Suspect - Robert Crais

There was a time when I thought it would be cool to be a photographer.  I think that was because I was a teenager during the 1960s, very influenced by the movie Blowup, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton.  If I couldn't look like the latter two, maybe I could just photograph them.  The 1960s were a very stylish decade.  I was thinking about this as I continue to take terrible photos of the books I've read.  Why don't point and shoot cameras do just that?  I can't figure out how to avoid the glare of the flash and maintain the clarity of the focus.  And I can't be bothered to learn how to work my old Pentax.

Anyway, off subject.  In my last post, I lamented the lack of Joe Pike in The Promise, by Robert Crais.  I noted that the characters I liked best were Maggie, the military / police dog, and her handler Scott James.  I mentioned that they should have their own book.  Well, duh, they do.  I skipped Suspect because it wasn't an Elvis Cole / Joe Pike book, so I missed Maggie and Scott's stand alone book.

Scott James is recovering from being shot and losing his partner.  They had stopped, at his request, to enjoy the quiet of an LA night when they witnessed a vehicular ambush.  Two men in a Bentley were gunned down, his partner Stephanie was killed, and he was badly wounded and left for dead.

Scott is now assigned to the K-9 unit, although he's not really a dog person.  He meets Maggie, an ex-Marine explosives sniffing dog, also recovering from being shot and losing her handler in Afghanistan.  They connect, they bond.  They've both survived the same trauma.

The case of who shot him and killed his partner has never been solved.  Scott is determined to find the perpetrators.  He gets a lead on a witness, and then the witness is killed.  Scott's clearly on to something.  He doesn't know who he can trust in the police force because he starts to suspect that someone in the unit is involved.

But he can trust Maggie with his life.

I liked Suspect.  I love dogs (and all animals).  My heart was in my mouth when Maggie was in danger and I teared up when she showed the bad guys how far she would go to protect Scott.  These professional, working dogs are amazing.