Joe Pike, a former mercenary who hired Meyer and whom Pike considers "one of his guys" although he has not seen him for ten years, also discovers that a Serbian nanny was a victim and that the leader of the gang was also Serbian. Is it possible that Frank was not the intended victim? Pike cannot comprehend that Frank would become involved and seeks not only revenge but answers.  

With help from another member of his former crew, Lanny Tang, who is now in prison, Pike tracks down the nanny's sister Rina, who states she works for Serbian organized crime boss Michael Darko. Rina tells Pike that she used to be married to Darko and that in addition to killing Meyer and her sister, Darko kidnapped her ten month old baby. Pike calls upon his old friend and detective agency partner Elvis Cole for help. Pike also utilizes other contacts including a member of Russian organized crime, George Smith, who helps locate one of Darko's accomplices and Jon Stone, a former mercenary who now works as a contractor for mercenaries. Jon is a stone-cold killer and encourages Pike to seek brutal revenge.  

At the start of The First Rule, it appeared this would be just another novel about a murdered friend and retribution sought. There is very little of the camaraderie and humor between Joe Pike and Elvis Cole which have been the hallmark of the previous novels in the series. However, about a hundred pages into the book, the action does take off with lots of ploy twists and turns which made for a quick conclusion.

While enjoyable, The First Rule is not up to the standard of previous Robert Crais novels. Pike, the brooding, taciturn loner while an excellent counterpoint to Elvis Cole, does not have enough personality as the main character to carry this novel. The lack of other interesting characters and lack of emotion (Are Pike’s actions the results of a sense of duty or actual caring?) may leave readers wanting more. Hopefully, the next Joe Pike book will give us more insight into this too unreadable character.

--Jerry Solot