joe Pike, Elvis Cole's strong, taciturn partner, front and center, and not only won Robert Crais new audiences but remarkable reviews. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said "Robert Crais elevates crime fiction" and now with The First Rule he does it again.
The organized criminal gangs of the former Soviet Union are bound by what they call the thieves' code. The first rule is this: A thief must forsake his mother, father, brothers, and sisters. He must have no family-no wife, no children. We are his family. If any of the rules are broken, it is punishable by death.
Frank Meyer had the American dream-until the day a professional crew invaded his home and murdered everyone inside. The only thing out of the ordinary about Meyer was that- before the family and the business and the normal life-a younger Frank Meyer had worked as a professional mercenary, with a man named Joe Pike. The police think Meyer was hiding something very bad, but Pike does not. With the help of Cole, he sets out on a hunt of his own-an investigation that quickly entangles them both in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cutthroat criminal-ity, and at the heart of it, an act so terrible even Pike and Cole have no way to measure it. Sometimes, the past is never dead. It's not even past.
The First Rule is the most astonishing novel yet from the master of the crime thriller.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 118
 Immensely satisfying thriller December 14, 2009
Jody (Northwest Ohio)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The First Rule begins a few minutes before a brutal and bloody home invasion in which an entire family is killed. Crais gives such complete characterizations in just a few lines, we are stunned by the violence and understand private detective Joe Pike's grief and outrage when he finds out one of the victims used to work for him as a mercenary. Pike promises he will find the perpetrators and make sure they are punished. The remainder of the book follows Pike as he skirts the law, outwits the police, confronts some really bad guys and makes good on his promise. The story twists and turns as Pike finds out the truth behind the tragedy.
Crais' tight plot and stark words make The First Rule thrilling in every sense of the word. Spot on characters, vivid imagery and non-stop action make this one a real page-turner whether Pike is smashing a gangster's plasma TV to extort information, or lulling a baby to sleep. Laconic, principled and disciplined, Pike is a strong hero and balances the more flamboyant Cole. Somehow I've completely missed Robert Crais' Elvis Cole books up to now, but I'll be remedying that as soon as possible.
Revenge Served Hot. January 24, 2010
G. Ware Cornell Jr. (Weston FL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
If revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, someone forgot to tell Joe Pike.
"One of his guys", a former mercenary named Frank Meyer, and his entire family plus their young nanny are brutally slaughtered by an active L.A. home invasion gang. Meyer, ten years out of contract soldiering, had seemingly left the life behind and reinvented himself as a successful businessman, whose toys and waistline stood testament to his new lifestyle.
This gang operated with pretty good intelligence, and its previous hits had been of truly bad guys. The police want to know: was Meyer still in the game, but working the dark side? Pike wants to know the answer but whatever it may be he is determined to track down and kill those responsible. Whatever else Meyer may have been, Meyer was one of his guys.
So using people he trusts and developing sources well outside law enforcement, Pike goes on the hunt. It is a wild, bloody and raucous business. Leads turn quickly into body counts, but Pike, like any good commander, soldiers on.
Joe Pike is an iconic character, strongly reminiscent of movie leads, like Clint Eastwood's early westerns or Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series, who pursue personal justice through valleys of evil and depravity. I suspect that we will see Mr. Pike on the big screen soon. This is too good a story not to put it in the can. When that occurs, cold or hot, the dish will be very tasty indeed.
What a Way to Start the Year January 16, 2010
Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
What a way to start the year: with a first-rate Joe Pike revenge novel. Crais has said that the `first rule' is to not make Joe Pike mad. In the novel, the `first rule' is that of the Serbian gangs against whom Pike will wage war: don't let family get in your way; the gang is your family.
The gang (or one member of the gang, using a local crew) kill one of Pike's former team members from his days as a mercenary along with his wife and children. As the story develops, it appears that the real reason for the home invasion/multiple murder was to secure the infant child of either the murderer or his arch-enemy. In the course of the story Joe functions as the child's temporary guardian. Thus, the story is all about family, something that Joe lacks. His family is the collection of his brothers-in-arms and when one is killed the plot takes off.
Elvis is here as well, but principally for his skills in detection. There are no wisecracks in The First Rule, only deadly promises. It's very reminiscent of Wyatt in Tombstone: "Tell `em I'm coming and hell's coming with me." The relentless search for Frank Meyer's (Joe's friend) killer ends in a complex narrative, with Joe pitting the killer against the mob enemy he is attempting to displace. ATF officials are there as well, for the mob enemy has 3,000 freshly-minted Chinese AK-47's to peddle and Joe has persuaded both the killer and his enemy that he (Joe) is functioning as an apparent go-between prepared to betray the other. The resolution is not completely satisfying (at first), but then comes the kicker ending, which is delicious.
This is a fast-paced, lean story featuring one of the most attractive figures in contemporary crime writing: former cop, former soldier, former soldier of fortune, gun-store owning Joe Pike. One of the bad guys describes him as the sort of enemy you don't want to have. Needless to say, this proves to be very true.
Pure adrenalin January 18, 2010
Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It took two nights to polish off this thriller - and it was well worth the lost sleep.
Robert Crais built the quirky private investigator Elvis Cole into a solid franchise. Along the way he invented Joe Pike.
Pike is a loner, his emotions traverse a very limited range. He needs little sleep. He needs little food. He is a lethal mercenary and a former cop.
In short, Pike is barely one-dimensional. But in the capable of hands of Robert Crais, Pike is a nightmare to the evil-doers who murdered his friend and family.
The action starts with a home invasion and the execution of a man, his wife, two children and a nanny.
Pike hears about it quickly because the man, Frank Meyers, is an old comrade, one of Pike's boys way back when in their mercenary days. Frank The Tank they called him. Pike begins sniffing around. Joe Pike is a man of action with little regard for the small details of the law. And Crais has him barreling along at full speed in very short order, seeking justice for his friend . . . and the answers to a growing pile of questions.
I don't like giving story details in reviews of mysteries and thrillers: everything, I think, should be kept between the covers so that the author's desire to surprise the reader and intrigue them is honored. Why, after all, should you read the book if someone has already told you the story?
Suffice it to see that Crais brings an international angle to this one and some of the baddies are from across the ocean and are indeed bad.
Crais's story line is good. Pike seeks vengeance on behalf of an old friend. Pike's old mercenary buddies are called upon to play cameo roles, along with pals still on the police force and, of course, the guy who started it all, Elvis Cole. All of the characters in this story are pretty thin, but Crais is so skilled at keeping the action moving that it never matters. Yes, there are some holes in the plot, big ones as a matter of fact, but they don't matter either.
There is no let-up in the action. "The First Rule" is truly a page turner. (By the way, the title refers to an alleged rule in a list of 18 rules for Russian criminals.) Pike is never burdened with deep thinking or, for that matter, much thinking at all. Crais just lets events unfold for the most part and describes them.
Crais is an excellent writer. Joe Pike is not a character who is going to stick in your mind, but he's fun to keep company with as he exacts the price that must be paid for harming one of his friends. A great read for action fans - and a terrific climax.
Jerry
Best Joe Pike Novel Yet January 18, 2010
Anthony V. Nardoni (Columbia, Mo)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mr. Crais' Elvis Cole novels rank up there with Michael Connelly, John Sandford, and Nelson Demille's works when at their best. His Joe Pike novels go a step beyond. The only criticism I have is I finished it in one day and have to wait for the next one. Keep up the good work Mr. Crais.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 118
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