THE WATCHMAN

TITLE: THE WATCHMAN
AUTHOR: ROBERT CRAIS
Date: 23/07/2010
Grade: 5
Details: no. 1 Joe Pike
            Audio book: 8 Cd's / 8 Hours,   61 minutes
            Narrator: William Roberts

This is the first book by Crais in which Joe Pike rather than Elvis Cole is the main character and if I'm honest I liked this book a bit better then I did the previous ones.
Joe Pike finds himself employed as the bodyguard to a spoilt rich girl. The girl, Larkin Conner Barkley, has been involved in a car crash at which she's seen a wanted mob boss. The FBI want the mobster and the mob wants the only witness, Larkin, out of the way. Within a day of starting this job, Pike finds himself and the girl under attack twice. Not only is someone desperate to kill the girl, they are also being told where to find Joe and the girl.
In order to keep the girl safe, Pike decides to go off the radar. He relocates the two of them to a location he doesn't share with anyone and starts looking for the men who are trying to kill them. After all, the best form of defense is to attack.
With the help of Elvis Cole, Pike slowly discovers several disturbing facts. It seems that everybody, including the FBI has been lying to him.
While he and the girl start to develop an unlikely bond, Pike has to go to extraordinary lengths to get to the truth, find the men who threaten the girl and safe her life.
Like I said, I prefer this book over the ones featuring Elvis Cole as the main character. Cole can be a bit too much of a smart arse for me on occasion, whereas Pike is a very straight forward yet deep character. 
It was great to get a better insight into Pike's background and the reasons for him being who he is, and I'm looking forward to getting to know him even better in the near future.