Crais has written eight novels featuring LA private detectives Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. His last one, L. A. Requiem, hit the jackpot, publicity- and sales-wise, elevating him into the top wave of American crime writers. This present effort is a departure from the usual in that his protagonist is a female cop, Carol Starkey of the LAPD. Formerly a bomb squad technician, she is trying to get her life back together after an explosion three years before that killed her partner and secret lover, and nearly did her in also. Physically and mentally scarred, she is living on a daily dose of gin, Tagamet and cigarettes. Then a new wave of bomb outrages begins, she catches the case and is immediately thrown into a situation comparable to that which triggered the first trauma. In Starkey, Crais has created a larger than life character, with whom the reader can easily empathise and follow through thick and thin. A big, ambitious book this, and one that is eminently satisfying.